Slide Karaoke is also known as powerpoint karaoke or battledecks. It is an improvisational format in which different participants (single or with others as a team) present slide decks they have never seen before to an audience.
This format is great for practicing ones presentation and rhetoric skills.
Our slide decks are built to be entertaining and always provide a small twist, while at the same time providing some level of basic guidance so that noone has to be scared to participate.
The decks from Slide Karaoke have an extent of 10 to 15 slides usually. These are typically image-heavy, so there's not too much to read or digest at the same time.
Further, they have animations and auto-transition turned on which limits the presentation time to 5-7 minutes. All slides are also numbered so that the presenter will have a good idea on how much there is still to come.
Rule No. 1
The presenter is not allowed to see the slides before the presentation
Rule No. 2
The presenter must present each slide - skipping is not allowed
Rule No. 3
The presentation is completed when the presenter reached the feedback-part - which s/he moderates
Rule No. 4
The audience shall be fair and doesn't interrupt or disturb the presenter
(Rule No. 5)
It's a game - so don't be too serious!
Playing Slide Karaoke is about learning and having fun. Therefore, it is best to do when people are able or willing to loosen up.
Typically, this is
- before a larger break (e.g. after the analytical working sessions in the morning and prior to the lunch-break)
- in the afternoon (when most people have their daily "trough")
- in the evening as fun event
For events during regular working-time, you can certainly use "training" decks and voila you have a training or workshop session! For evening events though, you may want to select more the fun-fact decks to have a cool team event!
The duration of the whole event can take longer, for the "core agenda"(see below) a block of 60 minutes is recommended.
1. Welcome (5 mins)
2. Explaining the game & rules (5 mins)
3. Presentations & mini-feedbacks (~8mins each, 5 presentations = ~40minutes)
4. Voting (5 mins)
5. Award ceremony (optional)
Either if there's a break afterwards or you have scheduled time anyways (as teamevent), people will keep exchanging on how it's been!
Certainly, you want to have a nice space to play Slide Karaoke. This includes the following
- room or area where you don't get interrupted
- large display (big TV or screen and projector)
- one computer that runs the presentations (should have powerpoint or keynote)
Of course, the setup should be tested before the event to ensure everything is working smoothly.
In addition, everybody should be able to properly see both the presentation and presenter. For this, you may want to slightly rearrange the tables and chairs.
Not always may in-person be possible, but you can of course also play it together online!
For this, you can use any conference software (zoom, google meet, goto, teams, webex, etc.) with the standard setup.
We highly recommend that everybody turns on their camera during the presentations to make it easier for the presenters.
Further, for this format, having all presentations in one slide-deck together with the auto-advance-option makes it super easy. This way, the presenters can focus on their #1 job: presenting. (and you're lucky, we have realized exactly that with our sets!)
You should be a minimum of 4 people with everyone holding a presentation, which works well already as a training session.
Of course, more people are better and the atmosphere becomes more intense. With crowds of 7 to 15 people, you'll still have the mix of "everybody will present" and "good audience mass".
When the audience grows larger than 15 people, you may want to switch to volunteer presenters.
For smaller teams or groups up to 15 people, we recommend having everybody present, either alone or together with a partner. Remember, it's also about learning - and everybody should grab this opportunity!
When you deal with a larger group, it makes sense to find volunteers beforehand, e.g. via online form. If you have a hard time, remember the following:
- Set a good example and volunteer yourself
- Allow presenter duos
- Reach out to some people directly and encourage them to volunteer
- A nice price for the winner may help as well
That is normal most of the time - and also the reason why many people never try out the real karaoke.
It may be that when you suggest it, you experience some resistance of your team members. If it's persistent, you may want to refrain from running it as a team event (where people usually should volunteer). However, you can in that case just run it as a (mandatory) team training. In that case, it's likely a funnier format than the usual trainings - so there shouldn't be much resistance.
During the event, you can set a good example and start yourself. Further, you can allow them to present as duos which makes it a lot easier!
When you choose a set, it's super easy! We've bundled everything together into one single presentation for the event. Thus, after you've walked everybody through the introduction and told everybody their presenting position, you can lean back and enjoy the show.
When you pick individual slides, you best create a folder with all the presentations and use the feedback "breaks" between the presentations to open the next one.
Okay, so the basic variant is super simple: People get a slide deck they’ve never seen before -and then they present it.
However, feel free to adapt it!
- The team (or you) likes it competitive? Add a voting and award ceremony! (We consider it a default)
- Your team is too big? Allow presenting with a partner (which also reduces stress for most)
- Turn off the auto-advance setting and instead provide a timer (can be a mobile phone) which further trains time management
- Or go more crazy and define upfront a slide number that the participant has to present like a pantomime, so without words.
Of course, you are not limited to that - be creative and enjoy!
One more thing: When doing it as a training, you may want to take some additional time in between the presentations (e.g. 10minutes) to discuss the topics and individual experiences etc.
In case you want to have it competitive, you need some voting of course.
Note that the judging happens at the end when all participants have completed their presentations.
Here are some common ways of voting:
Option 1: Audience Applause Have the audience applaud for each presenter. Whoever gets the loudest applause is the winner. (Pro-tip: Use a "decibel meter" app for the result)
Option 2: Audience Vote Prepare a poll and let everybody choose who provided the best show. For polls you can for instance use google forms. But most webconferencing tools have poll-functionality included. In general you'll just ask for who did the best presentation and people select their favorite.
Option 3: Jury Name up to 5 people part of the jury and give them Scoring Cards (included in the prep deck that you'll receive when purchasing slides) that they'll show after each performance - rating each participant on a 1 to 10 scale.
Judging is done at the end, when all presentations have been completed. Here are some ideas for you how to evaluate the performance
Presentation Flow
- How seemless was the presentation?
- How well was the story conveyed?
Presence
- How were facial expressions, gestures and voice?
- How confident did the presenter seem?
Entertainment
- Were you entertained?
- How did others react?
- Did the time fly?
The judging happens at the end of a Slide Karaoke event - but immediate feedback is important to learn.
Therefore, after each presentation, each of the below questions are asked:
- What went well?
- What could have been better?
- What is your #1 key take-away?
To ensure this, at the end of each presentation, there is one feedback slide with the above 3 questions. The presenter picks one person per question. Of course, everybody shall feel encouraged to volunteer.
In case you're in the business world, you can highlight that running a session via slidekaraoke is actually pretty cheap. It's self-hosted (so you don't have to pay any external trainers etc.) and everything is available (so practically itsaves money compared to you (or a co-worker invests 1+ hrs in preparing a proper session. And trust me, to do it nicely takes alot more than that).
Still no budget? No problem!
Slidekaraoke is pretty new and so we can help each other out. Text me (contact formular) and tell me about the session you would like to host. Also, let me know in what form you could support Slidekaraoke (e.g. post via LinkedIn, Instagram, direct feedback etc) given that you had anice event. So, just reach out!
There is something else you want to know? Just text me!
