Pecha Kucha
Posted on July 14, 2011 by Amy Chatfield | No Comments
What is Pecha Kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha), and what can it do for you?
Pecha Kucha is a creative and fun way to present and view information. The Pecha Kucha format is a simple 20/20; 20 slides of 20 seconds each. That’s a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. If you are a bit bored with PowerPoint, why not shake things up a bit and try Pecha Kucha for your next presentation or meeting? You may be surprised at how challenging it is to pare down you subject and keep yourself on track with your ever-moving slide presentation.
Not only is Pecha Kucha a fun way to present and view information, but it’s a social movement too. The format was created in 2003 in Tokyo as an event for young designers to meet, network and show their work in public. Now many cities around the world host “PechaKucha Nights” with varying themes and presenters – but all with the same 20/20 format. The last time I checked, there were 418 cities hosting a Pecha Kucha event.
The format tends toward the informal and presenters are encouraged to relax and simplify their presentations, perhaps only presenting one to two main points. These are not in-depth or comprehensive treatments of a subject – but a way for people to briefly showcase their talent, passions, or travel. The presentations are brief, focused, and one can see the passions of up to a dozen people in one session. As an example, one person even did a presentation on the four cities he has lived in over the past 20 years, a different city every 5 years. That’s the kind of presentation that can go on forever, but in this case, can only last 6 minutes and 40 seconds – due to the ever-flowing format.
Want to know more? Buzzmaven has great tips to help you prepare and present effectively, and the Avoision blog writers have posted slides and videos of one of their own talks in their “Guide to Making a Pecha Kucha Presentation.”
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