PechaKucha - 20x20

 

This post was created to introduce a new idea on presenting for and by students.

Problem Statement

Students give countless presentations per year. After a while all the presentations start to look and sound the same, even worse is kids are just reading the words off the slides!

Solution

PechaKucha.

20 slides, each slide is only 20 seconds long. Once you hit 20 seconds it automatically advances to the next slide. In 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the presentation is over.

The only thing on the slide is a single image. No words. No text. When the screen is full of dense text the viewers read the text and ignore what the person is saying. Think about some of the meetings we have attended over the years. This is especially true if the presentation lasts more than two minutes, we tune out when there are too many words.

What is on the screen for a PechaKucha, the images, are there to help tell the story. Think of it like a picture book, the images reinforce what is happening.

Example

Here is an example of a PechaKucha about biophilic design at Truman. If you take a look, it is a series of 20 images, the context comes when I describe each in tiny 20 second bites. 

How

There are three parts to making this work.

• Creating a timed slideshow.
• Storyboard
• Images

The key to making this technique work is setting up your slides to auto-advance after a set amount of time. While the PechaKucha says you should have 20 seconds on each slide, you could reduce that based on the age of the students.

I have also seen teachers do just 4 slides, 20 seconds each. Feel free to adjust the timing and number of slides based on your students and what they are presenting about.

Google Slides Timing

Start by opening a new Google Slides.

Click the little carrot by the plus symbol.

I recommend choosing the Blank.

Copy that blank slide so you have a total of 20 slides.

You can also click this link, it will force you to make a copy of a presentation of 20 blank slides.

Click File.
Choose Publish to the web.

Change timing to every 30 seconds.

Click Publish.

Copy the URL and paste it into a new tab.

We need to adjust the timing from 30 seconds to 20.

Change the numbers at the very end of the address from 30000 to 20000. 

Keep this new tab open.

Now that your presentation is set up with the proper number of slides and timing, you can return to Google Slides and start adding your images. Whatever you add will appear in the published Slides tab. You can also take that newly edited address and send it to someone.

Storyboard

One of the more successful techniques say to create your outline and once that is complete add your images. We get too caught up in the visuals and miss finding the right words.

I quickly jotted down some of the main points I wanted to get across about biophilic design, I would recommed having the students do the same. Find just the main points they need the audience to understand about the big topic.

Images

The final step should be adding images to the slides. The natural tendency is to google and copy/paste into the slides but I would caution you against that. Without properly searching, you are most likely using copyright-protected work, without getting permission we can't copy/paste from Google.

The easy solution is using the built-in image search in Slides.

Click Insert.

Image.

Search the web.

On the far right, there is a small search window. Type in what you are looking for.

To make your presentation pop, look for things that are a little adjacent to the big topic idea. That way the purpose of the image will be revealed as you speak making the audience lean in a little more than usual.

Adjust the image by dragging the corners. 

Task

Learning any new skill requires practice. 

Take only 30 minutes to create a PechaKucha, 20 seconds per slide for a total of 20 slides, on any topic.

Present your creation to a small group.

Next Steps

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds - this was the book that introduced me to the idea that presentations could look different. The book is in its third printing and is worth buying.

Tiny Article on the MasterClass website. 

There are a ton of articles and videos once you start searching the topic. Different terms they might use are lightning talk, elevator pitch, and ignite.