Longtime readers may recall that back in the spring of 2006 I was called in at the last minute to prepare a so-called Pecha Kucha talk at the reboot conference. The result was Making Public Data Public[er], the story of which is here.

The essential idea of a Pecha Kucha talk – they’re also call micropresentations or lightning talks – is that each speaker presents 20 slides for 20 seconds each, making for a focused 6-minute presentation about one thing.

As such these talks are unlike you’re more traditional “one speaker drones on and one about something” that we’re all used to (a format that, when it works well, can change your life, but when it doesn’t, which is more often than not, can make for a prison-like experience).

Even if a Pecha Kucha talk is boring, at least it’s over quickly!

This spring my friends Bruce and Rob got interested in the format, and we three decided to organize an evening here in Prince Edward Island. Coincident with this I got a note from my friend-of-the-blog Valerie who lives in Vermont but summers on the Island; she’s been using Pecha Kucha in her college teaching. So we recruited her into the fold.

So, on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company in New Glasgow we’re organizing PEI’s first Pecha Kucha night. We’ve got the following speakers lined up:

• Katie Cousins, farmer
• Paul Lopes, designer
• Aaron Stavert, architect
• Valerie Bang-Jensen, professor of education
• Rob Paterson, consultant and writer
• Peter Rukavina, programmer
• Frances Gertsch, park manager

True to the format, each will spend 20 seconds talking about each of 20 slides on a topic of their choosing. We’ll have finger foods for snacking and a cash bar; it should be a great night, in a beautiful location.

There’s no admission to attend, and everyone is welcome, but we’d appreciate it if you would RSVP in advance at http://ruk.ca/rsvp as we need to limit attendance to 75 people.

To help us get the word out, please print and post this handy poster.