Pecha Kucha: The 400-Second Presentation with 20 Slides
How to create short and thrilling presentation
What is Pecha Kucha?
Pecha Kucha is a short and thrilling presentation format, where the presenter is limited to 20 slides and every slide has 20 seconds.
It sounds like walking through the garden, but it is not.
You are facing the audience, and at the same time, your presentation is pressing you to go forward.
It can be challenging, but the impact of the presentation can be everlasting if it is done right.
Recently, I gave a presentation at my company’s internal conference, and I would like to share my key takeaways from it.
Tips for presentation
1. Start with a story
Start with a personal story, which expresses why the presentation exists or is important. The more personal it is, the more it will resonate with the audience.
2. Use simple visuals which support your ideas
The presentation should contain simple visuals. Ideally, pictures which are related to your speech or topic. Avoid text and avoid mainly cluttered slides. The slide has only 20 seconds, so you do not have time to read it.
Feel free to use royalty-free images from sites like Unsplash or Pixabay. You can also use simple diagrams, but avoid complex ones.
The visuals should be large enough and centred, so the viewer is not distracted.
3. Keep it simple
Do not go into details. That is not the point of Pecha Kucha. You have in total almost 7 minutes of time, and it runs fast.
Do not try to explain the whole process, algorithm or anything which needs more than one slide to explain.
You can use multiple slides to explain one idea, but I would not use more than 3 slides for one idea.
4. Make it fun
It depends on the topic, but Pecha Kucha can have fun elements.
While talking about your story, you can use real photos from life, make a pun of yourself, or the funny story is enough.
5. Go to the point
Do not waste time with an introduction, do not waste time with long explanations about minuscule details.
People are there to hear a story and learn something new or be provoked by some idea.
If you spark their interest, they will look up more about the topic later on, or they will ask you about it after the presentation.
6. Buffer your time
If you are one of those people who need to prepare for the presentation and you do not have consistent pacing of your speech, plan your presentation to have some buffer time.
You can use only 15 seconds per slide and take a short break till the next slide, no one will notice it.
If you are a fast speaker when you are nervous, plan for it.
7. Add a timer to your slides
If there is no strict template, you can add a timer to your slides, so you can see how much time you have left.
But this tip is not for everyone. Some people can get distracted, but for others, it can be helpful.
8. Internalise your presentation
In the end, the presentation is only in the background. The main character is you. It is why you say, how you intonate, how you move and how you interact with the audience. So, internalise your presentation. Do not read it from the slides, do not read it from the notes.
Ultimately, you should not need any slides to give Pecha Kucha.
9. Pick topics you are passionate about
If you are not passionate about the topic, it will be hard to keep the audience engaged.
That is why you have to pick something you are passionate about. Even if I woke you up in the middle of the night, you should be able to talk about it.
Personal experience
Preparation
As I mentioned, I gave Pecha Kucha about my mobile apps in healthcare as it is part of my job.
I am the kind of person who needs to prepare for the presentation, so I prepared it in advance.
Firstly, I wrote down the story which I wanted to tell, split it into 20 paragraphs, and every had roughly 5 sentences.
Afterwards, I searched for images and which related to the story and presentation that was done.
I tried to present it for myself and I found out that I am way too slow at speaking, so it forced me to cut out more sentences.
I had not memorised the presentation, it was only to clear out the story and flow of it. During the rehearsal, from time to time, I had refined the story and the slides further.
Then I showed it to a couple of people, and if they did not see any issues with it, but luckily, they did not.
Presentation
Coming to the stage, I was nervous, but I had rehearsed it enough times, so I knew what I wanted to say.
What I learnt from past experience is that I need to remember first 5 sentences, which I need to say. You get into flow and it will roll on autopilot after that.
The beginning was the hardest part, because you have people in front of you and a presentation running in front of your eyes.
Of course, the catastrophe happened and I lost track of what I wanted to say at one point, but in a matter of seconds, I was back on track.
I lost part of my spirit afterwards, but I managed to finish the presentation. The audience gave me applause. I was happy that I did it, but I was not 100% satisfied with the result.
Definitely, I will do it again, because I know that I can do better.
Hopefully, this article will help you to do better than I did and inspire you to try Pecha Kucha, when you have a chance.
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