Pecha Kucha: the future of debriefs?

 

Ever heard of Pecha Kucha? 

It's a new presentation style from Japan that is an onomatopoeic expression denoting the 'pitter-patter' or chatter of conversations. It's pronounced peh-tcha koo-tcha.

It developed in Tokyo in 2003, it requires the presenter(s) to speak on 20 slides for 20 seconds per slide (that's 6 mins 40 seconds) as a way of keeping the audience's interest and to keep content concise. It has proven popular in the business world and although is demanding on the presenter to keep it all on time.

That means it's quite an art. I have been advised that it is best to have only a small amount of words on each slide, and keep it largely image based. It also looks best unscripted using each slide as stimulus material.

I tried it recently at a conference and would recommend it's best to start off with notes unless you're feeling particularly confident /adventurous to say what you want with out waffling.

Here is a video of a Pecha Kucha presentation.

It would be good to know of any experiences you've had. You never know, it could be the future of research debriefs.

Simon