Ideas for your next PowerPoint Night

Is there anything nerdier than getting together with your friends on a Friday night and sharing 10 minute presentations on various topics? Probably not 😆

But when people didn't have a lot of socialization options during COVID, PowerPoint Nights took off in popularity, and surprisingly, they haven't gone away.

If you want to host your own PowerPoint night and want to help your attendees come up with fun presentation topics, here are our favorite PowerPoint night ideas, grouped by theme, for your inspiration.

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What is a PowerPoint Night?

PowerPoint Nights, also known as PowerPoint Parties, are a social media trend that gained popularity in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID pandemic lockdowns and calls for social distancing.

They started as groups of friends creating presentations and presenting them to each other over a video call, but now people also do them in person. Generally, a PowerPoint Night works best when you pick fun, thought-provoking, and conversation-starting topics that will get the participants to interact with one another's presentation.

PowerPoint Parties originally became popular because they were a great remote social activity, but they can also be a great in-person group activity, similar to PowerPoint Karaoke and Pecha Kucha.

Do you have to use PowerPoint?

While “PowerPoint Night” is the popular term used for this trend, any presentation tool will do. Beyond PowerPoint or Google Slides, you could also use a Word document with lots of pictures, or tools like Coda or Notion. Whatever is easiest for you to share your ideas!

Can I use AI to generate my presentation?

While PowerPoint Nights are fun because they allow people to share their passions and interests, making a nice slide deck can be annoying. If you want a head start on creating your next presentation, try a tool like Plus AI.

Plus AI is an add-on to Google Slides and PowerPoint that helps you create the first draft of any presentation. This can help significantly cut down the time you spend on your PowerPoint Night presentation by allowing you to focus on creating the perfect joke and finding the perfect meme - not worrying about formatting slides.

Best PowerPoint Night Ideas

Here are some popular themes for PowerPoint Night presentations.

Who is who

1. Friends as TV characters. Match friends or colleagues with characters from popular TV shows, e.g. The Office. This PowerPoint Night theme is good as a light and funny theme.
2. "Starter Pack." Create a "starter pack" of with each of your friends' catchphrases, hobbies, and attributes that they would have on a reality TV show.
3. Guess who. Everyone makes a presentation describing someone in the group, but without mentioning names. Then the game is to guess who it is about.
4. The Met gala. Create a presentation on what each person would wear to the Met gala.
5. Celebrity lookalikes. In this PowerPoint Night theme you all present everyone's lookalike along with a justification.
6. Fast food chains. Similar to TV characters but this tends to force you to get a bit more creative.
7. Dog breeds. Dogs have a lot of personality – match your friends to different dog breeds.‍
8. Guess who. Make a list of attributes about each of your friends. Reveal the list from top to bottom until everyone can guess who is who.
9. Meme match. Match everyone up to their perfect meme based on their personality or texting history.

Getting personal

1. What I actually do. Have everyone do a short and informative presentation about what they actually do for work.
2. Your pet peeves. This PowerPoint night theme is a chance to air your pet peeves to your friends and colleagues.
3. Unpopular opinions. Present your most unpopular opinions to those around you. PowerPoint Nights are meant to be interactive, so this is a great one to stir up controversy.
4. Who knows you best trivia. Create a presentation with questions to test how well your friends know you.
5. Fashion trends you regret. We’ve all had embarrassing fashion moments. Share your biggest regrets in the form of a presentation.
6. Rating places you’ve cried. This can get both embarrassing, personal, and funny, which is the point of PowerPoint Nights. Add an extra layer by asking the participants to rate the places you’ve cried.
7. Why you should have your own talk show. Create a presentation designed to convince your friends why you should be the next big talk show host.
8. Bucket list. Create a presentation of the things you want to experience in your life and why.
9. Rating yearbook photos. As the name says, this is an opportunities to get out those old, embarrassing yearbook photos and laugh at our awkward, younger selves.
10. Favorite memories. This one can both be nice and funny - the memories can be embarrassing too. Present your favorite memories with each friend in this PowerPoint Night theme.
11. Highlights. Create a list of personal "highlights" for the last month / year / or set of the time the group has been friends.

Informative presentations

PowerPoint nights can be a fun way to actually learn about new topics. If your friends work in different fields, it could be really fun to learn about new industries, fields, and types of work. Here are more ideas for informative presentations:

1. A day in the life of [me]. Follow an accountant/teacher/consultant through her daily 9-5 job.
2. What you don't know about [topic]. Get the 'inside' scoop from someone who works inside of an industry
3. [Topic] for dummies. Provide the distilled, 5 minute version of any topic, from how to make good retirement investments to how to take care of your house.
4. 5 things every [profession] does. What do [doctors/painters/financial planners] know that the average person doesn't? 
5. A step-by-step guide to [new skill]. Know how to survive in the Alaskan wilderness? Turn your knowledge into a step-by-step guide and share it with your friends.

(PS: If you enjoy this style of presentation, you may also want to try out Pecha Kucha at some point!

Persuasive presentations

1. Why [show] is THE BEST reality show. Convince everyone to watch your favorite shows.
2. Why you should stop eating meat. Potentially spicy but not too political.
3. The evidence for [your favorite conspiracy theory]. Is Keanu Reeves really a time traveler? Could you convince your friends the moon landing was faked? 
4. As President I would... What is the one law or change you'd make if you became president tomorrow?
5. Can we STOP doing [xyz]? Name your least favorite trend or activity that has taken off.

If you like the idea of doing persuasive presentations, but don't love these ideas, we have hundreds of ideas for a persuasive presentation here!

Best and worst

1. Best and worst dogs. This can get surprisingly heated, people love dogs.
2. Best and worst fast food chains. Similar to the above, people have strong opinions about where they get their fast food.
3. Best and worst fashion trends. We all have some trends that we just can’t get behind, and some that we love with a passion. Use this PowerPoint Night theme to surface yours.
4. Best and worst sports. Ranking baseball as an S-tier sport will always be sure to stir up controversy.
5. Best and worst celebrity couples. Which couples do you love and which just don’t make sense to you?
6. Best and worst local bars. This one is only generally for friends in the same area, but it can get surprisingly heated.
7. Best and worst reality TV shows. Love is Blind vs. the Bachelor? Let's hear both sides of the argument.
8. Best and worst snacks. Rank your go-to snacks and call out the ones that you can't stand.

Pitches

1. Amazon products that you’d recommend to anyone. Find some unusual products on Amazon and ‘pitch’ them during PowerPoint Night.
2. Emojis that need to be created. Are there any emojis that you keep wanting, but never get included? Pitch the emojis to your friends.
3. Apps that you can’t live without. There are probably a few apps on your phone that have become an absolute necessity for you. Convince your friends that they are for them as well.
4. Underrated foods. What are the most underrated restaurants and dishes that everyone should eat more?

Short on time? Get a free pitch deck and last-minute presentation advice here.

Goals, wants, and desires

1. New Year's Resolutions. Goals for the year. Review of last year's goals. And anything else you want to commit to with your friends.
2. Bucket list review. Create some slides about your favorite trips to date and the places on your bucket list.
3. The perfect partner. A 10 slide deck about your perfect boyfriend or girlfriend? Perfect presentation to send out to your friends and potential matchmakers.
4. If I had $100M. What would you do if you stumbled upon $100 million. Put together a plan and compare it to your friends.
5. Q4 OKRs. Create a humorous presentation on your personal life goals for the quarter.

If you're looking for more inspiration and fun presentation ideas, check out our list of unique presentation ideas or our PowerPoint Karaoke slide decks if you want to do something totally random! We have something that works for everyone.

Have you tried any PowerPoint Night ideas or themes that aren’t on this list? Let us know and we’ll include them!