Re: [96attendees] Bad Attitude Pecha Kucha

[David C Lawrence <[e-mail]>]

Ted Lemon writes:
> One concern: non-native english speakers may find the pace of a
> Pecha Kucha too rapid.

I can't speak to this directly, because I'm a native English speaker,
but having done PechaKucha before I'll observe that the "lightning
talk" epithet is a little bit of a misnomer.  It need not be rapid.

The overall goal is to keep succinctly to the point while on a fixed
pace for slide rotations.  It is not to cram as many words as possible
into a rapid-fire intellectual assault, but rather to really focus on
the core aspects of what you have to communicate.  

That said, one of the more common aspects of PechaKucha talks is that
slides are more of a design accent to the talk, rather than the
primary script for it.  Think TED Talk, but on a merciless timer.  The
focus is on the speaker's words, with slides illustrating key visual
aspects, much like the photos accompanying a magazine story.  Bullet
lists and other prose on the slides are discouraged.

Obviously this contrasts significantly to the conventional
PowerPoint-style presentation, where someone who can read a language
but is less skilled in listening to it could still get a lot out of a
talk just by following along with the slides.  Even if the speaking
itself need not be hurried, the PechaKucha would likely be more
difficult to follow.