While on my Winter Break, I'm taking an online course in "Business and Interpersonal Communications" to get ahead in my minor in Entrepreneurship in the Fine Arts, which I'm pursuing at IUP to learn better how to professionally sell my work as an artist. This evening, I wrote a report on a new oral and visual presentation method, called Pecha-Kucha, that I feel would be excellent for artists and all like innovators to keep in mind:
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CONCEPT
“Pecha-Kucha,” Japanese for “chit-chat,” is a new method for oral presentation invented in Tokyo in 2003. The presentation form consists of the display of twenty images by a presenter, who is allowed twenty seconds to speak each slide before the next appears automatically; this makes for a six minute, forty second show that is to the point. The idea of Pecha-Kucha, then, is to make presentations more interesting, fast-paced, concise, and accessible. The official website for Pecha-Kucha jokes “Give a microphone and some images to an architect—or most creative people for that matter—and they'll go on forever!”1 Pecha-Kucha prevents this, encourages concision, and focuses on what it considers is really important: the relaxed sharing of one’s work, whether said person be an engineer, an artist, or a child who likes to color.
USES
Pecha-Kucha was initially created as Pecha-Kucha Night by its devisors and architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. Centralized on the idea of informal sharing of one’s projects, the original Pecha-Kucha Night took place in the relaxed atmosphere of Tokyo’s “gallery, lounge, bar, club, [and] creative kitchen” called SuperDeluxe1. There, younger designers attempted to network while sharing their projects. Afterward, the events virally spread across the globe to become a common practice for exposing one’s work to the public, especially for those in creative roles. Wired’s 2007 article on the phenomenon stated Pecha-Kucha Nights had been organized in eighty cities internationally, and the program’s website estimates 230 today. The Pecha-Kucha website also advocates uses of the Pecha-Kucha technique outside of the social nights, such as for everyday school and business usage. Research revealed private blogs and websites about Pecha-Kucha’s use as part of teaching language skills generally. Pecha-Kucha is setting up learning and corporate programs to follow suit, and licenses the program to events and conventions in order to improve the presentations involved in these areas.
An Example of a Simple Pecha-Kucha on Design
BENEFITS
Pecha-Kucha brings a number of benefits to the presentation formatting table. Founder Mark Dytham touched on the essence of them when discussing how Tokyo was an ideal start-up location: “…people are a lot more relaxed here…a very level playing field…Nobody has these massive egos here like they do in the West. There’s a bit more of a collaborative feel in Tokyo.” 2 Indeed, a key success factor for Pecha-Kucha was its relaxed style that did ‘level’ the ‘playing field’ for participants and encouraged more open, collaboratively minded reception of ideas. The website cites incidents such as one founder’s five-year-old daughter presenting her artwork. The fact that this is possible, and that Pecha-Kucha nights are socially enjoyable despite consisting of presentations alone, embodies the beneficial spirit of the theory of Pecha Kechu.
DRAWBACKS
On the surface, research showed no negative feedback to the concept of or events including Pecha-Kucha. However, there are overt drawbacks in the format with which some may disagree. For example, all those who present at Pecha-Kucha Night give up some rights or licenses to what is presented, and especially release the right to reproduce their recorded presentation. Additionally, it could be argued that although more freeing, interesting and concise, Pecha-Kucha’s format is limiting. There is no discussion available about how to handle the presentation of an amount of information that is simply too large for the Pecha-Kucha style. I would argue that all that is required here is to simply refocus one’s presentations in such a way that the attention of the audience is assuredly held.
COMPARISONS
Wired’s article claimed that inventor Dytham “turned PowerPoint, that fixture of cubicle life, into both art form and competitive sport…that the rules [of Pecha-Kucha] have a liberating effect...[Dytham] says, ‘there's no preciousness in people's presentations.’ Just poetry.” 3 Alongside traditional presentation types like PowerPoint, then, it seems that Pecha Kechu maintains more audience interest and entertainment than PowerPoint presentations, which most sites and articles criticize for often becoming too long, too detailed, and too similar. However, I have personally not heard of or seen Pecha-Kechu presentations utilized in classroom or business settings despite some evidence existing online. The PowerPoint or similarly unrestrictive presentations, according to unending amounts of advice online, can be made interesting and kept effective when ‘done right’ in order to avoid the infamous ‘death by PowerPoint.’ Thusly, as of now, Pecha Kechu seems to remain in the social and creative sector while PowerPoint maintains a hold on academia and business.
REFERENCES
2. Snow, Jean. “20/20 Vision,” Metropolis. 2006. Japanese-English Magazine Online. http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/637/feature.asp
Pink, Daniel H. “Pecha-Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides Then Sit the Hell Down,” Wired Magazine. Condé Nast Digital, 2009. US Technology Magazine.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha#
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha#
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I think that Pecha-Kucha as a concept is perfectly applicable to the artistic process. We all have sat through Visiting Artist talks that have put us to sleep, and all gotten carried away in talking about our own artwork during critiques. The "get to the point, and sit the **** down" mentality of Pecha-Kucha can largely solve this. Check out this awesome Pecha Kucha on "Art, Sport, and Passion" that I believe does this.
Pecha Kucha Nights themselves, which seem to occur as frequently as monthly depending on the area, are great opportunities. Think of the possible people one, as an artist, could meet that could help fund, constructively critique, or collaborate with one's discu
ssed or proposed work. It's an exciting concept, and Pittsburgh just hosted one this past October, so maybe in a few months I'll have a post about my first Pecha Kechu Art experience! In the meantime, explore on your own:
ssed or proposed work. It's an exciting concept, and Pittsburgh just hosted one this past October, so maybe in a few months I'll have a post about my first Pecha Kechu Art experience! In the meantime, explore on your own:
Pecha-Kucha in Pittsburgh, something I plan to look into attending soon!
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