Slow Down Fast: How to Give a PK Presentation

Pecha Kucha Dayton Volume 7 is at Yellow Cab, 700 East 4^th, next Thursday, June 30 at 7:30pm. It’s free. Our sponsor, Dragonfly Editorial, is providing the beer. Eight speakers will present their

creations and ideas using the fast-paced 20×20 presentation style. Twenty slides that roll by at 20 seconds each, forcing the speaker to be brief but intense. Like a shot of espresso. You should try it.

PK has been called “beat the clock performance art,” a “chaotic culture mash with a relaxed vibe,” and “both an art form and competitive sport.” If the presenter tries to say too much, the slides can get ahead of them, “like they are being dragged down the street by a big dog chasing a squirrel.”

Strangely, despite the strict 20×20 rule, there’s freedom to innovate. It’s one of those things artists understand: you can be adventurous within tight boundaries. Which is maybe another reason you should try it.

The goal of Pecha Kucha is to highlight the energy of ideas in a party atmosphere. PK speakers are thinkers and doers from all walks. Designers, artists, writers, activists and anyone passionate about their work who can tell a story. Storytelling is key. Architects don’t just show pictures of their work. They reveal their inspirations, the creative process, their mistakes, their epiphanies and their hopes. Or gourd art. Or funk, as has happened. And it was fascinating.

Your topic can consist of anything that has grabbed your imagination and compels you to share. At Volume 7, artist and art professor Kevin Harris has titled his presentation “Tread.” Kevin creates drawings and prints combining traditional and digital art media, mind and body, eye and hand, camera and computer, printer and press. Writer J.T. Ryder will tell how he ended up producing the “Dirty Little Secret Variety Show.” Idea guy/politico David Esrati presents “The end of coin flip politics” or how to put the people you really want in charge. Actress Megan Cooper will tell of life without a car, restaurateur Kimberly Collett will share the ongoing saga of Olive, Kidtee Hello will treat us to her strikingly beautiful photography and Jeff Opt, Creative Circus, will explain how we all ended up at the Yellow Cab building listening to him and drinking beer.

Pecha Kucha Night is one of those things that feels different every time. It’s dependent on the space, the speakers, the beer (beer is the other PK rule) and the zeitgeist. So you never know. But seriously? You should try it.

The worldwide phenomenon Pecha Kucha (Japanese for “chatter”), devised in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo‘s Klein-Dytham Architecture, has gone around the world virally. Today, PK nights are 418 cities worldwide. www.pecha-kucha.org. Dayton was granted its own PKN via a handshake agreement with Klein-Dytham for four volume per year minimum. Matt Sauer, architect with Rogero-Buckman, serves as Dayton’s PK coordinator with the help of Jill Davis, a local freelance writer. Jason Sheets, architect at Moda4 Design is the MC, which seems to be a more agreeable term than smartass. They’ve all tried it. It was fun.

This post submitted by guest columnist Jill Davis, one of the driving forces that brought Pecha Kucha to Dayton, and who continues to recruit, promote and nurture the presenters that make each PK night a unique sensation.