I spoke at the Burlington VT Pecha Kucha Night, sharing my thoughts on the Spiritual Side of business, and wanted to share my thoughts on this presentation style.

First of all, let me say that Pecha Kucha Nights are amazing, fun, interesting, and inspiring.  Find one near you, and attend it if you haven’t done so.  You won’t be disappointed.  They are gatherings of creative and passionate people.  It’s a great way to spend a night.

[pullquote]Pecha Kucha Nights are amazing, fun, interesting, and inspiring – definitely worth checking out![/pullquote]

Pecha Kucha (pronounced puh cha kuh cha) presentations are all 6 minutes and 40 seconds.  Each presenter has 20 slides, and each slide shows for 20 seconds before advancing automatically.  People present on a broad range of topics, but generally on something that they are passionate about or interested in.  Each night will have multiple speakers, and there is always going to be a broad range of topics.

If you go, like what you see, and decide you want to present, congratulations!  You are a brave soul.  If you do sign up to present, just be aware that it takes a ton of time to properly prepare for your 6 minutes and 40 seconds of presentation.

Pecha Kucha is most definitely a presentation method that demands discipline and preparation.  Unsurprisingly, it began in Tokyo when two architects had enough of listening to long-winded architecture presentations and devised Pecha Kucha as a way to force people to get to the point).

Be aware that there is a great degree of discipline and preparation involved in doing Pecha Kucha correctly.  And, believe me, you will be glad for every minute that you prepared when you get your chance to get in front of your audience.

I presented on the “spiritual side of business” – it’s something that I am passionate about and interested in, and wanted to share my thoughts with the world.  My key point was that if we change how we fundamentally think about our work and our businesses, we have the power to create serious and lasting change.

The slides that I used to illustrate my points about the spiritual side of business can be found on my slideshare page.  You can download the full text of my presentation to see what I said for each slide here.

Check back for my tips and insight into preparing for Pecha Kucha Night!