The first activity of the Final Major Project was to share our projects using the Pecha Kucha method which is based around a talk based on 20 slides where the presentation auto-advances after 20 seconds. I decided to undertake some research on the Pecha Kucha method before deciding on the best approach for construction if the presentation and any supporting material to accompany the slides.
A search on the internet identified a number of useful articles about the approach and tips from people who had presented topics using the methodology. One of the best was an article by Scott Clark (Clark, 2018) who advised simplicity was an important factor to successful delivery of your message restricting yourself to a couple of key bullets per slide. Build in buffer slides that allow you to resync your message so that it does not get out of sync from the visuals. Introduce pauses into your delivery so that you don’t get out of breath.
Armed with the above facts I started to consider how I might construct my presentation to provide recap on the previous modules in the MA to allow Wendy McMurdo our module leader to become familiar with my practice and then focus on the intended activities for current module. I decided that it would make sense to have about 7 different elements to the presentation creating groups of 2 to 3 slides thus naturally introducing the opportunity for buffer slides by only have 1 key bullet with an optional bullet that could be skipped to realign my narrative with the slides if I got out of sync during the presentation.
- Group 1 was an introduction about me and my own photgraphic journey and drivers
- Group 2 introduced details about my practice
- Group 3 moved on to talk about my project and the key aspects fo the project
- Group 4 explored project progression to date
- Group 5 described the activities intended to develop the project to a point of resolution
- Group 6 outlined the programme plan to realise those development activities
- Group 7 explored proposed plan for resolution including the exhibition and the future post the exhibition
In terms of layout I decided to avoid using bullet points on the slides instead using again making it easier for me to resync if required. The only text on the slides were lower third titles to visual show the progression through the different elements of the talk while providing continuity through a consistent layout.
This approach is very different from the way I normally construct presentations where I might use only 6 slides to visually illustrate information for a 30 to 40 minute presentation and required me reconsider how I construct a presentation.
Having selected the groups I then documented my key bullet points that I wanted to assign to each slide finally select relevant visual material to support my presentation.
References
- Clark, S. (2018). Pecha Kucha Tips – Simplicity, Flow and Passion. [online] BuzzMaven Digital Marketing / SEO / PPC. Available at: https://www.buzzmaven.com/pucha-kucha [Accessed 3 Mar. 2018].
