destroy powerpoint
Destroy PowerPoint is a set of ultra-short stories about PowerPoint presentations, using PowerPoint technology to tell the tales. Through his unique, funny and profound stories of a complex corporate world, David demonstrates how PowerPoint dominates, destroys and pollutes workplace communication but reveals that the spirit thrives despite everything.
The stories are about how PowerPoint tries to make order out of corporate chaos. They show the comic and tragic stories behind all those bullet points, flow charts and jolly clip art. For example, when Bob the office PowerPoint maestro leaves, what will his ex-mistress’s farewell presentation be like? Claire is in love with Harry, but should she tell him through the medium of PowerPoint? Why does Mathew give a PowerPoint presentation about tongue action to the management board? Beatrice’s job is to click when Adrian nods, so is it a good idea to reveal her innermost thoughts to the whole conference? What would happen if a lone home worker had to deliver a PowerPoint presentation to himself? And imagine a PowerPoint presentation whose sole aim is to stop the audience thinking...
David says: "I’ve worked in many public service jobs - as a debt counselor, a trainer, a funding officer, and a legal consultant - and I’ve been subjected to hundreds of PowerPoint presentations and delivered many as well. I began to wonder about the format - did PowerPoint release creativity within the workforce or stifle it? I wanted to test this out and my specialism being what I call sawn-off tales - micro stories of only a few hundred words long - I wondered what it would be like to use PowerPoint as a format to tell stories. It would be the workplace talking to itself - dreaming about itself - in the only language it knows. The stories would be about people delivering PowerPoint presentations and, in traditional PowerPoint style, every word would appear on the screen."
Destroy PowerPoint has been performed at Manchester Literature Festival, Birmingham Book Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Wigan Literature Festival and at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool, and is supported by Arts Council England.
“David Gaffney’s wonderful hour of storytelling does not do what it promises, it does not destroy PowerPoint… In seeking to subsume PowerPoint, it seems that David Gaffney has become its master”
City Life
Read more reviews of Destroy PowerPoint here.
You can read the Destroy PowerPoint story Magic Change-Curve Boots here.
Read an article about PowerPoint by David in The Guardian here.
To book a performance of Destroy PowerPoint at your conference or event contact David here .
Read more about PowerPoint here.
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The stories are about how PowerPoint tries to make order out of corporate chaos. They show the comic and tragic stories behind all those bullet points, flow charts and jolly clip art. For example, when Bob the office PowerPoint maestro leaves, what will his ex-mistress’s farewell presentation be like? Claire is in love with Harry, but should she tell him through the medium of PowerPoint? Why does Mathew give a PowerPoint presentation about tongue action to the management board? Beatrice’s job is to click when Adrian nods, so is it a good idea to reveal her innermost thoughts to the whole conference? What would happen if a lone home worker had to deliver a PowerPoint presentation to himself? And imagine a PowerPoint presentation whose sole aim is to stop the audience thinking...
David says: "I’ve worked in many public service jobs - as a debt counselor, a trainer, a funding officer, and a legal consultant - and I’ve been subjected to hundreds of PowerPoint presentations and delivered many as well. I began to wonder about the format - did PowerPoint release creativity within the workforce or stifle it? I wanted to test this out and my specialism being what I call sawn-off tales - micro stories of only a few hundred words long - I wondered what it would be like to use PowerPoint as a format to tell stories. It would be the workplace talking to itself - dreaming about itself - in the only language it knows. The stories would be about people delivering PowerPoint presentations and, in traditional PowerPoint style, every word would appear on the screen."
Destroy PowerPoint has been performed at Manchester Literature Festival, Birmingham Book Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Wigan Literature Festival and at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool, and is supported by Arts Council England.
“David Gaffney’s wonderful hour of storytelling does not do what it promises, it does not destroy PowerPoint… In seeking to subsume PowerPoint, it seems that David Gaffney has become its master”
City Life
Read more reviews of Destroy PowerPoint here.
You can read the Destroy PowerPoint story Magic Change-Curve Boots here.
Read an article about PowerPoint by David in The Guardian here.
To book a performance of Destroy PowerPoint at your conference or event contact David here .
Read more about PowerPoint here.
< Back
Home
See photos here of David delivering the Destroy PowerPoint stories at The Castle Hotel in Manchester in 2011.
