I’m a passionate communicator, continuously curious about ways to improve the impact of my messages whether spoken or written.

I was recently introduced to PechaKucha. It means chit-chat in Japanese and is named after the Japanese phrase for the sound of talking.

PechaKucha is a simple presentation format created by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in Tokyo, Japan in 2003, because they said:  “Architects talk too much!” Klein and Dytham wanted to convert drab speeches and ‘death-by-powerpoint’ presentations from speaking ‘at’ people to speak ‘to’ people.

Their format of 20 images for 20 seconds with autoforwarding, ensures the speaker is clear, highly focused, and concise. They created rules for the topics and the slide format.

Chris Ostrich is the Co-Founder at LISNR and Founder of DisruptHR. Jennifer McClure is the President of Unbridled Talent and CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of DisruptHR. They modified the PechaKucha format and brought it to Human Resources:

The original and ongoing purpose of DisruptHR is to provide an opportunity for those with an idea about the workplace, or the future of work, to share it.

DisruptHR speeches follow the same format as PechaKucha – with a shorter time – 15 seconds/slide for a total speech of 5 minutes!

Focusing on making a powerful impact, the format has us raise the issue, identify why we’re qualified to speak on the topic and ensure each point is clearly and succinctly addressed.

PechaKucha and DisruptHR changed my perspective on creating and delivering my communications.

The result: Begin with the PechaKucha format for everything I create. Expand from there, through the same format, ONLY when additional information is critical to the impact of the message.

As you’ll hear in my message about the crisis of family caregiving in business, it’s real. I know the journey. There is a solution for the crisis in family caregiving in business. A precedent has been set for each component so we can solve this!