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.
I completely agree with your opinion/assessment of Pecha Kucha. I think it was by far the most annoying and time consuming project I have ever done. I am a naturally loquacious person who teaches literature and I am a writer who writes and writes and writes while still worrying if have covered everything I want to say :)))
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for educators/ facilitators/ IDs to be concise but how far can you get the message across in such a short time? I do realize that this kind of exercise will be great for certain topics but not for everything. But I think if I want to make my students' lives difficult, I might ask them to do such a project!!!
Cheers Jason!
Thanks for the post Jason,
ReplyDeleteI have actually never heard of Pecha Kucha. I appreciate the quick summary you gave of this presentation type. Although I have yet to use it, it seems like it would be better for motivating the audience than actually delivering content? It's nice to be familiar with new presentation styles, but as you stated this one seems difficult to create.
I found the Pecha Kucha presentation interesting and challenging for sure, but like you, I sort of felt that letting the number and length of slides drive the presentation seemed backwards. On the plus side, I really did like the emphasis on visual engagement with few or no words. Overall, I thought it was a worthwhile format to explore. But I also don't think I'll use it that often (if at all) in my job.
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