Pecha Kucha Dublin
All the omens were good for Dublin’s inaugural Pecha Kucha night. €5 on the door – reasonable. Nine speakers, 20 slides each, 20 seconds per slide – sensible. The Sugar Club – fashionable.
The attendance was a capacity crowd, but on stage, the hit rate was slightly less impressive.
The international phenomenon that is Pecha Kucha (pronounced peCHAkCHA, meaning ‘chatter’ in Japanese) is designed to stimulate creative debate by bringing together a few speakers to offer their interpretation of a single theme through the 20-slide medium. The theme for last night’s edition, of which there will be five more in the next 12 months, was ‘Small ideas, Big Impact’. Plenty of scope there, easy to interpret. You might think.
Of the nine speakers in the Sugar Club, just one fulfilled the brief: the sharp, intelligent, witty and visually clear presentation of Conor + David (Conor’s no relation, by the way). They spoke about the simple concept of being 100% sure, and how one’s approach to it affects projects as big as the moon landing. It was clever, challenging and fun, no doubt as much for them, putting it together, as it was for us watching it delivered.
Notable mentions for doing something interesting, but way off brief, go to TAKA for their presentation on doors, and Will St Leger who gave a synopsis of his influences as an artivist (arty activist). Both were interesting but wholly unrelated to the theme.
Kudos for giggles go to journalist Cian Hallinan for his Ulysses v PS I Love You stand-up routine, and Giselle Scanlon, who got a few laughs as well for her rambling but snappily-delivered sermon on the wit of human miscommunication.
A big ‘aboooo’, however, to Thinkhouse PR, who seemed to give a six minute and 40 second pitch on why no-one should hire them. If your sole function as an entity is to communicate effectively and creatively according to a client’s brief, one would think that you could come up with some sort of clever interpretation of a simple theme that provided plenty of scope for creativity. Their immature and self-indulgent display – ‘Stuff we Like’ – failed massively. Slides were entitled ‘Tits’, ‘Jesus’, ‘Food’, ‘Holidays’, ‘New Shit’ and, an assortment of other random words. Thinkhouse, clearly trading off a rep as industry luvvies, came across like a company where professionalism is a value best kept at bay with big pink blowtorches and snarky howls from the canteen.
Not that I’m a rules nazi, but next time around, I’d like to see people offer differ interpretations on the theme, doing something thoughtful and creative, rather than merely putting themselves up there for self-promotion or self-indulgence, lest it becomes a platform for the same. The Pecha Kucha concept is good, and when the presenters were good, they were very, very good. But when they were bad, they were horrid.
6 comments
I understand what you mean by some of the contributions being off-brief however I found the Thinkhouse prank hilarious, as well as Cian Hallinan & Giselle. The event would have run the danger of being somewhat navel-gazy otherwise and for a first outing, I thought it was well worth the fiver. It’s all about balance.
I’d go again. Heck! I’d definitely go again
I’ll try to be at the next one, too. I wouldn’t call Thinkhouse’s bit a ‘prank’, any more than a child making a mess to gain attention is a prankster. But hey, I am but one man…
Was jus having a wee look around the web for reactions to Pecha Kucha and I reckon that you’re spot on with your summary there in terms of the highlights…and the Thinkhouse people, I simultaneously felt embarrassed for them and extremely irritated by them. It was especially astounding given that they are a PR company, you would have to be batshit insane to hire them if you saw that carry on.
Good summary of a good night.
I’m with you on Thinkhouse, who put the PR in prat.
As a first effort, I think it was good, in that it entertained and provoked a bit of real thought. But I do hope the next one sticks a little more closely to the brief.
I don’t necessarily think that the presentation of a person’s introspection/take on a specific topic is navel-gazing…that’s the whole point of Pecha Kucha. Stray off the given PK brief, in slideshow format, and you’re a performer…off to Billy Barry with ye!
Apologies for coming late to this Markham, but I was having a read of your blog and happened to stumble upon this post.
Re: Conor + David.
Agreed totally. Assuming they were the second pair on, only one of whom actually spoke, then their presentation was slick, funny and insightful. Kudos to them, they were very entertaining.
Next best, I thought, were Jo Anne Butler and Tara Kennedy, who were similarly thoughtful and insightful. Admittedly, Jo Anne is my sister, but I thought that, alone among the remaining presentations, their’s actually got me considering issues and ideas I hadn’t previously considered.
Re: Will St. Ledger
A slight dissapointment. Rosa Parks, Stonewall Riots etc. laudable, but hardly earth-shattering, choices as seminal influences.
Re: Thinkhouse PR
Well, if their brief was to convince a roomful of stranger that they were a pair of vacuous idiots, I don’t think they could have used those six minutes to more devastating effect.
Finally, re: Cian Hallinan (and this is the real reason I’m posting this).
I’ve got to say that His Ulysses v PS I Love You bit really was spookily similar to a feature I wrote in Mongrel Magazine in June 2004, to mark the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday. His executed the idea differently, but the concept was absolutely identical. I’m not looking to go to the mattresses over this or anything. I don’t know the guy, but I know his sister and she’s a really nice girl.
But I did want to register some protest, however small.
@Eoin Your sister’s presentation was good alright. I did feel sorry for the two of them having to go first – which is probably why I didn’t comment on their bit. Shame on me for that, but they did themselves proud, no doubt.
I must say, I really miss Mongrel. It would be nigh on impossible for it to survive in the ‘current climate’ (vomit) but it was great while it lasted. I had one bit appear in it – on meeting Bob Geldof completely by chance in Mali.
It appeared in one of the Cunts List issues, which had a friend’s uncle (RTE Radio 1, 10am -12pm weekdays) on the cover. So, that went down well.
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