Have you ever heard about the Japanese-style presentation “Pecha Kucha” before?

On September 25th, 2024, the English Co-Curricular Activities Committee (ECAC), with the facilitation of the ELC Instructor, Dr. Jean-Paul DuQuette, organized the “Pecha Kucha Presentation Workshop”. This workshop offered a great opportunity for students to learn new English skills to boost their academic presentations, while having fun with peers on the campus.

During the workshop, Dr. DuQuette started by explaining the origin of the word “Pecha Kucha” and described what the “Pecha Kucha skill” entails. Following this, he demonstrated an example of a Pecha Kucha presentation.  Then students had to create a presentation talking about their future career and aspirational goals. The uniqueness of the Pecha Kucha style of presentation is that, the presenter can only have 20 slides and are given 20 seconds per slide. Each slide should only have a photo on it.  For the practice session, the participants were asked to put together 11 slides. They followed the guidelines earnestly and made their presentations to their respective groups. Throughout the workshop, Dr. DuQuette kept reminding the students of the time and everyone was immersed in a relaxing and joyful atmosphere.

From the workshop, participants gained useful skills and techniques that can be applied in the future for their presentations. All students participated actively in the activity and had fun in groups, sharing their thoughts and presentations. Successfully, this opportunity did not only help participants to learn new skills but also provide a platform where they can practise their English speaking and presentation skills.

(Written by ECAC Student Ambassadors: Katie Xu Yuhan, Cinthia Anette Jaramillo Vera and Michelle Loi Si Teng)