Are you looking for an opportunity to present your ideas to an audience of more than 500 engaged and creative young people? Edmonton’s NextGen is currently accepting presentation submissions for Pecha Kucha Night 14,  on October 18, 2012 at the Myer Horowitz Theatre, located on the University of Alberta campus. More than 145 presentations have been given at Edmonton Pecha Kucha Nights to date on wide-reaching topics, from professional online gaming to in vitro meat and everything in between.

Deadline for submissions for Pecha Kucha Night 14 is August 31, 2012.

WHAT IS PECHA KUCHA NIGHT?

Tokyo’s Klein Dytham Architecture first devised Pecha Kucha, the Japanese phrase for “the sound of chitchat” in 2003, as a night for young designers to meet, network, and discuss their projects. The catch: each designer gave a presentation containing only 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds, for a total presentation length of six minutes 40 seconds. These constraints challenged presenters to clarify their ideas and match each thought with the perfect image.

Pecha Kucha Nights are held by a global community of 501 cities. Pecha Kucha has been described as a grown-up “show and tell” with a diverse range of presentation topics, reflecting the unique nature of each presenting city. Edmonton’s NextGen was the first to host Pecha Kucha Night in Western Canada and regularly enjoys sold-out events, ranging from 500 – 650 audience members.

10 STEPS TO A GREAT PRESENTATION

1. Choose an original and engaging topic that you are passionate about. Self-promotion is out & creative ideas are in. Our audiences respond well to passionate people speaking on concepts & ideas rather than selling a product, experience or point of view.
2. You only have 20 images, so choose them wisely. Don’t worry about a title slide; we take care of that for you with a PKN 13 intro slide that includes your name & presentation title.
3. If possible, create your images to be in landscape orientation to maximize the use of the screen.
4. Reference your images! If they are your own images, even better.
5. Resize your images to 1024px by 768px.
6. It’s best to AVOID clip art, text, and combining more than two images on one slide.
7. Match words & images. You only have 20 seconds per image and the presentation automatically moves on to the next image. Choose your words wisely!
8. Keep it casual and conversational – there is no lectern.
9. Watch Travis Sheridan’s presentation about how to give a good Pecha Kucha presentation.
10. Keep in mind that Pecha Kucha presentations are about ideas and those ideas allow the audience to learn, expand their perspectives, and leave the night with something new on their mind.

HOW DO I SUBMIT A PRESENTATION APPLICATION

1. Let us know you are interested by emailing with your full name, title (i.e. architect, designer, student, teacher, activist, etc.), and some background on what you want to talk about.
2. Next, read the 10 tips to make a great presentation listed above, before creating your presentation.
3. Write a 250 word summary statement. This gives us the best idea of what you’ll be speaking to at Pecha Kucha. Even better, include 3 points you hope audiences will walk away thinking about.
4. Choose a minimum of 10 images up to a maximum of 20 images that match exactly what want to share, put them all in a ZIP folder or other compressed file format.
5. Next, submit your presentation by email to and include its title and a summary.
6. Deadline to submit an application is August 31, 2012.

RESOURCES

Frequently asked questions about Pecha Kucha Nights

Pecha Kucha Daily Blog

We look forward to receiving your submission for PKN 14!