An evening of PowerPoint raises £320 for the homeless
Leeds digital marketing agency, The Marketing Optimist, raised £320 with a night of PowerPoint presentations for homeless charity Simon on the Streets.
At their event, snappily titled “Get to the Point”, seven speakers talked for just 5 minutes over 20 slides, which changed every 15 seconds, on a range of subjects including the recording career of the Sex Pistols, the science of kissing, Professional Northerners and the rise of coffee shops and the printing press!
It made for a fast-paced, engaging evening that helped to reframe the presentation form. These are definitely not the type of presentations you’d normally expect at a “corporate” networking event.
Over 30 people donated to Simon on the Streets in return for a ticket to the event in February, which was held at office space provider 2-Work’s co-working space in central Leeds.
Richard Michie, CEO of The Marketing Optimist said “In my years in marketing, I’ve seen too many PowerPoint talks that waffle on for hours, never really getting anywhere. So. Get to the Point is a way to have some fun, and maybe show people that presenting with slides can be fun and entertaining.
Each presenter has the same set of restrictions: 20 slides, 15 seconds for each slide, and no business pitches. I control when the slide show starts and ends, so the speakers really do have to know what they are talking about.
This was our second Get to the Point event, and I wanted a way to run the event whilst supporting Simon on the Streets who do so much to support the homeless of West Yorkshire. We’ve supported the charity for the last 7 years, so I’m really pleased we managed to raise so much money for them.”
In addition to the seven planned talks, there were also three Random Challenges where presenters, who had never seen the slides before, had to talk for 2 and a half minutes. These slides really are a test for anyone.
All the talks from this event and previous Get to the Point events are available to see on The Marketing Optimist website and YouTube Channel.