Yeah, we made a whole page for this one, because it’s a little confusing. So, PowerPoint karaoke: what the heck is that? Think of regular karaoke: you’re singing somebody else’s song, with full background vocals, instruments, all that — the only thing missing is the lead vocal, which you provide.
PowerPoint karaoke is like that… but with presentations. You’ve got somebody else’s slide deck, the images on the slides, some bullet points. The only thing missing is the presenter, which is where you come in. Participants will stand up, take the presentation remote, and start presenting without a single idea of what’s coming up next.
At its best it’s madcap and hilarious, and somehow you often end up learning things when you’re not falling out of your chair. And here at Summerland it’s all that, but also: let’s make it pagan. (Because pagans are hilarious and love to share their weird knowledge.)
For this to work, we need people to create some slide decks and send them to us; this page gives some basic parameters.
Deck design
Y’all, this is not death by PowerPoint. So here’s the parameters:
- 10 slides
- Images are great. Picture it: the presenter goes to the next slide, and there’s some baffling image staring out at them. What do they say?? Amazing.
- Text is cool, but less is more. Remember, the point is to see what the presenter will come up, so don’t go explaining it all.
- 24-point text minimum
- three bullet point max
- again: less is more
- Slide 1 should be a title slide with little other text on it
- Mark the final slide somehow, so the presenter knows they’ve got to bring it home. A ’10’ in the corner, or ‘end’, or whatever you like.
FAQs
Do you have more tips on making a good karaoke deck?
PowerPointKaraoke.com has some really great tips on making presentations that are fun to present and watch.
What topics are fair game?
Anything pagan! The weirder the better, the more esoteric the better. This session is marked as being for adults only, so adult topics are welcome, with a few guardrails (see next).
Are there any topics that are off-limits?
This is a fun event. If you’re considering a topic and/or imagery and you think “gosh, this could be really painful for those watching or presenting,” that’s a Bad Choice. Make a different one. This is a judgment call, but help us by making a Good Choice so we don’t have to make it for you.
Two specifics:
- Sex? Sure! But sexual violence/coercion/etc? Nope.
- Violence? A lot of the myths have violence in them, and that’s cool. But intense gore, or a focus on violence rather than passing contextualized discussion? Nope.
Can I submit more than one deck?
We would LOVE that. We anticipate that people may want to participate who haven’t sent in a deck. So please, have at it.
How do I send you My Great PowerPoint Karaoke Deck?
We’ve got options!
- You can upload a PowerPoint file
- Please reduce the size of your file as much as possible; we don’t have unlimited storage. Microsoft has a helpful article on how to reduce PPT file sizes; you can also look for the Compress Pictures… command under the File menu.
- You can share a Google Slides presentation, or link us to a file hosted in the cloud
- Please make sure we can access your presentation/file! Use the Share option and make sure that anybody with the link can view the file, or (for Google Slides) give access to threecranesgrove@gmail.com
- Don’t have PowerPoint or Google Slides? Upload images and text!
- The form will only let you upload one image per slide
- Please reduce image sizes if possible. We don’t need your huge RAW image; a nice 800 or 1000px JPG or PNG will do just fine.
Just let me send you this great stuff!
We thought you’d never ask. Here’s the link to submit your pagan karaoke powerpoint deck.
Because it allows file uploads, Google requires you to be signed in to fill out the form. If you don’t have a Google identity, (1) wow; (2) you can email your submission to threecranes@threecranes.org (Please only email if absolutely necessary; the form makes it so much easier.)
