PowerPoint Karaoke

1. Tell students that they will play PowerPoint Karaoke – an improv game in which players present a set of slides they have never seen – and explain the purpose of the activity.
2. Divide students into teams of 3 – 5 and assign each team a playful topic (such as “Healthy Habits,”
   “Our City’s Best-Kept Secrets” or “What Everyone Should Know about Our College”). Each team is given 10 minutes to create a slide deck on their topic.
   • The title slide should identify the topic
   • Each slide should include 1 – 2 images
   • No text allowed (other than the title) unless you are using an image that already has text on it.
   • Include a good amount of randomness. If all the slides are strictly on topic, it leaves little room for fun, humour and improvisation.
   • Aim to create 8 – 10 slides
3. Each team will take turns giving a presentation using slides created by another team (i.e. slides they have never seen). The presentation ends when all slides have been presented, or after 5 minutes (whichever comes first).
4. Once all teams have presented, invite students to judge the presentations. Have students applaud for each team once all presentations are done. The team that receives the loudest applause is the winner.
5. Debrief by asking students to identify what presenters did to engage the audience. Record students’ ideas on the whiteboard. Students are likely to identify strategies such as: making jokes, using gestures and body language to emphasize a message; making eye contact, etc.
6. Have students reflect on what they learned about delivering engaging oral presentations. Students may write their responses in their dialogue journals or submit their responses as an exit ticket.
   • Identify one “new-for-you” strategy you would like to try out during your upcoming oral presentation. By “new-for-you,” I mean a strategy that you are not in the habit of using. 
   • Why do you want to use this strategy in your presentation?
   • What do you need to feel comfortable actually using this strategy in your upcoming presentation?

Being asked to participate in an improv activity is likely to make some students feel anxious.  Here are some strategies that might help students feel more comfortable playing PowerPoint Karaoke:

• Ensure students have already had at least some opportunity to bond with the rest of their team before playing PowerPoint Karaoke.
• Play an energizing song before starting the presentations.
• On the whiteboard, list the teams in the order in which they will present. That way, students will know when they will be called to the front of the room.
• After each presentation, praise team members for something they did well.
• Don’t force anyone to participate. Once all teams have had the chance to present, you can go back to any teams that “passed” and offer them another chance to play.

Students could play PowerPoint Karaoke to prepare for an upcoming exam.  Instead of assigning playful topics to each group, assign each group a key topic from the course.

The list of presentation strategies generated during the debrief session can be used to create a checklist or a rubric for oral presentation assignments.

PowerPoint Karaoke for Community-building by Equity Unbound