Posted by lemonjelly on: Thu 29th Mar, 2012

Photo by my friend Tiv. What a great night! 

Santa Barbara held its first PechaKucha Night and, imho, it was a rousing success. First, heaps of people showed up for it. All ages, all sorts of backgrounds. Lots of people I knew and lots of people I didn't know. How cool is that. And everyone was in a good mood and eager to hear what the presenters had to say.

It kicked off with a video greeting from Tokyo, the origin of PechaKucha, welcoming Santa Barbara to the growing number of cities participating in PechaKucha. It's currently over 500 cities worldwide, with approximately 2 PechaKucha events taking place *each day*. The video also taught us how to pronounce PechaKucha. It's pe-CHA ka-CHA, with very little emphasis on any syllable. And it's not "Machu Pichu" or "Pressure Cooker." Consider me educated.

There were seven presenters, each speaking to 20 slides with 20 seconds for each slide. And the range of topics was fantastic, from communication with your baby, how to build a 12x12 eco-friendly microhut, a poem of biodiversity set to luscious ocean life photography, molecular gastronomic food explorations with mouth-watering photos, building furniture with 3-D printers, and how to create a blog. I was impressed by the photo qualities and how clearly the presenters had practiced for their 6.4 minutes in the limelight.

Bruce Caron, one of the organizers, presented last, his topic was, aptly, how to do a 6.4 minute presentation for PechaKucha. So meta. It was relevant, it was funny, it was inspiring, and it referenced Edward Tufte. And I'm pleased as punch that so much of the audience appreciated the Tufte reference.  For your viewing pleasure, Caron's presentation is now online. Can you spare 400 seconds?

Afterwards, people lingered at their tables, to keep talking. My group brainstormed on topics we'd like to present on, and where we could find other venues for PechaKucha Nights. I think that's exactly what the organizers could hope we would do. 

So what are the next steps? PechaKucha in Santa Barbara plans to continue on the last Thursday evening of every month. We loved the venue, the University Club. They could continue there, but are open to other places too.

Join their Facebook page! You'll get invitations to future events, and you can contact them if you'd like to be one of the presenters. 

Watch all the videos from Volume 1 of PechaKucha. They're now posted on YouTube. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/user/pknsb/videos

It's all run by volunteers, for the amusement and enlightenment for us all. It's like TEDx talks, but BoingBoing topics. And relevant to Santa Barbara. 

Tags: pechakucha, pecha kucha, presenting, community, bruce caron

Posted by lemonjelly on: Tue 27th Mar, 2012

Santa Barbara is hosting its own PechaKucha Night this coming Thursday, 29 March. Okay, so what is it?

PechaKucha, meaning "chit chat," started in Tokyo in 2003 as an event for people, mostly young people, mostly designers, to share ideas and information. It's evolved into a hip show-and-tell of sorts. Like if BoingBoing became a live show. A TED talk of sorts, except more casual, more open, and definitely friendly to those with a short attention span. And PechaKucha Nights take place in over 500 other cities around the world.

What inspires you? What are you working on? Did you go somewhere cool? Do you have a neat bottlecap collection? You can probably present at PechaKucha about it. As long as you follow some simple rules. Namely, do your presentation with 20 images, with 20 seconds devoted to each image.

No dallying, the images progress automatically and the presenter must keep it short and sweet.  It follows one of my favorite philosophies: KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Santa Barbara's PechaKucha Night will be at the University Club downtown this Thursday. Doors open at 7 pm, for drinks and mingling, presentations start at 8 pm.

Some notables on the inaugural presentation roster:

Roberto Cortez - chef specializing in abstract culinary presentations.

Bruce Caron - social anthropologist and cultural geographer.

Faye Cox - currency ecologist.

Chris Farmer - organic farmer.

If some of these occupations or interests sound quirky or unique, that's the point. They do interesting things, or have interesting things to say. If you're curious about them, come to PechaKucha Night. If you want to be a presenter, come to PechaKucha Night! 

Each presentation is under 7 minutes long, so it's not a big commitment. The cost of attending is a suggested donation of $5 to help pay for the venue, so it's not a big price to attend. 

Have a look at a light-hearted PechaKucha 20x20 presentation earlier in March, this one from Derby, England. Topic: kebabs.

Here's their Facebook event page with more information on all the speakers, and directions to the University Club.

PechaKucha Santa Barbara
29 March, 2012
7 pm
University Club
1332 Santa Barbara St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Tags: pecha kucha, pecha kucha santa barbara, roberto cortez, faye cox, chris farmer, bruce caron, Ethan Lowry, Debby Takikawa, Michael McGinnis, AJ Henning, university club

Posted by lemonjelly on: Thu 1st Mar, 2012

The Project Fine Art Zone is a super fun spot to drop into during First Thursdays. It's always packed to the gills with folks. Several times I've gone in, there was a nifty trio of musicians - accordian, clarinet and such - putting out lively pleasant tunes that make you want to grab someone nearby and waltz around the room.

This gallery is a collaborative, and a non-profit. They donate 20% of sales to Girls, Inc. 

It's so cute and quiet looking on regular days, with an inviting long table in the center of one of its rooms, I often wonder if I can go in there to read a book or do some work. I wonder if there's free wifi...

The Project Fine Art Zone
740 State Street, Suite 1 (on de la Guerra)
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
website

Tags: the project fine art zone, first thursdays, susan tibbles, The Project

Posted by lemonjelly on: Thu 1st Mar, 2012

A top pick for March's First Thursday was the opportunity to peek into the old Victoria Street Theater and see plans for its renovation by the Ensemble Theater Company. 

If you're like me, you grew up seeing quirky firms at the Vic, like the Festival of Animations (Wizard of Speed and Time, anyone?) or those all weekend marathons of Monty Python films. A chance to get into the old building for a last moment of nostalgia was key. But seeing the plans for the new Vic turned out to be pretty cool, as well.

The old seating arrangement is going away, but not the number of seats (always hovering just around 300 seats). The upper gallery is going away in the sense that the audience won't be split between two floors, but it'll become one continuous ascending floor, a bit like an amphitheater. 

Groundbreaking expected this summer!

Here's Ensemble's information about the Victoria St. project on their website, including renderings. Check out the one of the interior view to see the sloping floorplan. It'll double the capacity of Ensemble's current space, but like I said, retain the same number of seats that the old Vic had. Very cool.

Tags: First Thursday, victoria street theater, renovations, ensemble theatre company