PechaKucha Night Submission Guidelines

Submit basic presenter info + presentation summary.  Find the Presenter Intake link within each theme. Send us a brief summary (up to 200 words) of your presentation and how it relates to the theme you are interested in, along with your 200-word bio, close-up headshot and one image representative of your presentation.

Wait for confirmation. We will reach out to everyone who submitted their proposals one week after the proposal due date closes to confirm whether or not your presentation pitch has been selected. We curate between 8 to 10 presenters per PechaKucha Night based on creativity in theme interpretation, quality of work, and story pitch. Please note that our curator may reach out to you during the selection process by phone or email to clarify your pitch.

Onboarding + Preparation Phase. Once approved, you will receive an onboarding email from our team with deliverable + rehearsal schedule. The onboarding process will include  PechaKucha profile which you will need to set up on PechaKucha.com. Need help? Learn how to set up your PechaKucha profile here.

About your PechaKucha presentation. Though there are different styles and methodologies to tell your stories in the PechaKucha format successfully, we recommend you view this primer video as a starting point. The video will show the online tool available to help you compose your PechaKucha presentation. If you use this tool, please download your deck and upload it to your presenter folder.

Alternatively, you can also use Keynote or Powerpoint to make your slides. For your convenience, please download our Keynote Template or Powerpoint Template. Slides in these templates are set with the required 20-second autotransition between slides. For your final presentation, we will prepare your opening and closing slides.

Additional things to keep in mind—

Do not add any animation or transition effects, such as fade or dissolve, at any time during your PK presentation. Your presentation is uploaded to the official PechaKucha website as 20 static images and your voice recording, which we will capture at the event and spliced for the final presentation upload. Their web platform merged these two types of assets into a video presentation.

We strongly advise against using editable text to avoid font display issues. However, if the editable text is truly necessary, please default to our Powerpoint Template, as Keynote lacks the font embedment capability. Be sure to embed your fonts upon saving your Powerpoint presentation.

Upload your completed presentation. About two weeks before the event, we request you upload your finalized presentation to your presenter folder, link to be provided. We request that once your presentation is submitted to us in its final form, with no further changes. Our team will optimize each presenter’s presentation and include it in the master presentation deck for the event. If there are any technical issues, our team will reach out for your assistance.

Practice your presentation. Remember there is no “go back one slide, please” in PechaKucha. This is an exhilarating presentation format as you have exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds to share your story.

On the day of the event. Show up for final rehearsal for sound check and connect with your presenter cohort. There will be a podium at the venue for you to bring up your notes and a timer. When called to present, take the mic! Enjoy this exhilarating experience. We will be cheering for you!