We had a great time at the Japenese Embassy last night watching our very first Pecha Kucha. The premise is this:
Participants get to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each, meaning the audience experiences an exhilarating range of speakers and images over the course of the evening

It's a really great idea and some of the speakers were amazing and very interesting. The limited amount of time they get on stage means that time flies by.

Favourite speakers were:

Keigo Harada, product designer who's ideas included a breathing bed - he tried to find what people didn't like in their bathrooms - removed the clutter and ended up with an umbrella like shower (the water jets create an umbrella shape - coming from the ground up and then dissapating)

Yoshihiro Katsumata, Yamaha, musical instrument designer who talked about breaking things down to their key component - so a ladder became one step, a tambourine had just one bell etc

Luke Pearson, of PearsonLloyd, furniture designers

I highly recommend the Pecha Kucha nights. They are energetic and great fun. The range of speakers is great and the swiftness of the presentations means that you're always interested and it never gets boring. I didn't switch off once in over 90mins of presentation, surely a first! I hope this crosses over into the business world!

Tags: Ideas, pechakucha