Pecha Kucha (ペチャクチャ ) is a presentation format in which content can be easily, efficiently and informally shown, usually at a public event designed for that purpose. Under the format, a presenter shows 20 images for 20 seconds apiece, for a total time of 6 minutes, 40 seconds.
It was devised in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo's Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa), who sought to give young designers a venue to meet, network, and show their work; and to attract people to SuperDeluxe, the multi-media experimental event space they had set up in Roppongi. They devised a format that kept presentations very concise in order to encourage audience attention and increase the number of presenters within the course of one night. They took the name Pecha Kucha (usually pronounced in three syllables like "peh-chak-cha") from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation ("chit-chat").
Klein and Dytham's event, called Pecha Kucha Night, has spread virally around the world. More than 170 cities now host such events.
Format
A typical Pecha Kucha Night hosts eight to 14 presenters.
Presenters (and much of the audience) are usually from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative fields, but it has also stretched over to academia and the business world. Businesses use the Pecha Kucha format, especially for internal presentations, primarily as a device to limit the length of presentations, force presenters to focus their messages, reduce interruptions, and ultimately avoid "death by Powerpoint".
In Oulu, Finland, is the most northerly Pecha Kucha city in the world, some philosophers use the format. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, several university scientists presented rapid-fire slideshow talks on evolution during a 2009 Darwin Day event. In Los Angeles, a number of geographers have begun to use the format to explain and visually demonstrate their research. Video art has also been presented at some events.
Well-known presenters at Pecha Kucha Nights have included the architects Jun Aoki, Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, designers such as Tom Dixon, Ron Arad, Thomas Heatherwick but also comedians such as Johnny Vegas, actress Joanna Lumley or BBC newscaster Jon Snow.
Some organizers have added their own variations to the format. Variants include Pecha Kucha mash-ups with other Japanese pop-culture contributions: Pecha Kucha karaoke (creating a narrative of someone else's slide show) and Pecha Kucha Iron Chef (duelling presenters competing for audience appreciation). In Groningen, in the Netherlands, two slots are given to a live band, and the final 20 seconds of each presentation consists of an immediate critique of the presentation by the host’s sidekicks.
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