What is a Pecha Kucha presentation?

A Pecha Kucha presentation – sometimes spelt as PechaKucha – is a form of storytelling that relies more on pictures rather than written cues. Created by two Tokyo architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham to avoid presentation commentary from becoming too complex and overly detailed.

Pecha Kucha presentations are usually made up of 20 slides, and a Pecha Kucha presentation usually lasts exactly six minutes and 40 seconds, with 20 seconds spent on each slide. Each slide advances automatically, meaning that speakers can’t go back to previous slides to explain them further. You also can’t respond to audience questions in the moment, meaning that you have to keep talking through the presentation as quickly and coherently as possible.

 Because of the conciseness of the presentation, they are often supported as a great way to avoid presentations becoming dull or unengaging. Because they rely on visual imagery, they potentially allow for greater audience participation, since they can open up new lines of questioning once the presentation is over. 

When is a Pecha Kucha presentation useful?

While Pecha Kucha presentations are particularly popular for designers who are looking to showcase and discuss their work in a short length of time, they can also be useful in both educational and business presentation settings. They are similar to an elevator pitch, in that they give you a short amount of time to make a unique point.

You can use a Pecha Kucha tool during business meetings for example to make a pitch, demonstrate a product idea, or as an educational tool. It is particularly helpful if the information you are trying to provide is highly visual and benefits from being illustrated by pictures and infographics. 

Pecha Kucha presentations are useful in that they help to keep conversations around the subject succinct, preventing you from relying too heavily on text. This can also mean that conversation around the subject flows more naturally, making it potentially easier for your audience to take on board. 

How to create a Pecha Kucha presentation

In this next section, we will look at the five steps we suggest for creating a Pecha Kucha presentation. We will also provide some helpful hints for getting the most out of one.

1. Choose the topic to explain

Before you begin creating your Pecha Kucha presentation, it’s a good idea to hone the subject of your discussion down to a simple topic. Because of the brevity of these presentations, this will make it easier for you to structure, as well as for listeners to follow. By narrowing down the topic, you can also decide on the most attention-grabbing way of framing it for listeners (especially when you have to capture your message in six minutes and 40 seconds). 

2. Create a presentation outline

Once you’ve decided on an interesting topic, it’s time to create a rough outline for your presentation. This can help you to later decide which images to use, and in what order. Your outline can follow the structure of a basic essay. This would mean starting with a thesis statement, before progressing to the presentation’s main body, supporting points and a conclusion to help wrap up your argument and summarise key points. 

3. Choose your images

Since Pecha Kucha presentations are based primarily on using images, you will need to prepare the ones you plan to use for your presentation. When choosing your images, it can be useful to decide what order they will potentially work well in. If you are planning to use infographics, make sure that they follow the thread of your argument. When choosing images, you might be able to find stock images online that can help you demonstrate ideas.

4. Create captions (optional)

While Pecha Kucha presentations don’t require any text, you might also choose to write some helpful captions for images if they need it – particularly if you need to extrapolate from data contained in your infographics. If you are backing up your argument with data, then highlighting some key points from infographics can be key to keeping the presentation as informative as possible. However, this is only an optional step, and will depend on the kind of presentation you are looking to build – presenters might only need to provide visual cues.

5. Practise the presentation

Now that you have the form and content for your presentation, it’s time to practise giving the presentation. This may require more focus than a typical presentation, as you won’t be able to rely on as many – or any – written cues to help you remember information on the slides. By practising the presentation, you can also check to make sure that it flows easily in a way that makes sense to your audience. You can use this step to decide whether to go back and change anything in the presentation that would make it more coherent. 

Pros and cons of using a Pecha Kucha presentation

While using a Pecha Kucha presentation structure might be beneficial in situations where you need to give a quick presentation, and can present information using mainly images, it might not always be the most useful solution. In this next section, we will explore some key pros and cons of using this type of presentation.

Preparation can be time-consuming

While Pecha Kucha presentations are relatively short, adequate preparation of them can become time-consuming. Time management skills, therefore, are important during this stage. Developing a successful Pecha Kucha presentation requires a lot of creativity and logical thinking in order to make it coherently flow from one slide to the other. This might be even more time-consuming for thinkers who prefer to work with words rather than images – but conversely, may be less time-consuming to visual thinkers.

Requires a lot of practice

Additionally, as the pressure is on to get your Pecha Kucha presentation right (due to the short window in which to explain each slide), it might require more practice to get it right and feel confident with presenting it. If you are working within specific time constraints, then a Pecha Kucha might not be the right tool in this situation. 

Pecha Kucha’s limitations can help focus the mind

However, what makes up the Pecha Kucha presentation’s limitations and challenges can also be why it is so beneficial to some users. This type of presentation focuses the mind and forces the presenter to think creatively about how to present visual information clearly and concisely. It can therefore help you to develop your organisational skills for that reason. While this may be time-consuming, practising a Pecha Kucha slide can help you see and address a problem from different angles.

Can improve memory

Pecha Kucha presentations require a lot of practice, which leads to you being able to recall information on your chosen topic more quickly and fluidly. As well as helping you to memorise key information, using a Pecha Kucha helps train you to use visual cues to remember content, which can be one of the most effective memory hacks. As you won’t be able to spend too long on each slide, memorising a Pecha Kucha can help you condense ideas into shorter phrases. 

While Pecha Kucha presentations require a lot of preparation, creative thinking and strong verbal skills, they can be a great way to get a point across in a short space of time. This makes them useful for pitches, demonstrating product ideas or teaching a new idea to employees. While they might not suit more in-depth education or meetings that require back-and-forth dialogue with the audience, Pecha Kucha presentations can help you to develop a much faster method of presenting information than traditional methods.