What is Powerpoint?

Powerpoint is the improv game built around a slide deck nobody chose on purpose. Two teams split up, each finds a real Powerpoint file online — the more baffling or oddly specific the topic, the better — and each team writes 5 phrases the other side has to work into their delivery. Then the decks swap: the presenting team drives slides they've never seen before, cold, no rehearsal.

It works because two constraints collide in real time: you can't prepare for a deck you didn't build, and you can't skip the 5 phrases sitting on the whiteboard. The room ends up watching someone thread a required non sequitur into a slide about, say, industrial adhesives — and everyone's listening that hard specifically to catch the moment it lands.

It's built for a group that's already a little comfortable together — original guidance pegs it at ages 16 and up, and cold public speaking with zero prep can spike anxiety fast in a new or younger group. It also assumes real device and internet access on the spot; no laptops, no game.

The rules

Split into 2 teams, ideally 2–4 people each.
Each team finds a real Powerpoint file online — the odder or more technical, the better.
Each team writes 5 phrases the other side must work into their delivery, in any order.
Teams swap decks — the presenting team gets the other side's slides cold, no rehearsal.
Delivery and phrase-smuggling are what's judged, not whether anyone understood the slides.
Judging is optional; the game works with or without a scoreboard.

Before you start

Group size: 4–8 people, split into 2 teams. Lean toward the smaller end — a team of 2 keeps every voice in the actual speech, while a team of 4 leaves room for someone to hide in the back.
You'll need laptops and a shared screen. Each team needs a device to search for and open a Powerpoint file, plus a projector or shared screen so the whole room watches the slides land in real time.
A whiteboard for the 5 phrases. Write both teams' phrase lists somewhere everyone can see. The whole game rides on the room, and the presenter, actually remembering them mid-speech.
Built for ages 16 and up. Cold public speaking with zero prep asks for a level of composure a younger group may not have banked yet — save this one for older teens and adults.
Judges are optional. Bring in judges only if the group wants a declared winner. Skip them and the improvisation still carries the whole game on its own.

How to run it

Split into 2 teams 1–2 min
Divide the group into 2 teams of ideally 2 to 4 people — big enough that a single speech doesn't collapse alone, small enough that everyone still gets a turn.
Each team hunts down a deck 10–15 min
Send both teams online to find a Powerpoint file. Reward whoever comes back with the strangest, most technical, or most oddly specific topic.
Write the 5 required phrases 3–5 min
Each team writes 5 phrases for the other side to work into their speech, then puts the list on the whiteboard where the presenting team can see it.
Present, cold 5–10 min
Show one team's slides and have the other team deliver a live, unrehearsed speech built from them — weaving in every required phrase along the way.
Flip the deck, then optionally judge 8–15 min
Give the second team its turn presenting the other deck, then bring in judges only if the group wants one to decide a winner.

← nobody polishes the deck. the five phrases are the trap.

Facilitator tips

Pre-vet the decksInstead of turning teams loose on the open web, hand each one a folder of 3 or 4 pre-selected Powerpoint files. It keeps the topics diverse and work-appropriate instead of whatever a live search turns up.

Give the quiet ones a phrase to landSplit delivery so every teammate has at least one required phrase to say out loud — nobody should get to stand at the back while one confident talker carries the whole deck.

Score the effort, not the accuracyIf judges are in, have them judge delivery and phrase-smuggling, not whether anyone actually understood the slides. That's what keeps a shaky topic from feeling like a loss.

Let a nervous team pick their own deckIf someone's uneasy about public speaking, let their team choose a topic they already know a little about — the required phrases are hard enough without an unfamiliar subject stacked on top.

Why it works

Public speaking with the safety net removedThere's no script and no prep time, so the game forces real improvisation — thinking on your feet under mild, low-stakes pressure builds a muscle a rehearsed talk never touches.

Active listening, weaponizedThe audience has to track exactly when the 5 required phrases land, which means every word of a teammate's speech about, say, refrigeration units gets the room's full attention.

Small teams have to think as oneDelivering the speech together means teammates hand off mid-sentence and cover each other's dead air — a kind of live coordination a solo icebreaker never asks for.

Creativity under a deadline you can't see comingWeaving a pre-written phrase into an unrelated slide, live, is a real creative constraint — the best speeches are the ones where the phrase sounds like it belongs there.

HELLO, MY NAME ISJon

"This is the one I reach for when a team's comfortable enough to look a little ridiculous together. The deck is out of your hands, the phrases are non-negotiable, and somehow that combination makes people funnier than an actual script ever would."

Jon Zajac · Founder & Chief Icebreaker

Reflection questions

For classrooms, trainings, or a team that wants the debrief — these turn improvised chaos into an actual conversation about public speaking.

What was the most challenging part of delivering the impromptu speech?Gets people naming the real pressure point — usually the improvising, not the phrases.
How did you find ways to work the required phrases into your speech?The answer is basically a peek at how each person's brain solves a live constraint.
What helped you stay focused while you were up there?A concentration question that doubles as a tip everyone can steal for their next presentation.
How did the slides themselves shape what you ended up saying?Surfaces how much a visual can steer improvisation — useful well beyond this game.
What did you notice watching the other team improvise?People remember the other team's speech better than their own — this question cashes that in.
Where else could you use this kind of on-the-spot thinking — a class, a meeting, a pitch?Names the transferable skill out loud instead of leaving it implicit.