Think about your favorite movie or book for a moment.
Chances are you were deeply engrossed in it, and could have watched it, or read it, for twice as long as you did.
And chances are it didn’t follow some pre-canned set of rules for what a movie or book should be.
But, now, along comes a couple of architects who think that business presentations should follow some ridiculous structure: Exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds.
What an incredibly dumb idea. First off, if I have three bullets on a slide, and I build them one by one, is that one slide or three slides?
It doesn’t matter. Pecha kucha doesn’t solve the root of the problem that makes so many business presentations unbearingly boring: The content sucks.
Divvying up lousy content into 20 slides, for which you get 20 seconds to present, doesn’t fix the problem.
And if the content is great, then force-fitting it into 20 slides @ 20 seconds each is likely to diminish — not enhance — it’s effectiveness.
Want to improve your business presentations? It’s simple: Tell a great story, keep it simple, and know your transitions.
Pecha kucha may be Japanese for “chatter”, but it’s Shevlinese for “bad idea.”
(Sorry, Jeff).
Technorati Tags: Presentations, Pecha Kucha
One of my very favorite blogs is Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen. He rocks, he gets it, and he helps everyone else get it too. He’s coming out with a book very soon…. one of the few business books I am really anticipating. I also love that he’s got some great examples of presentation humor on his blog. (Did you even know there was such thing as presentation humor?)
“Shevlinese” – PERFECT! That is definitely a word in my vocabulary now.
Apology accepted.
However, the only “bad idea” about this format was to name the thing something I’m still struggling to remember and pronounce properly. LOL I’m already working on Pecha Kucha #2, based on the strong positive response I’ve gotten from audiences to the first.
Speaking of that first, I want to thank you again for the feedback you provided two months ago that improved the content of this first Pecha Kucha … the Content Interest Index. You’re the best!