20×20 and the Wisdom of Pecha Kucha

Twenty slides, twenty seconds each.

In 2003, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of the design firm Klein Dytham Architecture in Tokyo devised a presentation format that deviated from the boring, wordy and antagonizingly long and random powerpoint presentations. Unfortunately, not all persons with good ideas are concise and quick with excellent presentation skills.

Enter Pecha Kucha.

Derived from a Japanese word which means “chit chat,” Pecha Kucha is a presentation format wherein slides are each programmed to advance automatically within 20 seconds. There’s no reverting to the previous slides as the presentation is designed to keep moving forward. It is quite a challenge for the presenter to race with the slides and provide a concise and quick description of their subject matter.

No time to dilly-dally

The beauty here is that there is no time to dilly-dally, the presenter stays focused and the audience stays transfixed. The format limits a presentation to all of three minutes and 40 seconds.

With a fast-paced presentation, the quick flipping of images makes the delivery interesting and active.

Klein Dytham took this format a step further, and for the fun and love of design, introduced “Pecha Kucha Night,” a party-like gathering held in a club or bar, or any place or  space where one could enjoy a drink—and think at the same time. The first Pecha Kucha Night was held in the design firm’s own club in Tokyo named SuperDeluxe. But not all Pecha Kucha need to be held in a party-like setting. It is after all, all about content.

So what do people present? Since this started off from an architect’s and a designer’s perspective, most people exhibited their design projects. Others presented some aspect of a project that they found interesting—like a design feature—and expounded on how that has impacted the overall design concept. In my own design office, we had a Pecha Kucha year-ender in December 2012  within the conference room, where each of our staff had to put together slides relating to a project they had worked on for that year.

Lots of imagination

Aside from fostering camaraderie and updating each other on what jobs each had been working on, it also revealed, much to my delight, lots of imagination. We had some very creative presentations by untapped talents in our staff who, in the past, had not had a chance in presenting their design and documentation work to an audience. And that is the beauty of Pecha Kucha: It is a venue for expression where there are no fixed rules but the 20×20, and you go by your own style.

But Pecha Kucha is not limited to aesthetic content. Because of its short and concise structure, the format is being used for school and business presentations. People have presented in 20×20 their business plans, fashion design, travel experiences, personal foibles and collections of photos. Pecha Kucha can be just about anything.

Since  inception, Pecha Kucha Nights have spread globally. In September 2013, they held a Global Night where 699 cities  within their own time zones all over the world participated. And the numbers have been growing.

You can log on to their website www.pechakucha.org to watch some of the presentations that have been uploaded. You can select them like you do Youtube videos, except that these are more educational, much like watching Ted videos, with topics spanning from design to philosophy, food to heroes.  I love words and I love images, so this format is perfect entertainment for me. Most are a joy to watch: quick flipping images and concise discussion. There’s no need to party with others for now, you’ll enjoy it as much on your own.

Contact the author through [email protected] or through our Asuncion Berenguer  Facebook account.