Inspiration comes in many forms and what inspires one person may cause another to run a mile.

“An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.”

How many times have you been to a presentation or gone round a friend’s house and looked at pictures of a holiday or some interesting architecture and yet been bored out of your mind? I’m not saying the pictures aren’t interesting or you aren’t interested in your friend’s holiday but when you’ve been there for hours and you’re only half way through, something’s got to give!

Here is where Mark and Astrid’s Pecha Kucha comes into its own. After architects Mark and Astrid became increasingly frustrated by having to listen to the endless ramblings of other architects’, with their tendency for precise and mind numbing detail, so they invented Pecha Kucha. It gives each speaker 6 minutes 40 seconds to go through 20 slides; 20 seconds per slide……GO! You can see an example of a Pecha Kucha presentation below:

Last night some of the guys from Altogether went to Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation). It was designed as a medium for young designers to express themselves, meet new friends and colleagues in a new and fun way. D&AD the educational charity representing global creative, design and advertising communities hosted last night’s Pecha Kucha at the Logan Hall which is part of The Institute of Education, University of London.

The line up was a who’s who of the digital creative industry in London comprising an eclectic mix of incredibly successful and interesting people who over the years have been responsible for some of the best, and worst, the creative digital industry has to offer.

Each speaker had their own presenting style and had very different meanings behind their 20 images (some used videos which I thought was cheating even if they were amazing), ranging from how the IT industry is impacting global warming to “some the things we like” to self promotion/embarrassment and even included one presenter spamming the audience for dates.

I went into the evening as someone who had lost his way in terms of creativity and I came out a completely changed person. All of the presentations inspired me to see the world as I had seen it when I had more time to sit back and let the world guide me in a more interesting and fundamentally better way.

Having rambled enough I would like to leave you with a question and an idea:

I see Pecha Kucha as something we do everyday in our hectic lives. We spend hours/day/months/years learning, working, creating and generally preparing for moments where we have to show everything in a short period of time whether it’s a pitch for work, a job interview, a first date or even a conversation down the pub with our mates.

Fundamentally we live our lives like Pecha Kucha and this is why I think it is, and is going to be, one of the most inspiring and interesting forms of creative presentation styles we will ever see.

Finally - Which 20 images would you choose to do a 6 minute 40 seconds presentation?

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