The first Penn Pecha Kucha Night!
Tuesday, October 6
8:00 PM
Harrison House Sky Lounge
Who?
Ten of your classmates will be giving talks in the Pecha Kucha style, about their research, school work, or intellectual side interests.
What is Pecha Kucha?
Pecha Kucha (usually pronounced “pe-CHAHK-cha,” the Japanese word for the sound of conversation) is a relatively new phenomenon, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in 2003 to combat the trend of “death by powerpoint”. Presenters have 20 powerpoint slides that display for 20 seconds each, for a total time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Since that amount of time is not conducive to lengthy and complex descriptions, presenters are encouraged to take an informal tone and distill the essence of their subject, hopefully stimulating further conversations outside the presentation arena.
Why Pecha Kucha?
Why, you might ask, would you want to use Powerpoint, the source of all death-by-bulletpoint presentations? Well, Powerpoint is simply a tool that can be used to craft presentations, both good and bad. What Pecha Kucha intends to teach is that slides can be used to reinforce your message instead of taking attention (both the audience’s and yours) away from what you’re saying. Think of Stephen Colbert’s “The Word” segment for inspiration—talk with the slides instead of reading or explaining them.
How can I present next time?
Email and let him know that you are interested in presenting next time around. We will most likely have another event early in the Spring semester of 2010.
Where can I find more information about Pecha Kucha?
The first place to go would be YouTube, for over a thousand examples of Pecha Kucha.
There is also a great article on the phenomenon at Wired.com.
Some detailed tips can be found at AQ Works
We should also acknowledge the advice and support of Philly Pecha Kucha; without their (and specifically Jon McEuen’s) help, we would not be getting this going.