Preparing for the PechaKucha

Description from pecha-kucha.org:

"PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace."

Each of you will need to create a PowerPoint presentation that is 20 slides long. You should set an automatic advance on the slides so that each one stays on the screen for exactly 20 seconds (do this by going to Slideshow -> Transitions -> Options -> Advance Slide -> Automatically after 20 seconds). In the end, your presentation will be exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds long.

What should you include in your 20 slides?
1. A title slide that states your name, with an image or some other teaser that shows us what's to come.
2. Images of the work you made this semester, including images of work in progress, or images of projects you consider failures. Show and describe your process!
3. Images of other artwork that inspires you (contemporary art or images from art history). Put your work in a larger context!
4. Quotes, video clips, or images from other walks of life. Are you inspired by science, literature, archaeology, etc.? Tell us about it!

Slide Design
Make sure your images are large, but leave enough space to include captions that tell us a little about them. For example, finished works of art should include information about the work's title, media, and artist's name (if the work wasn't made by you).

Oral Presentation
Your oral presentation can take one of these forms, or be a combination of the two:

1. Your talk is written in short blurbs, and your dialogue is planned to directly relate to the slide that's showing at the time.
*Pro: Your presentation will seem very straightforward and easy to understand. We see A on the screen, and you are talking about A.
*Con: If you say to little about a given slide, there will be a lot of awkward silence as we wait for the slides to advance. If you say too much, you will have to cut yourself off when the next slide appears.

2. Your talk is written more like a monologue, and the slides are a background visual element that we can look at as we listen.
*Pro: Each slide does not necessarily have to be directly related to what you're saying at the time it is shown, so there will be no awkward silences or cut-off dialogue when the slides advance. The presentation will feel more natural.
*Con: Monologues are difficult to memorize. You may have to improvise a little more.

Rehearsal
This is a must! Make notes under each slide to be sure you stay on track. And rehearse, rehearse, rehearse to get the timing right.

See this link for great tips about designing your slides and rehearsing your presentation.
Watch a PechaKucha presentation here.

On Friday
Please email me your presentation by Friday at noon, and meet at Beam Classroom at 2:45pm. We will begin right at 3pm, so DON'T BE LATE!

Pictures of the exhibition

I just finished editing and uploading images of the exhibition to Flickr. Check them out at this link. Congratulations! It was a great show!