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The end of death by PowerPoint

Posted on 7 Dec 2007 at 16:52

Other businesses use Pecha Kucha as a team-bonding tool. "In one real-estate company we work with, the CEO runs his own Pecha Kucha night, so the staff know who each other are," claims Dytham. "So there's a ballet dancer, a sky diver in the company, somebody shows the good restaurants around the office, somebody shows what happens really late night in the office - so it becomes an office tool."

Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj presented at a Pecha Kucha Night held at Brunel University's business school (which included among its speakers Sir Digby Jones, former director of the CBI). She claims the format is well suited to the boardroom. "I teach in the world of entrepreneurship and quick thinking is critical in proposing business-based ideas," she says. "The use of images can be so very powerful to accompany your thinking. I sat through a number of Pecha Kucha presentations on the day I did mine and I remember the slides, the content and presenter of at least half of the speakers. Not bad going for an event run three months ago."

Others are more dubious of the business benefits. "It would be useful at team-bonding days, but I think it's more a social thing," says Joe Ferry. "It does have an impact, but maybe it's not so good for formal presentation where detail is key. Transferring that sort of format into a stale business environment would be very tricky."

The future

Even four years after Pecha Kucha Nights started filling his studio, Mark Dytham sounds genuinely surprised at how successful it's become. He's publishing a book, Pecha Kucha Night - A Celebration, to mark the rise of the phenomenon, but otherwise seems reluctant to cash in on his concept, partly because protecting such an easily copied format is difficult. "Some people have tried to copy it," he claims. "We said 'look guys, we're publishing a book right now, we're going to talk about you'. Suddenly, the website's gone. You don't need lawyers these days."

Dytham plans to establish a foundation, which will allow people to set up Pecha Kucha Nights in return for a royalty ($1 per slide, he suggests) that will be donated to charities. "We're not trying to be that protective. We just don't want people making vast amounts of cash from our idea. We're happy for people to run them from within their offices, but if you're running them in a large environment and charging people you should look to the Pecha Kucka Night Foundation and what we're trying to do with this idea." Ironically, the Pecha Kucha concept looks set to run and run and run...

Author: Barry Collins