I recently gave my first Pecha Kucha style presentation. I’ve been wanting to for a while, ever since first seeing them at Geekup in Leeds, where the format generally involves much heckling and a trip to the bar if the subject really doesn’t grab you. For the uninitiated Pechakucha is a “lightning” presentation format of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each giving a total presentation time of 6m40s. There’s also a variant called Ignite, mainly used by O’Reilly at their events of the same name, which is 15 seconds a slide.
The kicker is that the slides are set to automatically advance, meaning you either practice what you’re going to say meticulously, or else move the hell on before stuff starts getting thrown at you. It had been at the back of my mind to give it a go for a while and then I attended one of the first Ignite events in the UK, held at OBH in Leeds. It was a revelation, around 20 speakers in 2 hours with a couple of breaks for refreshments and networking. What made it special was the range of topics, we flitted from one idea or concept to the next and even if one didn’t appeal, you knew you were never more than 5 minutes from the next.
One speaker showed some fantastic ways in which people in Africa are using ingenuity and the materials they have to hand to build technological solutions, another spoke about the pitfalls of developing apps for the iPhone and one spoke in depth about coding something so technical that I now can’t remember even the tiniest detail. Special mention however goes to Tom Scott, who’s “My Life in 20 graphs”, had the audience roaring with laughter with a mix of Graphjam style lulz.
What they all had in common was that they were concise, punchy and in at least some measure intriguing, even when they were subjects I wouldn’t normal even consider.
So, finally I bit the bullet and pulled together a presentation of my own. I’d been asked to present my strategic plan for the year to my counterparts from our other offices and was aware it could easily turn into a bit of a stats filled yawnfest (something which I hasten to add my counterparts avoided!) and so tried to use an image led format, although eventually some more traditional bullet points did creep in.
What did I learn:
- Avoid the temptation to have more than one thought per slide, I flip flopped between thinking I wouldn’t have enough slides and having too many and crammed too much in.
- Practice several times out loud, I tried it in my head on the train to London and it’s just not the same.
- When you practice, keep yourself at a measured pace, I have a habit of speaking quickly anyway and it’s easy to almost hyperventilate as you try and get stuff out quickly.
- If you have the prep time, then write a script, learn it, then throw it away (you don’t want to be reading by rote on the night)
On the day itself, the presentation went pretty well, people seemed to like the format and the idea and I almost got a round of applause for making to the end (although I did have to cheat a little halfway through), the main problem was I had too many thoughts per slide. Even three short bullets can easily take more than 20 seconds once you’ve introduced them and added some context. Ideally slides with one picture, or one word on make life much easier. Fortunately I had a written document that accompanied the presentation, so anything I missed will still get picked up later. But at something like an Ignite event there’d be a real danger of missing out vital info.
Would I do it again, absolutely!
My top tip, should you be tempted to cram too much in though, is to sacrifice one slide half way through for a picture of a kitten. After all, you can never have too many kittens…and while people are going awwwwww, you have a chance for a breather and a drink!
Pecha Whatcha? Death to death by PowerPoint
I recently gave my first Pecha Kucha style presentation. I’ve been wanting to for a while, ever since first seeing them at Geekup in Leeds, where the format generally involves much heckling and a trip to the bar if the subject really doesn’t grab you. For the uninitiated Pechakucha is a “lightning” presentation format of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each giving a total presentation time of 6m40s. There’s also a variant called Ignite, mainly used by O’Reilly at their events of the same name, which is 15 seconds a slide.
The kicker is that the slides are set to automatically advance, meaning you either practice what you’re going to say meticulously, or else move the hell on before stuff starts getting thrown at you. It had been at the back of my mind to give it a go for a while and then I attended one of the first Ignite events in the UK, held at OBH in Leeds. It was a revelation, around 20 speakers in 2 hours with a couple of breaks for refreshments and networking. What made it special was the range of topics, we flitted from one idea or concept to the next and even if one didn’t appeal, you knew you were never more than 5 minutes from the next.
One speaker showed some fantastic ways in which people in Africa are using ingenuity and the materials they have to hand to build technological solutions, another spoke about the pitfalls of developing apps for the iPhone and one spoke in depth about coding something so technical that I now can’t remember even the tiniest detail. Special mention however goes to Tom Scott, who’s “My Life in 20 graphs”, had the audience roaring with laughter with a mix of Graphjam style lulz.
What they all had in common was that they were concise, punchy and in at least some measure intriguing, even when they were subjects I wouldn’t normal even consider.
So, finally I bit the bullet and pulled together a presentation of my own. I’d been asked to present my strategic plan for the year to my counterparts from our other offices and was aware it could easily turn into a bit of a stats filled yawnfest (something which I hasten to add my counterparts avoided!) and so tried to use an image led format, although eventually some more traditional bullet points did creep in.
What did I learn:
- Avoid the temptation to have more than one thought per slide, I flip flopped between thinking I wouldn’t have enough slides and having too many and crammed too much in.
- Practice several times out loud, I tried it in my head on the train to London and it’s just not the same.
- When you practice, keep yourself at a measured pace, I have a habit of speaking quickly anyway and it’s easy to almost hyperventilate as you try and get stuff out quickly.
- If you have the prep time, then write a script, learn it, then throw it away (you don’t want to be reading by rote on the night)
On the day itself, the presentation went pretty well, people seemed to like the format and the idea and I almost got a round of applause for making to the end (although I did have to cheat a little halfway through), the main problem was I had too many thoughts per slide. Even three short bullets can easily take more than 20 seconds once you’ve introduced them and added some context. Ideally slides with one picture, or one word on make life much easier. Fortunately I had a written document that accompanied the presentation, so anything I missed will still get picked up later. But at something like an Ignite event there’d be a real danger of missing out vital info.
Would I do it again, absolutely!
My top tip, should you be tempted to cram too much in though, is to sacrifice one slide half way through for a picture of a kitten. After all, you can never have too many kittens…and while people are going awwwwww, you have a chance for a breather and a drink!