Pecha...what!?! Alternative Presentation Styles Webinar

June 2, we conducted a webinar for TeachT@lk on alternative presentation formats. (Click here for the full recording) The most popular of these is PechaKucha (PK), where students are given 20 slides for 20 seconds per slide for a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The slides are auto-forwarded, the emphasis is on very little text, and engaging visuals. There are many versions of this format that can be modified to meet the objectives of your individual courses.

The benefits are that students prepare more thoughtful, refined and polished presentations. The format requires students to be creative, focus on key elements, and engage an audience quickly. The challenges include getting students to "buy-in" to this format, by reminding them of the importance of conveying their research to non-scientists, pitch their research to a publisher or a donor. It is also important to give students time to prepare, and faculty are encouraged to do "mid-point" checks to monitor progress. 

We shared the following documents to use with the students, to help support their understanding:

• Handout to help start students thinking about the layout
• Timed Template for PowerPoint
• Handout for students to evaluate other presentations
• Video on "How to Develop PK Presentations"

Dr. Carolyn Compton shared her experiences in having her BIO302 honor students do a PechaKucha style "Cancer Day" event, and the group shared ideas about using this format as an alternative for:

• "Book" reports
• Poster presentations
• Team reports
• Weekly summaries of key points, to be used as a review for final exams.
• Lab summaries using photos of the lab

 PK Presentations can even be combined with term/research papers for more depth, or posted in discussion boards for online courses.

Carolyn Compton, PhD
ASU School of Life Sciences

"The hardest part of implementing PechaKucha presentations into my class, was learning how to say it!"

- Carolyn Compton, PhD

For more information, please see the links below and contact amy.pate@asu.edu

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• How to Say PechaKucha? Video: http://youtu.be/gdghID66kLs
• Amy's Slides: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12594701/V2_PKWebinar060215.pptx

• Examples of PKs:
• Science: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/200
• Business (sales): http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/53
• Social Studies (urban planning): http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/88
• Environmentalism: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/169
• Activism: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/195

• The Art of Good Scientific Presentations: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/stgeorge/artofscientificpresentations/
• Teaching with PK, The University of Southern Mississippi Speaking Center, http://www.usm.edu/gulfcoast/sites/usm.edu.gulfcoast/files/groups/learning-commons/pdf/teaching_with_pechakucha.pdf

• Improving Student Presentations Pecha Kucha and Just Plain PowerPoint, Alisa Beyer, http://top.sagepub.com/content/38/2/122.short

• “Lightning Talk” in University Instruction, Klentzin, Paladino, Johnston &Devine, http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/00907321011020798