Pecha Kucha ELT

This is a non-profit, just-for-fun site to share information about the use of Pecha Kucha in English language teaching.

What is Pecha Kucha?

Pecha Kucha event is one in which a number of presenters share their ideas within the course of an evening. It follows a 20 x 20 format. Each presenter is allowed 20 slides (shown on a programme such as Powerpoint), each shown for 20 seconds each. This results in a total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds on a stage before the next presenter is up. The idea is to keep presentations concise and interest level high.

The word Pecha Kucha (pronounced peCHAtchka) comes from the Japanese word for “chit-chat” and was invented by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in Tokyo. It has recently spread to the business world, and has now gained interest in the world of English Language Teaching.

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Why Pecha Kucha?

Anyone who has been to an ELT conference has probably suffered from Death by Powerpoint. Powerpoint has become standard now in presentations, and while it is very helpful to speakers it has also led to some truly awful presentations. Death by powerpoint is often achieved by: long and boring Powerpoint presentations; presentations with too many slides; presentations with badly designed slides; presentations that rely more on the slides and not enough on what the person is actually saying; overuse of bullet points; overuse of animations, charts or other distractors... The list goes on. 

Pecha Kucha forces a speaker to “get to the point” and think hard about how best to convey a message with limited words and images. A Pecha Kucha Evening is also a social event, and provides a chance for people to get together, share a laugh and get a whole bunch of presentations in the space and time of one regular presentation. 

Why Pecha Kucha ELT?

The first international ELT Pecha Kucha was held at the IATEFL Conference in Exeter 2008. It proved to be such a success that it became the buzz of the conference. There are plans to hold future Pecha Kucha events in other countries. This site has been created to publicize these as well as providing free resources for anyone who wishes to set up their own Pecha Kucha event. Enjoy!