This past year, many at-home trends have emerged on the relatively new social app, TikTok, as teens and young adults struggle to entertain themselves while stuck in self-isolation. The latest virtual trend that has circulated around TikTok and other platforms is PowerPoint parties.
Since social gatherings violate public health guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19, drinking online with friends has become an increasingly popular way for young adults to harness their inner party animals. But there are a few things that make PowerPoint parties quite different from your average Zoom happy hour.
According to an article for Vox, PowerPoint parties feature presentations put together by participants with the goal of persuading friends to agree with a particular viewpoint, informing them on an issue or just focusing the group conversation.
The presentation topics are oftentimes humorous, or even inane, and frequently incorporate the party-goers themselves, whether it features each guest as a different non-human entity or ranks different aspects of the guests’ personalities or lives.
According to Vox, the parties also allow for a humorous and fun outlet during what has been a very difficult time for many. While PowerPoint parties are typically done over a virtual platform like Zoom, they can also be done in person.
Cal Poly junior Bailey Sweaney participated in an in-person “Girls Night” PowerPoint party earlier this month after seeing the trend on TikTok. Sweaney said she and her friends each created their own presentations before getting together and surprising each other with their topics.
“It was really fun because all of us kind of did our own thing and had a good laugh about it,” Sweaney said. “It was interesting to see what everyone came up with because everyone’s were so different.”
According to Sweaney, her presentation rated her friends’ ex-boyfriends and one of her friends did a PowerPoint on which type of pasta noodle each participant was.
“It was really funny,” Sweaney said. “But coming up with something to put on your PowerPoint that you think is going to make people laugh is so hard.”
Similar to Sweaney’s experience, Dominican University of California junior Meheak Singh has participated in two PowerPoint parties with her close friends from high school. According to Singh, the PowerPoint parties not only offer a safe way to socialize during the pandemic, but also a new way to enhance her friendships.
“It was a really great way to connect with each other on a deeper level,” Singh said. “Especially because we’ve all been friends since high school, so I feel like we know everything about each other, so it’s cool to do something that’s still nice and fresh.”
The two PowerPoint parties that Singh participated in were themed, with one of them being in celebration of “Friendsgiving” and the other as a creative “Secret Santa” reveal. Singh said that some of the presentations she and her friends made included one that matched her friends personalities with a specific dog breed and another that made political profiles for different ice cream brands.
“They ended up turning out really cool and we loved them,” Singh said. “I love how creative you can be with it.”
With online school, PowerPoint parties can also provide a safe way to socialize in clubs and organizations. Mustang News sports reporter Austin McLellan said he planned a PowerPoint party for all of Mustang Media Group (MMG) to participate in after the editor-in-chief asked him to help plan some social activities for the student organization.
“Doing fun things in an online space is extremely difficult,” McLellan said. “It’s extremely difficult to get people interested, let alone even come and show up.”
After seeing some PowerPoint parties on TikTok, McLellan says he came up with the idea to host a Zoom PowerPoint party with different MMG sections presenting to each other why their section is the best one.
“I realized I had to do something that would be easy to do and that could get people intrigued very quickly,” McLellan said. “Nothing gets people excited like competition.”
McLellan also said that the virtual event allowed him to see different sides of the other MMG members.
“It really can show what different people find funny and I love that,” McLellan said. “Seeing other people make that effort is really cool, especially people that you don’t normally talk to.”
While McLellan said he appreciates the fact that virtual PowerPoint parties allow participants to safely socialize during the COVID-19 pandemic, he also said that he thinks it might be more entertaining to do in person.
“During these PowerPoint nights, you are just talking to the computer praying that people find it funny because you can’t see their reactions,” McLellan said. “It would have been a lot better if we could have had a live PowerPoint night where we could get people’s live reactions.”
Despite this, McLellan said he felt that the virtual event was a success and allowed participants to get to know each other more.
“It definitely shows off different talents, different niches,” McLellan said. “People have very different approaches to how they did their presentations and I think it’s really cool because it can demonstrate quite a bit of the different perspectives within Mustang News.”
While the PowerPoint party trend arose and spread during the COVID-19 pandemic as a new way of socializing during social distancing and self-isolation, it seems to have become more than just a temporary substitute for in-person gatherings. Though they are referred to as parties as they typically involve alcoholic drinks and socializing, PowerPoint parties also require creative planning from each participant — something unique to this particular activity.
Whether or not this trend will actually stick around once it is safe to reunite in person has yet to be determined, but in the meantime it can continue to provide a creative outlook or just a good laugh.