Betcha Could Pecha Kucha

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Betcha Could Pecha Kucha

August 11, 2010. By Peter Lloyd

I went after the word pecha kucha the same way I would any other word I'd never seen before. I'm well trained. "Look it up," my mother used to say whenever I asked what a word meant. In those days, I went to the dictionary. This time I went straight to Wordnik. It came back with, "You're the first person to look up this word on Wordnik!"

I savored my sense of leading the pack till I learned that Pecha kucha has been around since 2003. As I write, you can find pecha kucha events in more that 260 cities worldwide. But if you haven't heard about it, read on. As usual, I'll make some kind of observation having to do with creativity near the conclusion.

A pecha kucha event, traditionally held in the evening, brings together graphic design professionals, usually. Other creative people are beginning to pecha kucha, too. In a typical event, about a dozen daring creatives make presentations. Words and slides. Each presenter gets to show 20 images for no more than 20 seconds each. In those six minutes and 40 seconds the presenter talks about the work on display. Sort of like speed dating for designers and their peers. A great way to showcase creative work and kick around new ideas.

If you haven't heard "pecha kucha" pronounced, listen here. Or say "peh-CHAK-cha" if you can't read this: |ペチャクチャ. It's a Japanese onomatopoea for "chit-chat."

Okay, so what about it? Well, as Russian scientist Andre Linde learned, deadlines make things happen. Deadlines, final warnings, loss of support, drastic change, impending doom, "order now while supplies last," "don't make me pull this car over"... all these time constraints push us into the third essential dimension of gotwantdo—action. Especially when we're emotionally invested in the outcome.

You'll find some great advice on how to put on a good pecha kucha on the Roh Design blog. Plus author Mike Rohde shares his Sketch Notes technique in the video of a pecha kucha presentation he gave in Milaukee.

I'm reminded of the creative writer who came to me with some work and explained, almost apologizing, as he handed it over, "I would have made it shorter but I ran out of time."

See also: Graphic Facilitation.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

171 Right Brain Workouts are available in the 134-page paperback Right Brain Workouts: Aerobic Exercises for the Creative Side of Your Brain.

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