Pecha Kucha - a Time-boxed presentation method (plus slide deck templates!)

Pecha Kucha is a lesser-known method of delivering concise, fast-paced presentations. Pecha Kucha in Japanese means 'chit-chat'.

The Pecha Kucha presentation style - similar to lightning talks - focuses on a few simple rules:

• 20 slides

• 20 seconds per slide (and slides are advanced automatically)

• Slides are usually low on text, and are often just images to (hopefully, dramatically!) illustrate a powerful point to the audience.

Pecha Kucha (PK) Presentations are often done in groups. There are often multiple-speaker PK nights and meetups where people can come and learn a little bit about a lot of different topics. You can learn more about Pecha Kucha and watch a bunch of interesting presentations here.

I love the idea of these, and they borrow much from Agile/Lean thinking. I love the time-box constraints imposed, and the creativity they force as a consequence. Plus they eliminate waste!

Just 400 seconds (6 mins 40 seconds) to get your point across…

“Be sincere, Be brief, Be seated.”

― Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Downloadable Pecha Kucha Templates

While not especially difficult to create, I've created a bunch of blank templates for both Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote. Each template has 20 blank slides with a 20 second automatic advance on each slide. I've included a deck for both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios:

• Microsoft PowerPoint Pecha Kucha template (4:3)

• Microsoft PowerPoint Pecha Kucha template (16:9)

• Apple Keynote Pecha Kucha template (4:3)

• Apple Keynote Pecha Kucha template (16:9)

Download, drop in your images and practice! And, I'd love to hear/see some agile-themed PKs...