The art of PechaKucha: From the classroom to the boardroom.

AuthorNellen, Annette

PechaKucha is a funny name for a presentation technique akin to an elevator pitch--except this elevator has timed slides; fun, descriptive, and eye-catching graphics; and a presentation time limit of 400 seconds. Developed in 2003 by two architects, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, it ensures that presentations move along in a timely fashion to keep the audience engaged. Since that time, PechaKucha, which means "chit-chat" in Japanese, has become a worldwide phenomenon resulting in PechaKucha Nights in 1,000 cities across the world.

What does this have to do with tax or accounting? Tax professors probably asked the same question when they attended the first PechaKucha session at the American Taxation Association midyear meeting in 2013. By the end of the session, though, the link was clear: PechaKucha is one solution to awkward, long, and sometimes boring presentations--something that accounting classes and workplaces across the country suffer through almost daily. Tax professors and professionals often struggle to convey complex information in a way that keeps the audience engaged, and this format can help presenters be more careful and deliberate with what they want to say, how they want to say it, and what visual aids they use to support their message.

The AICPA lists communication as a core professional competency, and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business requires that business schools and accounting departments evaluate oral communication skills. Students need to practice speaking in front of groups, but the results of student presentations are often cringeworthy. Students are unprepared, nervous, equipped with ineffective visual aids, and unable to keep the audience interested. Without honest, critical feedback from faculty, students have no opportunity to improve and, thus, often carry this bad presentation behavior into the accounting profession.

Of course, these challenges are not limited to the accounting classroom or profession. A 2017 online survey by Active Presence found that the top three issues respondents cited with ineffective presentations were:

* Engagement: Keeping the audience engaged by drawing and keeping initial interest;

* Preparation: A clear message that comes across as practiced and intentional; and

* Slide design and nerves: Lack of confidence and issues with personal energy and with nonverbal communication. (The full survey report, "The Top Challenges in Delivering Presentations," is available at tinyurl.com/ybdcd387.)

Unsurprisingly, when presentation expert Nancy Duarte published a series of blog posts on presentation style and tips for Harvard Business Review in 2012, her final post pleads with presenters to avoid five common mistakes:

(1) failing to engage emotionally; (2) asking too much of your slides; (3) trotting out tired visuals; (4) speaking in jargon; and (5) going over the allotted time (see Duarte, "Five Presentation Mistakes Everyone Makes," Harvard Business Review (Dec. 12,2012), available at tinyurl.com/y84jspgv).

Fortunately, the PechaKucha format addresses all of these common mistakes. First, the limited time forces a presenter to get to the point--or "hook"--quickly and keep the audience engaged. In fact, the short time frame ensures that everyone is paying attention and is just a little bit nervous about the pace of the continuously advancing slides. Second, PechaKucha does not allow the presenter to ask much of the slides other than visual support for the words spoken. Admittedly, presenters could still use tired and cliched visuals--an adding machine to show accounting work or a production line to represent manufacturing--so avoiding this requires the most vigilance. PechaKucha was invented to solve the issue of presenters going over an allotted time. But what about the excessive use of jargon? Generally...

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