PowerPoint parties and the joy of ‘useless’ knowledge

HAVE you been to a PowerPoint party? In this Gen Z trend, each attendee of the party gives a PowerPoint presentation on a topic that can be serious or downright silly. You could educate your friends on quantum mechanics or critique the top Internet memes of 2023.

While virtual PowerPoint parties emerged during pandemic lockdowns, they remain popular and are even hosted in-person. A colleague recently showed me an elaborate deck of slides on K-dramas that she had prepared for such a party, complete with a breakdown of the metrics she used to rate each drama.

PowerPoint parties speak to the joys of aimless, spontaneous learning. They repurpose a tool associated with the tedium of work and direct fresh energy towards something you actually enjoy or genuinely want to know more about.