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Pecha what? Pronounced 'pe-chah coot-chah', PechaKucha is a fun and informative event that is slowly taking the world by storm. Special PechaKucha nights are held in various cities where presenters deliver concise and fast-paced presentations on a variety of topics. Each presenter gets 20 slides which are shown for 20 seconds each in which to explain their idea - so each presentation lasts just 6 minutes, 40 seconds.
The aim is to provide a variety of people the opportunity to discuss a topic that they are passionate about. The casual atmosphere of the room makes it the perfect stage to discuss new, interesting or creative ideas.
Presenters tend to be from creative backgrounds, but that doesn't mean it's only for creative's. Everybody from school teachers to builders are welcome to present at a PechaKucha night. You will need to register beforehand and the organizers choose specific people to talk. There are typically between 8 and 14 presentations per night with people talking on their hobbies, research projects, travels, personal collections, town history or any other topic of interest.
PechaKucha, which is Japanese for 'chit-chat', was started in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in Tokyo to allow young designers a way to meet, show off their work, and exchange ideas.
Anyone can organize a PechaKucha evening, but there is only one night series allowed per city, and organizers should produce at minimum of 4 events per year. So either join a PechaKucha in your town; Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town each have one, or start your own series.
The evenings allow the audience to enjoy a flurry of ideas and inspiration in a short space of time, and force the speakers to be engaging and smart in the way they convey their ideas. To find out when the next PechaKucha event is happening in your town go to Cape Town , Johannesburg , or Durban .
Photographs courtesy of Carmen Davila.
