John Taraborelli: It’s a fast and fun way to present an idea or share a story. It’s a great way to focus your thoughts around an idea because you know you’re only going to have 20 slides and 20 seconds each, no matter what. It forces you to streamline your thinking. Sometimes having artificial limitations imposed on you is the best way to bring out your creativity.
JT: The Providence chapter really stands out and the people who run the global PechaKucha organization in Tokyo recognize that. Every once in a while when we hit a milestone, the founders, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, will send us a funny video congratulating us. They’re always adamant that we not share it on social media because they don’t want 999 other cities to start asking, “Hey, where’s our video?”
JT: My all-time favorite was in November 2014. It was right after the mayoral election in Providence, which had been a total circus. I worked on Mayor Elorza’s campaign, but quit after we won the primary because I just hated the 24/7 nature of working in politics. So I had this idea to do a post-campaign debrief – partly because I knew it would be interesting, but also because I figured it would be cathartic for a lot of people involved. We had a couple of my coworkers from the Elorza campaign present. Dan McGowan, who had been the reporter covering the campaign, presented. 
And the showstopper was Dan Harrop, the eccentric Republican candidate who had shocked everyone by endorsing Elorza just days before the election. Throughout the entire campaign he seemed to be the candidate who was always having the most fun. His presentation did not disappoint. He had the crowd roaring with laughter – and that night was the first time he admitted that he had communicated about his endorsement behind the scenes with Brett Smiley. One of his slides was actually screenshots of emails they had exchanged.
JT: I realize I’m biased, but I really believe it’s one of the best ways to connect with fun and interesting people in Providence. I recommend it all the time to college students who are looking to network with the young professional crowd, but without the awkwardness of forced networking events. We also get people all the time who tell us that they’re new in town and either someone they know suggested it as a good way to get to know Providence or they come from other cities that have PechaKucha chapters and know it’s a good way to get acquainted. Every month at the beginning of the event I ask people to raise their hands if they’ve never been to a PechaKucha Night before – and every month, almost without fail, roughly half the hands in the room go up. It’s great to have that mix of loyal regulars and newcomers every month; it’s not something you find at most events.
JT: I agree with Stephanie 100%. We’ve had a great run and we’ve loved doing this – but we’re ready to move on and I think some new ideas and energize would really be great for Providence. 
JT: Maybe a marriage proposal. I thought we were going to get one last summer, but it turned out it was actually a presentation inspired by a breakup.
More Posts by The Author:
On the Cover: The Cannabis Guide
Motif’s 2024 RI Spoken Awards: And the winners are…
March’s Mixology Madness Cocktail Winner: Lucky Thyme
Enter to win tickets to COMPANY
2024 Motif RI Music Awards Recap
