Pecha Kucha in Winnipeg

On Thursday, May 16th, 2013 I attended my first Pecha Kucha event with my friend John at the Park Theatre Cafe.

So you maybe wondering, what the heck is Pecha Kucha!?

According to the official Pecha Kucha webiste, it is a style of presentation where the presenter displays 20 images and speaks for 20 seconds on each image. Thus, using a 20 x 20 format.

One web definition of the term Pecha Kucha is "someone who talks a lot, a real chatterbox." However, the originators, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, of this presentation style state that is for "architects [who] talk too much", as they are of that profession too!

Now that you have a better idea of Pecha Kucha, let's talk about the Winni-Pecha Kucha, Vol. 14 event that I attended.

At the Event

When we arrived, the theatre was packed with audience members of all adult ages just waiting to hear and see what the eleven presenters (not including PKN Video) would share with us.

Photo I took of presenters at end of night--one person missing?

NOTE: My goal for this post is to share some of the themes and messages that struck a chord with me and not to repeat what every presenter shared.

Culture and Politics

Two presenters, Jackie Doming (Designer & Threads of Hope founder) and Glenn Morison (Author & Minister) shared stories and images dealing with the importance of culture and its impact on their lives and those close to them.

Doming discussed her experience being a first generation born Canadian to Filipino immigrant parents. Her photos and tales took us on a journey through two generations of upbringing--her parents and her own. Wanting to achieve a better life for their daughter, Doming's parents went through their own struggles, such as taking unrelated jobs to their previous specialized ones. Like myself, she views herself as a Canadian who tries to incorporate and (continuously) learn about her parents' heritage. Even though she cannot cook traditional foods or speak a Tagalog dialect, she will always be proud to be Filipino woman--Pinoy ako!

As for Morison, his shared tale focused on his close friend, the late Nick Ternette. Growing up, I was somewhat familiar with Ternette, the passionate political activist, and I was pleasantly surprised at his life story. While Morison only had under seven minutes to share this amazing tale, I learned that Ternette was born in Berlin to Russian parents who immigrated to Winnipeg post WWII. As an immigrant who spoke Russian, German, and little to no English, he was not warmly welcomed in Winnipeg. Being called names such as "square head and Nazi" as a young boy or being told he 'needs to lose his accent' to become a sportscaster did not deter him from leaving his mark on society.

My Takeaway: 

Whether it is the 1980s or the 1950s, these two stories teach us how challenging it can be for newcomers to Winnipeg. Fortunately, things are changing for the better and those who came before have paved the way for those who arrive today and tomorrow!

Alternative Career Paths

Under this theme, I want to recap on how many of the presenters discussed their various  career transitions. I found it interesting how they started with one career and either merged it with another one, or just completely took on a new path.

The first presenter, Talia Syrie (Owner of Tallest Poppy), shared her journey to being a business owner as a twisted path from the University of Winnipeg, to (South) Winnipeg Technical College, to tree planting, and cooking en masse...I actually could have missed a few of the jobs,... but one thing did remain her need for jobs that required her to be 'strong' and 'get dirty.' I agree that these are two great attributes to develop before meeting new challenges and overcoming them.

Another interesting presenter, Leif Norman (photographer) discussed how he completed a B.Sc. in Chemistry and wound up following his passion for photography. Currently, this passion has secured him a position as highly sought out photography for many Winnipeg events. Even his personal pursuits boggled my mine as he stated his interest in locating the who, what and where of forgotten photos that were mis- or un-labelled. WOW!! 

He even made note that professional photographers do not need to worry about amateurs, like myself, taking over the profession due to easy access of cameras on our digital devices. Apparently, all those cute animal pictures are not seen as a threat!? 

Well here's one more for you, Leif Norman!

I took this photo at Wildlife Safari in San Antonio, Texas Dec. 2010

The last presenter of the evening was Sarah Michaelson, aka DJ Mama Cutsworth, who taught us the terms De-Schooling (E.g. Home schooling philosophy) and De-Working as the time we need to transition from a formal, institution. I really enjoyed how she took us into her childhood to meet her parents and their progressive choices for child rearing, such as being a vegetarian before it was made cool!. Then she explained how her early exposure of going against the grain had helped her deal with being laid off and re-evaluate her next career choice--becoming a DJ.

My Takeaway:

These career changers offered the audience a plethora of ideas and insight about the winding road that life can take, which can alter and create new career pathways for us. So, continue to forge ahead!

Visualizing Memories 

Finally, I would like to conclude this lengthy blog post to discuss the stunning visual art of Erika Dueck (Student of University of Manitoba's School of Art). 

Screen Capture from Erika Dueck's Vimeo of The Ephemeral Mind

Her discussion of her thesis project, The Ephemeral Mind, was a truly eye-opening and mind bending experience! Her explanation of how we understand the way we store and retrieve memories, really made me question my own ability to recall my memories as the absolute truth. 

(Even though I have taken a course in Attention and Memory during my university years and delved into the (in)accuracy of witness testimony, I would like to believe that I have a pretty good memory at the best of times!)

Sometimes, when I cannot remember something, which happens on occassion, I imagine that the memory in question is locked away in one of my many organized files and for some reason I have either lost the filing cabinet key or the one to the office door!

Screen Capture from Erika Dueck's Vimeo of The Ephemeral Mind

But when Dueck shared images inside the memory cloud structure (image above) and continued to discuss her reasoning for some of the fallacy in our memories, I started to reconsider my elephant like abilities:)

When I looked inside the dream cloud, I was a bit shocked to see the unorganized mess of filing cabinets and shelves overflowing with memories. No wonder I can't remember everything!! There are too many memories and not enough space to house them all!

Dueck painstaking created six rooms like this one to illustrate how our memories can be crammed, shifted, moved, and even attached to other memories quite easily. 

My Takeaway:

After Deuck's enlightening presentation, I have a better understanding of why some people (including myself, at times) incorrectly recall shared memories with others by describing them in another location or time period!!

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Again, I just want to say that I had a great night at Pecha Kucha on Thursday and thank you to all the presenters :o)

And who knows, this chatty gal may build up some courage to present at the next one!?

So, keep your eyes open for the next Winni-Pecha Kucha event in September 2013!!