Pecha Kucha...Gesundheit

A Pecha Kucha is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The idea is that you strip down all of the fluff and filler normally within a PowerPoint presentation. Likewise, the images used within the presentation should be powerful enough to convey your message - hence the limited use of narration. 


I was recently tasked to create a Pecha Kucha presentation for one of my graduate classes. I thought "hey, a PowerPoint presentation in 6 min, 40 seconds...no problem!". However, once I started to outline my presentation I struggled to confine my content to only 20 seconds. It was extremely difficult to convey the messages I needed within such a confined amount of time. I must have recorded over 30 drafts of my presentation, running over the allotted time for each occurrence. I tried to revise sentences, cut out text, and speak slower, but some slides still when over.


Although the idea of keeping presentation short and direct, I am not sure the Pecha Kucha format is entirely necessary. Like any instructional/informative content, only time can measure whether your instruction made an impact on our audience, regardless of the delivery format.

Microsoft Word vs Adobe InDesign

 When it comes to creating learning publication many people choose the tool that they, or their company, have at their disposal - which is either Microsoft Word or Pages for Mac.Both of these graphical work processing programs are just fine for creating print materials; however adding images or updating the content after the fact may prove to be a heartache for some.

Over the course of my studies I have tried using other tools for creating and distributing learning content - one being Adobe InDesign. InDesign is great alternative to word for many reasons:

• Images can be moved to any location on the page without complicated formatting
• Text can be placed in any shape, not just rectangular boxes
• Text "should" always be aligned, regardless of which InDesign version you or your reviewers have
• Make custom style sheets and templates
• Output to PDF or eReader format for mobile devices
• Keep text to single page - formatting won't skew preceding pages

InDesign is only one application I use as an alternative to Microsoft Word. What are some other tools you use? Which ways do you use them?