The first time I heard about PechaKucha 20x 20 was during the annual conference of Toastmasters District 82 – Ovation 2013. There were 3 presentations and I found each one of them interesting. The beauty of PechaKucha is that each presenter can present 20 slides, each for 20 seconds for a total of 400 seconds or 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The slides are timed, so each slide will make way for the next after 20 minutes. More details of it can be found here.

What really surprised me was that PechaKucha Nights(PKN) have spread virally and are happening in more than 600 cities around the world. In an interview with smartplanet.com, Mark Dytham, Co-founder of PKN shares the history behind PKN and the reason for its popularity. He makes an interesting statement that ”There’s nothing social about Facebook or Twitter”, because there is hardly any social physical interaction in these online media. He believes ” that the next phase of the internet will focus on digital to physical interactions. Already, startups that use online networks to connect people in the physical, such as Airbnb and Taskrabbit, are doing increasingly well. As a presentation format that connects disparate groups all over the world, PechaKucha is something of a precursor to this.”

Read more about PKN and Mark’s ideas here.