A presentation night is the most fun activity to do on a night in

As I get older, I find myself searching for more productive and wholesome yet educational activities to do with friends to pass the time. While going off campus and visiting new sites is also a fun and new experience, it can really eat up a lot of time and money that many college students can’t afford to sacrifice. So, what’s there to do on a Friday night that’s economical, fun, low effort and easily accessible for everybody?

Last weekend, I was invited to a presentation night at a friend’s apartment, inspired by a once-trendy TikTok activity. Basically, you get a group of friends — or anybody, really; you don’t need to be BFFs — and each of you prepares a hilarious PowerPoint to present to the group. Most of the time, the point of each presentation is either to roast the presenter, an idea, life, fashion, movie, you name it. It’s all about turning a totally mundane thing into a huge, satirical joke that can get the whole room erupting in laughter.

On the other hand, if you’ve run out of ideas, you can literally present “nothing,” which is also hilarious in itself; for example, you might put random pictures of otters and say nothing about it except “Otter.” Your PowerPoint can also consist of random pictures that have no relation to one another, this is sure to get the audience confused and giggling. 

Really, the sky is not your limit; the possibilities are endless in this endeavor. All you’ve got to do is put your eccentricity and creativity to the ultimate test!

The night was, contrary to my initial expectations, actually super fun and feel-good. I found myself super appreciative of how wholesome the idea was as well as the effort we all put into our presentations. Some presenters even took the liberty to fill up each slide with visuals and diagrams, while others took the simpler route and kept it short. I remember saying to the group, “This is such a Hopkins thing to do on a Friday night,” and they seemed to agree. If only students put the same amount of effort into their real schoolwork, right?

One of the presenters took a super out-of-pocket — and, once again, hilarious — route and made a super detailed PowerPoint examining the potential of cross-species relationships in The Bee Movie. She really reached for it, and we all had a grand laugh over it together. 

My own PowerPoint was actually a self-roast titled, “6 Ways Guys Have Very Blatantly Hit On Me and Why They Proved to Be Problematic” that actually had nothing to do with men hitting on me. I used an image of Pennywise the clown as my PowerPoint background (the clown being representative of me, in this case) and made each slide about totally normal things guys will do everyday but overexaggerated it so that I ended up being the joke. For example, for two of my slides, I had said, “When they say ‘Hi,’ but no ring?” and “When a guy agrees with me in class but doesn’t give me the HW answers.”

The night was nice and cozy and definitely a memorable experience, and, in fact, I’m planning on hosting my own presentation night as well. It was seriously that much fun. Add in some blankets, pizza and beverages of choice, and you’re all set.

I encourage you to try out this presentation night idea with your friends when you don’t feel like going out. It’s definitely a versatile and memorable way to spend a night in!