In the blue corner, weighing in at 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the Japanese word for conversation – Pecha-Kucha! In the red corner, weighing in at an even 5 minutes, the Seattle Slugger who’s not afraid to set the world on fire—Ignite! Ladies and gentlemen, to the untrained eye these two presentation styles might look like an even match, but you’ll be amazed to discover the two are as different as night and day, though they share a similar concept.
In this corner – Pecha-Kucha!
Developed in 2003 by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, Pecha-Kucha is a rapid form of presentation. You are allowed only 20 images or slides, and just 20 seconds with each one. The result is a streamlined speech that gets the point across and allows for multiple speakers to share their ideas over the course of a short period of time.
In this corner – Ignite!
This is not to be confused with Ignite; a similar technique developed by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis in 2006. Ignite takes the fundamentals of abridgement laid out in Pecha-Kucha a step further by eliminating five seconds of time from each slide. The speaker is allowed 20 images with 15 seconds of time to address them.
Five-second world of difference
I know. You’re asking yourself “That’s the big difference? Five measly seconds?” It might not look like much on paper, but when you actually practice the styles, you’ll notice that five measly seconds can make a world of difference. Pecha-Kucha allows you to address each frame as a different concept and to start and finish a concept completely. Ignite, however, feels more like an animated movie that you happen to be narrating as the frames fire off in rapid succession. Plus, those seconds will add up with a group of people speaking. Where a Pecha-Kucha night featuring 20 speeches might take about two and a half hours to complete, an Ignite session featuring the same number will done before two hour mark. Pecha-Kucha and Ignite nights have been popping up in so-called “geek circles” in a number of different cities. Whatever your preference may be, it’s a great way to brush up on being concise.
