Think of it as TED talks meets speed-dating. PechaKucha is a meeting of the minds designed to fit as many minds into one evening as possible. Originating in Japan, the unique format has since blossomed into an international movement and limits each of a bevy of consecutive speakers to 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide in order to pitch their ideas.
“This is a great night for innovative ideas and breakthrough thinking,” Fischer said. “My goal is for Louisville to be a city teeming with ideas – and Pecha Kucha, along with the IdeaFestival and other events— is making that happen.”
Mayor Fischer’s very own PechaKucha night will include a startlingly diverse array of local topics, ranging from the city’s growth and history to bourbon, multicultural affairs and even swing dance. Now held in over 400 cities worldwide, Tuesday (Feb21) night’s event will be the city’s seventh since 2010 and the first to be hosted at Metro Hall. (Previous volumes were hosted predominantly at the 21C MuseumHotel.)
The simplest principle of the exchange, as first introduced by a Tokyo architectural firm in 2003, is that each speaker is held equally with regard to time and thus each idea by extension. It is therefore fitting that in addition to established local voices including Branden Klayko (editor at The Architect’s Newspaper in New York and writer of the Louisville-centric blog Broken Sidewalk), Ramsi’s Café on the World owner Ramsi Kamar and University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Dean Dr Blaine Hudson, that there are some notable newcomers as well. Among these are Maggie Huber (photojournalist and editor of THIS…is Louisville photo-documentary magazine), stone-carver turned traditional kayak enthusiast Kimberley Hillerich and 24-year-old New Albany swing-dancer Chris Schoenfelder.
Alums of past volumes of PechaKucha Louisville include the likes of WFPL’s Gabe Bullard, Rainbow Blossom Natural Food Markets COO Summer Auerbach and 8664 founder JC Stites. This latest round boasts a total of eleven, no-less-prestigious new participants.
Louisville’s seventh PechaKucha will be held tonight (Tuesday, February 21st) in the Mayor’s Gallery on the 4th floor of Metro Hall, with doors opening at 7:00pm and presentations beginning at 8:00pm. The festivities are FREE to the public and there will be a cash bar reception in the 2nd floor rotunda. More details available via pklouisville.org.
The phrase PechaKucha is derived from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit-chat” and is pronounced “Pe-chak-cha.”
More articles by me here.
Chris Ritter <<<< twitter.com/CT_Smash <<<< ctsmash@gmail.com
