I was presenting a session at a Microsoft event recently and was a little surprised to be told there was no PowerPoint Deck template. Usually events are very keen for speakers to use their deck to increase brand awareness to attendees but then again, Commsverse has never been a usual event (in all the good ways)! Instead, we were simply instructed to use our own standard desk and branding. I’d used a couple of different templates in the past when presenting something totally for me, not on behalf of any organisation or event, but only free ones off the internet. With all the possibilities that AI now affords us, I was keen to put something together inline with an idea I’d been toying with for ages.
Power Platform… and Tetris
Long story short, the deck template was a success, and then I thought I’d spin up a new blog site based on it to, migrate a few of my favourite blogs over to it and this is what you are looking at.
Why Tetris?
I really love both Power Platform and Tetris, but the theme is more than just a gimmick. I think that the Microsoft Power Platform is like Tetris in three ways.
- Simple blocks that fit together – In Tetris, you’re arranging blocks of different shapes to complete a line. Power Platform works the same way: Power Apps, Power Automate Flows, Copilot Studio Agents and Dataverse structures are separate “blocks” you snap together to build a complete business solution.
- Low barrier to start, real skill to master – Anyone can drop a block or drag a field onto a canvas. But playing well - or building efficient, scalable flows and apps takes practice, planning, and experience.
- You will end up with some gaps - I’m not so blindly obsessed with the Power Platform to know its faults and failings. Just like Tetris, when you step back and look at what you have “built” you will have some gaps. Power Platform is great but sometimes needs some additional technology solutions to plug these gaps.
What to expect
I’ll be writing about:
- Power Platform - generic Power Platform and Dataverse concepts
- Power Automate - real world Flow design and build content
- Power Apps - canvas apps tips and techniques
- Microsoft Community - what I’ve learned being part of the Microsoft Community and running Experts Live UK
If any of that sounds interesting, stick around.