Pecha Kucha
During the second half of the course, we will use the theories and concepts learned in the first half to help each other understand better the concepts of sexual identity, sexual ethics, and issues associated with regulation of sexuality. One of the ways we will do this is through student presentations.
Each student will make presentation on one of these topics in the format of pecha kucha PowerPoint/Keynote presentation. Pecha kucha means you are limited to 20 slides, shown for 20 seconds each. This means you will have exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Don’t be afraid to play around: The idea here is that the form’s restriction promotes creativity.
The communication goal of your presentation will be to explain something about the nature of the issue and some of the diverse perspectives on the issue; for instance, why it is controversial, or what are the key areas of dispute. You don’t have to explain everything about the topic (as if you could in six minutes!), but focus on (1) identification and definition of the issue; and (2) your own ideas and analysis. Your topic should be a narrow or specific issue within the broadly defined topic of the week. (Examples: In the ‘Alternative Identities’ Week, a presentation topic might be ‘Employment Discrimination Toward Transgender Individuals’; in the ‘Politics of Sexual Identities’ week, a topic could be why GLBTQ folks disagree about the importance of marriage rights.) Our presentation and topics schedule is available here.
In order to achieve this goal, you will need to think about how much you can reasonably accomplish in six minutes. A short time period does not mean you are limited to short or simple analysis, but you may need to speak about some aspects of your analysis in more depth than others. Remember that your goal in this presentation is not necessarily to persuade the class to agree with your analysis. Your goal is to explain your perspective and teach us something about it. This means you will need to provide support for your analysis. Typically, support takes the form of reasons (why you believe that such-and-such is true) and examples (specific evidence that such-and-such is true). You’ll need to find relevant sources to do this, beginning with the assigned readings for the week of your presentation. You must use at least three sources: one can be from the class reading list. Of course, you must cite all sources appropriately in your presentation and in your bibliography. (You can make an extra slide to list your references.)
Your presentation will be evaluated on the extent to which you meet these criteria. I will use this rubric [pdf] to grade your presentations.
Preparing your Pecha Kucha
In PowerPoint or a comparable program (such as Keynote or Google Presentations), set up a presentation with 20 slides. Each slide should feature ONE image / phrase. (Free alternatives to PowerPoint and Keynote include Google Presentations, Slide Rocket, and Zoho Show. Check them out.)
It’s best to think in terms of phrases, not sentences. You will need to think through what goes on each slide. Guy Kawasaki suggests no font smaller than 30 points on a slide. His reasons are pretty compelling: You want the slides to complement your presentation, not dominate it.
Set the program so that your slideshow advances every 20 seconds, without any input from you. Here’s how this looks in PowerPoint (well, on a Mac, anyway):
Step 1: Click on Slide Show
Step 2: Click on Options
Steps 3 & 4: Clear the “On mouse click” box, and set the slides to advance automatically after 20 seconds.
Please note the following
- The result is that you have 6 minutes, 40 seconds to tell your story. You now need to rehearse your presentation so that your commentary is linked to the slides, and to revise your slides, especially the text, to make it compelling to your audience.
- You should have a works cited list for the presentation, but it doesn’t have to be part of your presentation. You can make it the final slide, or even email it to me separately.
- Here’s some useful Pecha Kucha guidelines for making better presentations.
How do you pronounce pecha kucha?!?
This assignment was adapted from a similar project assigned by Jason B. Jones (Central Connecticut State University).
