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The Art of Speaking  

Keep your audience’s attention with ‘Pecha Kucha’

Unique presentation method

YouTube /Wade Paterson

Have you ever sat through a presentation that went on and on with no end in sight?

In 2003, two Tokyo-based architects—Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham—were frustrated by the droning, unstructured presentations regularly being delivered at industry events.

To fix this problem, they developed a new presentation style called Pecha Kucha (a Japanese phrase meaning “chit chat.”).

Within the Pecha Kucha format, speakers are required to feature 20 slides that are pre-timed to automatically advance after 20 seconds. This results in a total presentation time of six minutes and 40 seconds.

What I love about this structure is it forces speakers to streamline their message and get straight to the point. It also makes it less likely for presenters to showcase text-heavy slides, since the audience only has 20 seconds to look at each visual.

In the video accompanying this month’s column, I explain how to give a great Pecha Kucha speech (and I do so while delivering the video in the actual Pecha Kucha format). I strongly suggest you watch the video before reading further

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If you’re thinking of building your own Pecha Kucha presentation, here are a few important tips you may want to consider:

Build your speech first and add the visuals after

The key to a great Pecha Kucha speech is the same as the key to any great speech—you need strong fundamentals. Your speech should still be interesting, you should still engage your audience with body language and vocal variety, and your presentation should have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Once you have the general theme and structure in place, you can then choose what visuals help enhance your subject matter and eventually work on the placement and timing of those.

Limit the number of words on your slides

A common mistake many presenters make is including too many words on their slides. With Pecha Kucha, the audience only has 20 seconds to look at each visual, therefore, there’s not enough time for them to read a screen full of text. Ideally, your slides should contain no text at all. If some text is necessary, try to limit it to five words or less.

Don’t look back at your slides

In order to deliver an impactful Pecha Kucha presentation, you need to have some idea of what’s happening with your slides. If the slides are being projected behind you, it might be tempting to consistently turn your back to the audience to see what image is on the screen, but this isn’t an effective use of body language.

If possible, try to have a screen in front of you that is showing the same slides that are being projected behind you. One way to do this is to have your laptop open in front of you, with an HDMI cord that is connected to both your laptop and the projector. This will allow you to subtly glance down at your laptop to see what slide you’re on, rather than turning your entire body.

When your slides are in front if you, it looks much more professional and allows you to follow along with the timing of the slides.

Set up the timing with Powerpoint

Pecha Kucha is a unique format, but it is fairly easy to build with Microsoft Powerpoint. Once you have your 20 slides in place, you can adjust slide timings under “Transitions” and the “Advance Slide” timing option.

Leave gaps for audience laughter

Twenty seconds can go by very quickly and while you may think you have your timing down, things like audience laughter can slow down the speed of your speech. If you find you’re rushing through one particular slide, or if you’re planning to make the audience laugh, you may want to make one slide a buffer that buys you a bit of time and allows you to slow down or take a break for audience laughter.

While Pecha Kucha is an engaging format, it can be tricky to deliver if you feel as though your speech isn’t keeping pace with the visuals on the screen. So, practice! Pecha Kucha is an art form, and like any art form, mastering it requires practice.

After you’ve built your Pecha Kucha presentation, give yourself plenty of opportunities to practice and get used to the timing. You want to get to a point where you become so familiar with the timing that you know exactly when your slides will be changing without even looking at the screen.

If you’re thinking about joining Toastmasters to improve your public speaking skills, the Kelowna AM Toastmasters Club is always looking for new members.

If you’re interested in learning more about Impactful Communication, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



More The Art of Speaking articles

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About the Author

Wade Paterson is an award-winning Toastmaster who is passionate about Impactful Communication.

His columns and accompanying YouTube videos are focused on helping others become more confident public speakers and communicators.



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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