Pecha Kucha 10 at the Vogue Theatre entertains and inspires with elements of show-and-tell, open-mike night and happy hour

An inspiring group presented at Pecha Kucha 10 last Wednesday night at the Vogue Theatre including Jay Balmer, Isabelle Dunlop, Dave Olson, Dani Vachon, Gair Williamson, Martha Sturdy, Doug Haddow, Bing Thom, Stephanie Corker Irwin, Vanessa Leigh, Marc Baumgartner, and Pamela Masik. If you don't recognize all the names, you'll probably be touched by their work nonetheless. They work in businesses and the arts, ranging from snowboarding, skate parks, video games, fashion design, jewelry, art, writing, , social media, curated news, crowd sourcing news.

Pecha Kucha is a global event that has emerged in 299 cities around the world since its inception in Japan in 2003. The format is simple:each presenter speaks on a topic they're passionate about.  They're allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds.  This is six minutes and forty seconds of fame and then the next presenter is up.

I arrived at the Vogue  to find a long line of people still waiting to get in. I talked with people about why they had come to Pecha Kucha. The event is about storie and here are theirs:

Mike woods, and Sam gomolka outside Vogue theatre

Diana Lee, and Erika Rekis outside Vogue Theatre

I taped the Pecha Kucha presenters using a 30$ mp3 player. I was holding the mp3player and my camera, so ignore the occasional clicks and noise and enjoy hearing the inspiring speeches!

Jay Balmer - Experience Director at ( bigpark.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Isabelle Dunlop - Fashion Designer/Singer (combinethevictorious.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Dave Olson - Story Maker/Writer/ Producer ( uncleweed.net ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Dani Vachon – Director ( oliofestival.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Gair Williamson – Architect ( gwarchitects.ca ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Martha Sturdy - Artist/ Designer ( marthasturdy.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Doug Haddow - Writer/ Designer ( pblks.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Pamela Masik – Artist (  masik.ca ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Bing Thom – Architect ( bingthomarchitects.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Stephanie Corker Irwin - Founder of Bliss at NoMoSolo ( nomosolo.com ) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Vanessa Leigh - Publisher/ Fashion Director ( ionmagazine.ca )speaks at Pecha Kucha.

Marc Baumgartner - VP Product/ Design Director ( nowpublic.com) speaks at Pecha Kucha.

After the event was over I spoke with a couple of people to get their feedback on the event. I had two very different but interesting conversations Denise Liu and Mathew Arthur on the impact of Pecha Kucha on the Vancouver cultural scene.

Denise Liu ( a former Pecha Kucha presenter )

Mathew Arthur

Bankground on Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha is a global event that's grown to over 299 cities around the world since it started in Japan in 2003. Jane and Steven Cox from Cause & Affect with help from Becki Chan Begovic from Milbec are the local Organizers of the Pecha Kucha Night. The Vancouver event has grown very quickly since Cause & Effect organized the first event in 2008 . Two hundred people showed up at each of the first two shows, then 500 people came out for each of the next seven shows at the Park Theatre. On April 0810, Pecha Kucha sold out the Vogue Theatre with 1050 people. Vancouver has one of the largest events and reaches a broader audience because the Presenters represent the best and most creative from a broad range of fields.

According to Steven Coe "Pecha Kucha brings together Vancouver's culturally minded to enjoy an hour and a half of inspiration, viewpoints and ideas on creativity, culture and design by our City's own cultural makers. Our goal is two-fold 1) for Pecha Kucha to be the "glue" that connects our diverse cultural instigators and 2) to raise the profile of our city's cultural identity to mainstream audiences."

The basic concept is: the presenter picks their own topic (anything that gets you going and is meaningful to you) and is allowed 20 images, each to be shown for 20 seconds. There will be 12 presenters per night. 

Pecha Kucha 10 Presenters:
Jay Balmer - Experience Director at ( bigpark.com )
Isabelle Dunlop - Fashion Designer/Singer (combinethevictorious.com )
Dave Olson - Story Maker/Writer/ Producer ( uncleweed.net )
Dani Vachon – Director ( oliofestival.com )
Gair Williamson – Architect ( gwarchitects.ca )
Martha Sturdy - Artist/ Designer ( marthasturdy.com )
Doug Haddow - Writer/ Designer ( pblks.com )
Bing Thom – Architect ( bingthomarchitects.com )
Stephanie Corker Irwin - Founder of Bliss at NoMoSolo ( nomosolo.com )
Vanessa Leigh - Publisher/ Fashion Director ( ionmagazine.ca )
Marc Baumgartner - VP Product/ Design Director ( nowpublic.com)
Pamela Masik – Artist (  masik.ca )

Presenter list: Jay Balmer, Isabelle Dunlop, Dave Olson, Dani Vachon, Gair Williamson, Martha Sturdy, Doug Haddow, Bing Thom, Stephanie Corker Irwin, Vanessa Leigh, Marc Baumgartner, Pamela Masik

Click on the link below for more info. and past presenters:
site: Pecha Kucha Vancouver

Pecha Kucha Vancouver Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?v=info&gid=9698446098

The Flash slide show of my photos on flickr.com/pixelate