Pecha Kucha Night in Indy, Vol. 1

Last night was Indianapolis’ inaugural night of Pecha Kucha. ‘Fore we get into that, what the hell is Pecha Kucha? It’s basically the punk rock rebuttal to ridiculously drawn out Powerpoint presentations. It’s a chance for area locals to come and express their respective ideas on art, architecture, design, philosophy, philanthropy, etc. under the strict rule of having only 20 slides at 20 seconds per slide to do this.

I was a presenter last night and I’ve gotta say, while I was rehearsing it I found it really difficult to hit all my points in such an abbreviated format. Luckily, it worked out that I was the last presenter (I wouldn’t say that I was headlining… or would I?) so I got to see 13 other presenters get up there and observe what was working and what was not working. Also, I had more time than any of the other presenters to get a bunch of champagne in my tummy, which I think
hope helped.

My presentation was on Wabi Sabi, the Japanese aesthetic of the ephemeral and non-existent. There were a bunch of video cameras around so I’m hoping to find the whole lineup of presenters online at sometime. At said point I’ll be sure to post them on here.

Also, big ups to the KA+A gang, especially Kristian, for getting this going. And for making such nice looking post cards, of which I took eight.

I’m am now an avid supporter of Pecha Kucha night. I had no idea what to expect having only seen one or two very well done presentations online. What I found most interesting was that there was a uniquely Indianapolis flavor to the whole thing. The group as a whole seemed to appreciate similar things, whether it was Indianapolis related design or just ancillary fodder supporting their ideas. Check out this video made by Zack Legend that showcased a little bit about what last night was about…

http://static.ning.com/smallerindiana/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=2.2.5%3A2657
Find more videos like this on Smaller Indiana

3 responses

  1. Justin – John here. Your presentation was fantastic! A *perfect* way to close the evening; low-key but thought-provoking. Thank you!

    February 2, 2008 at 17:24

  2. Really appreciate it John! It went by so fast I didn’t have time to see if I made a dent on any of my slides so I’m glad to hear it. Cheers!

    February 3, 2008 at 01:37

  3. Justin, I was a fellow presenter that evening. Your research on Wabi Sabi and its relationship to the everyday experience or agency of both chance and phenomenon of the everyday was in fact a perfect ending to a night of big ideas. It was at this point that I realized that this is how cities should evolve. A million applause to you for introducing a facinating approach to our lives.

    February 4, 2008 at 15:10

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