Show, don't tell

A little less presentation, a little more structure please

There is a central part of Japanese life that I have yet to write about. It is a piece that is more central to day-to-day living than just about anything else: sports, travel, and even food. Today I hope to dip my toe into the world of Japanese work and education. As someone who has thankfully avoided a life in the office, I still deal with Japan’s long existing office trend.

PechaKucha.

This relatively Japan-specific product is another in a line of concepts suffering from the Galápagos Syndrome (For more on the Galapagos Syndrome, see the below article).

Japanese idiosyncrasies and the Galapagos Syndrome pt 1: Toilets

Today, I’d like to investigate what PechaKucha is, why it’s successful, and why no one else uses it.

Death by PowerPoint

Directly translating into chit-chat, PechaKucha has also recently christened a new presentation method that is slowly taking over office and school presentations across Japan as this generation’s PowerPoint. Surely, nothing is more boring than a non-presentation about presentation software, so I’ll keep it short and quick.

Coincidentally, the whole concept is about keeping presentations short and quick. Imagine a world where you’re stuck in office meetings that seem to go on and on with no end in sight. For the lucky few who actually needed to use the power of imagination for this outlandish scenario, this is an all too common phenomenon that plagues corporations (and the office workers within) everywhere.

Courtesy of xkcd

Back in 2003, some architects in Tokyo were sick of their time being wasted in meetings. Unlike the rest of us, they decided to do something about it, and started a mini revolution.

20 x 20.

Their solution was to limit everyone’s presentations to 20 slides, automated to run for 20 seconds. No more, no less. The presentation style means you need to wrap up your entire pitch in a total time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. While you can display whatever you want on the slides, PechaKucha purists will claim that no text should be shown. Only pictures.

The spread

If the idea of PechaKucha sounds a little too radical, remember that it was forged in the built-up business bureaucracy land of Japanese corporations. The presentation style caught on like fire, partially due to its simplicity in execution. Even the most entrenched companies were able to adopt this system if they had a timer and a slide deck creator.

What surprised me was how PechaKucha spread to other pockets of Japan, on other side of the work/life seesaw. Gatherings popped up with people sharing PechaKuchas with each other to discuss everything from fashion, culture, and yes, still more work. For some, attending these PechaKucha Nights (PK Nights for those in the know) is a newfangled way of networking; for others, they find a community just 6 minutes and 40 seconds away.

Galapagos-lite

The founders of PechaKucha have expanded their concept into an extended website offering where you can, of course, create a presentation, but also an event, or a community, and even an NFT. This article will not discuss the NFT any further.

So when I said this didn’t land outside of Japan, the 1000+ cities around the world that held officially-organised PK Nights may beg to differ. Some cities even host live music at these PK Nights that must perform their set in, you guessed it, 6 minutes and 40 seconds. I’ve even seen some MBA courses teaching this method to students as the “new”, “innovative” method of presentation.

So yes, PechaKucha may claim they have beaten the Galapagos Syndrome. However, there are some downsides that may have prevented it from finding the same success globally as it has in Japan. This style requires the presentation to be held with the audience in complete silence, without interruptions (although this could also be a plus depending on the audience). Any questions or general distractions will throw off timing and quickly render the PechaKucha ineffective. Adding to that, the presenter better be prepared. This format appears almost mystical when the slides are flowing and the speaker has great oratory skills. For those less prepared, PechaKucha can quickly become a ticking time bomb. As soon as the timing is off, you can say goodbye to your presentation.

But the system has worked in offices and schools throughout Japan, allowing people to distill key information concisely and classes to focus on developing students’ speaking prowess, both in Japanese and English.

As a perfect accompaniment in an age of recorded presentations and short video essays, now might be the time for PechaKucha to finally take over the world. If not, PechaKucha is happily situated in Japan where it provides a valuable option in any presenter’s toolkit. Whether or not you choose to adopt this format of presentation, or stick with your own method of talking, my 6 minutes and 40 seconds is up.