20 slides for 20 seconds each – this Japanese originating worldwide speaker series is a wild ride. here are slides, vids and audio in various forms from 4 different appearances at Pecha Kucha
I also had the thrill of heading up the road to Pecha Kucha Whistler in April of 2012. Check out this just-released version of my talk and slideshow where I show 20 slides for 20 seconds each and share my views on art, being a creator, and sharing with an audience:
Here’s the intro excerpt for my presentation:
Writer Dave Olson speaks about his personal experiences, explaining his view on art, and how to be a successful creator. He shares his opinions on how to develop and maintain a personal vision, and examines the space where vision and audience intersect.
If my prezo brought you any inspiration at all feel free to give it an applause or share it with your social networks.
At Pecha Kucha Night “All-Star” edition at The Vogue Theatre on Granville St., i spoke in the “clean-up” slot and had the best time sharing “Forgotten Vancouver Stories” in the “20 slides, 20 seconds each” format.
Then pal Kris Krug snapped a quick series of “two-fers” with me and other speakers, shared here for posterity and interest.
with David Eby, then was Director of BCCLU, now BC Attorney General and next, i hope, PM of Canada. He’s so diligent (and tall or i am hobbit sized)with Sean Orr, who received the most votes and gave a bit of a “fuck you” talk. he sings for the NEEDs, writes Tea and Two Slices for a local webmag in which he rounds-up and points fingers at local news, civic conundrums and nonsense. he’s quite good at this.with Graeme Berglund who besides great taste in hats and beards is a real professional artist – meaning that unlike me (an outsider), he actually has the “art and business” balance sorted out. he’s absurdly talented in various media and get shit done. Respect.
I really enjoyed Dave Olson‘s (aka. Uncle Weed) talk, more for the flow and ebb of it than anything. As he walked about on stage I winced every step he took on account of the cast on his right foot.
He walked around a lot.He talked a lot about his idea of what it means to succeed, or at least progress as a human and explore ones own creativity and self, which I think is fairly accurately depicted by the photograph below, where the comfort zone is not where we should be hanging out in. It was very clear why this is Dave’s third Pecha Kucha appearance.
Stories and observations gathered from exploring Vancouver’s places and history, then finding inspiration in the forgotten moments, incidents and neighbourhoods and tactics for turning raw materials into craft, and art for the future. As shared by me, Dave Olson, at Pecha Kucha Nght Vancouver, All-Star edition, Leap Day 2012.
Dave Olson was a great closing speaker and echoed many of the points Steven had made in the beginning about Vancouver and how our culture has been and is being shaped. I didn’t really understand what his “job” was, but storyteller is definitely one of them. From his website it looks like he does speaking, writing, and other projects. He lives in Lynn Valley, North Van, which makes it pretty easy to make fun of the other stuff that goes on in the city. You can actually go online to see his presentation slides.
And there was much more. I was dying to hear Dave Olson’s talk. I’d heard him at an earlier Pecha Kucha and never forgotten his passion for the creative process, how he inspired people to think out of the box and give themselves over to art, literature, life. I was also very curious about Danielle LaPorte. But I had to go home to make good on a promise to put my son to bed.
To which i replied:
Indeed, ’tis more important to share time with the lil gaffer! Was nice to see you and wish you coulda heard about my old-skool Vancouver heroes.
This time around, I shared Vancouver cultural anecdotes, forgotten nuggets, and the joy of exploration, then shared how I take my observations and turn into craft and art. Also threw in a few things I’d enjoy improving about our beloved city. 6:40 goes by quick!
I think the talk would work great as an hour+ storytime event along with discussion. Would be pleased to share if someone were to put on an event at a theatre. Any ideas out there?
Danielle LaPorte, who was just as inspiring as I had predicted, sending urgent waves of purpose into the crowd with her messages; and Dave Olson and Andrew Morrison, who unfortunately I had to miss due to the unanticipated late finish.
As I left the iconic theatre I had a sense of fulfillment rising inside me. A sense that perhaps Vancouver is changing. A sense that greatness lives here. People in our community are making differences, they are creating, and they are sharing. Events like PechaKucha are essential in that they breed possibility and oneness.
Happy to be named to the Top 10 roster for Pecha Kucha All-star edition which sold out in 32 hours (over 1200 seats at The Vogue). This is my 3rd time in the unique 20 slides for :20 each format and am preparing all new material to share what inspires me about Vancouver and how i take inspiration into craft. Hope to see you there. If not, Bruce Sharpe is shooting the gig and hopefully Andrew Lavigne is kicking off his new documentary.
I was invited to speak at Global Pecha Kucha Day in Vancouver for the worldwide (100 cities or so) “Inspire Japan” event on April 16 2011 at the Cascade Room on Main St. during the day (usually these Pecha Kucha Night Vancouver events are held at the Vogue Theatre in the evening) with a lovely smart audience as usual.
Pecha Kucha Night is a presentation style and a series of lecture events held around the world under license from the originating design firm in Tokyo – in Vancouver by Cause+Affect.
The presentations are exactly 20 slides, switched automatically each :20 seconds. Like speedy lil TED talks with a tendency towards design, architecture, civic planning but speakers include anyone who is doing something interesting really.
Anyhow, the Inspire Japan day’s speakers were asked to speak more or less on 4 main themes. Here’s the instructions:
“INSPIRE, JAPAN, THE ISSUES, RECOVERY. They could be simply about things that inspire us, or Japan how it has inspired you. Great ideas or solutions that help deal with the issues at hand whether earthquake, tsunami or nuclear – and the road to recovery.”
Here are the “paper point” collage slides to peruse at your leisure. Next time you buy me a beer, perhaps i’ll spiel the 20 second annotations to go along with each static montage.
Video
The event was streamed online to coincide with the other events. Watching the Twitter stream to see events roll on and off was pretty neat while riding the SeaBus over – especially from far-flung cities i’ve visited from Osnabrueck to Okayama.
This was a joy for me to produce from my time spent in Japan what seems like a lifetime ago. I dug deep into my personal archive to find some neat artifacts for my deck and discovered a variety of lost memories and forgotten incidents tucked away in boxes and files.
The event raised money for Architecture for Humanity to build a school in Japan which is great to be a part of, but truthfully (and selfishly) this was a chance for me to release some emotion by flashingback about how traipsing around Japan changed my life in many ways.
I don’t really talk about that time as much as other sojourns and, since the earthquake and resultant chaos, i wanted to express something-somehow with some sort of storymaking. This was a perfect chance so i dug deep.
Thanks
My pal Daniel Robles gave me a hand building the deck and a load of my pals rolled down to the Cascade Room on Main to lend support and inspiration. See also Naoya Makino’s photoset.
Pecha Kucha continues to raise money by marketing an e-book of the poster art from the various Inspire Japan events around the world. Some top-end designers contributed work so bound to be enjoyable for your virtual coffee table.
Thanks to Steven, Jane, and Becki for the invite. Sign me up anytime.
Inspire Japan Stories for Global Pecha Kucha Day by Dave Olson
Anecdotes and inspiration from working and hitchhiking in Japan including visiting hot springs, working in an enoki mushroom farm, meeting interesting folks proud of their town and hobbies. Plus exploring Japanese culture in Guam, Palau and Yap.
Apparently Pecha Kucha is pronounced anyway you choose – 20 slides for :20 seconds
Dave Olson – Story Maker/Writer/ Producer (uncleweed.net) speaks at Pecha Kucha – photo by Melissa Gedney
Background
Held in around 300 cities, Pecha Kucha originated in Tokyo and now spreads like a erstwhile secret society into the creative underbellies of boroughs and urban centers where architects, world changes, artists, poets, musicians and survivors face the audience under pressure to inspire, amuse, inform, and/or educate ~ but mostly inspire ~ through their story. The Vancouver incarnation is wrangled by Cause+Affect.
20 Slides, 20 Seconds, each, a dozen “amazing people with brilliant ideas” and beer are the needed ingredients for a Pecha Kucha Night” {Facebook}.
I am now in the club, April 7th i was 3rd up after rad skateboard/snowboarder/game designer legend and a Scotslady who’d just sung for the attendees and before two hip architects, Gair Williamson and Bing Thom.
Spiel
I spieled forth a version of my F*ck Stats, Make Art/Greeks to Geeks/Sparking Creativity riffs but added a few new slides and no old-timey suitcase – no time for props to soliloquies. Rapid fire style – hold on because the slides are rocking by – the crowd enjoyed the anecdotes and the time flew by – afterwhich i settled in to check out the rest of the remarkable people with amazing ideas.
Pecha Kucha 10 in Vancouver is this Thursday, should be fun. I haven’t really heard of anyone in the line up, so it should be fun going into it with no expectations.
update: Pecha Kucha 10 was awesome. The stand out talk for me was by Dave Olson.
Raw Bean recaps PK in the Coke and Count Chocula blog post, Out and Aboot:
Sometimes it’s hard to remember or tell what someone does and that was the case with the next guy Dave Olson. But he was hilarious! I’m pretty sure he was the one that said “don’t be precious” which we wrote down.
It was great to attend Pecha Kucha Vancouver last night to hear individuals such as Dave Olson on his theories of art, Bing Thom on his theatre design for Washington DC, Stephanie Corker Irwin on nomosolo offline dating, andPamela Masik on her efforts to raise awareness through painting. The format of Pecha Kucha really allows for community sharing at a very personalized level. Arts was featured and culture is what it’s all about, so that’s an inspiring place from which to post about supporting the arts. Thanks Vancouver.
MarkBusse @UncleWeed to sold out Pecha Kucha crowd at Vogue Theatre: upgrade your heros, explore translucency, get stoned, make art & spell bad. #PKN8:17 PM Apr 8th via Tweetie
Totally, Bob! I kept thinking the same thing throughout the evening. Especially because what was shared by the presenters was so personal and also indicative of the paths they each chose, the choices they made (as Pamela Masik spoke to) that brought them to where they are. I especially loved Dave Olsen’s presentation (how galvanizing!) and Marc Baumgartner’s perspective on “context.”
Dave Olson and Bing Thom had me laughing AND inspired. What a truly awesome night.
Thanks to all the folks who came up afterwards to say thanks and tell me what they are up to and to everyone who chimed in with Twitter/Facebook/SMS/Flickr etc. love – my words are nothing without ya and you now know how i much i value chronicling events with artifacts so thanks for making stuff.
mixed-media art library, global diary, project dossier and whole life documentation
by pknvan
“INSPIRE, JAPAN, THE ISSUES, RECOVERY. They could be simply about things that inspire us, or Japan how it has inspired you. Great ideas or solutions that help deal with the issues at hand whether earthquake, tsunami or nuclear – and the road to recovery.”
