1. Promotional material designed by: mad designs (Brian Lau)
Chit-Chatting with Local Organizers:
Investigating PechaKucha Nights in Markham
By: Rebecca Hallquist
For: Scott McAllister
SEA 135 Minor Assignment
February 10th, 2015
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What is PechaKucha?
PechaKucha (pronounced pe-chalk-cha, and said quickly and with
confidence) in Japanese means “chit-chat” and describes a type of
presentation format where the presenter shows 20 images for 20
seconds each. The images play automatically and the presenter talks
along with them.
This format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein
Dytham architecture who were the first organizers and hosts of PechaKucha Night, in Tokyo in
2003. Now, twelve years later, they still organize PechaKucha Night Tokyo and also support the
global PechaKucha (or PK) network. PechaKucha Nights are the informal gatherings held in any
venue for people to swap creative ideas in the PK presentation format; they are now happening in
over 700 cities worldwide (pecha-kucha.org). PechaKucha (PK) has a “handshake” agreement
with each of these cities to ensure that there is only one event series per city–to avoid overlap
and so that city efforts go towards the one PK event–, that the events are entirely volunteer-run,
and that a minimum of four events (PK Nights) a year are being organized by the active PK city.
When asked why these PechaKucha Nights have become such a global event, the original
organizers said: “we have discovered that most cities–not just Tokyo–have virtually no public
spaces where people can show and share their work in a relaxed way” (pecha-kucha.org). The
PK or “elevator-pitch” style of presenting one’s work also means that in the two-hour event time
an average of eight people present what it is they love, and the audience members are exposed to
a number of diverse topics and ideas. The host website–pecha-kucha.org–then contains uploaded
presentations from all of the past PK Night from all participating cities, forming a database per
city of past presentations for anyone anywhere to enjoy.
PechaKucha Markham
PechaKucha Markham is a non-profit organization and the PK Nights are co-hosted by
the Markham Public Libraries and the Varley Art Gallery, in partnership with the Markham Arts
Council. The PK Nights have been occurring on average every three/four months since
September 2013; the most recent night on February 6th, 2015 was PK Markham’s sixth volume.
The event is free entry with a cash bar and is held at the Varley Art Gallery (excepting PK Vol.
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5, November 2014, which was held at the Markham Village Public Library). The event follows
this approximate timeline:
7:30 pm – Doors open, attendees can enjoy food donated by the food sponsors and beverages
from the cash bar
8:00 pm – Event start time: first 4 presenters
8:45 pm – BEER BREAK: half an hour of mingling and a “PK-style” gallery tour of the latest
Varley exhibit by the resident Varley curator is offered (Markham is believed to be the only
city to include this PK-inspired activity)
9:15 pm – Second half: last 4 presenters
10:00 pm – Event end time
There is usually a draw at the end of the first half, and another draw at the end of the event for
prizes donated by one of the host or partnering organizations. People are also encouraged to stay
after the official end of the event to enjoy pizza and music provided by a local DJ.
Marketing Strategies
PechaKucha Markham’s target audience is young adults and youth (aged 18-35); co-
organizers and co-hosts Ange Friesen, Community Librarian, and Cheryl Rego, Program
Coordinator at the
Varley Art Gallery
divulged they wanted
to bring “something
fun” for people their
age to Markham. This
means that
PechaKucha Markham
has a strong Facebook
presence with a
Facebook page
featuring regular
updates about past
presenters, sponsorships & supporters of PK, and upcoming presenters, as well as individual
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Facebook events for each volume. Traditional marketing methods such as print advertising–in
the local Markham Economist and Sun on the Thursday before the event–and posters, especially
along Main Street Unionville and in the public library branches, are also employed to market the
event. PK Markham also advertises on online event calendars for Snapd Markham,
GuidingStar.ca (the City of Markham event calendar website), YorkScene (the events website for
all of York Region), etc. and is hoping to implement PK e-blasts for past attendees of PK
Markham Nights. However, word of mouth appears to have been their most successful marketing
tool thus far (Cheryl & Ange).
Problems & Progress
Co-organizers and co-hosts Ange Friesen and Cheryl Rego shared that from the
beginning they were hesitant to commit to four events as a PK city because they were ensure
how the event would be received by Markhamites. As more people have been attending, there is
no longer a question whether or not PK Nights will continue, however now the greatest concern
is how to address the changing needs of PK Markham as it grows.
PK Markham has been able to attract several different food sponsors, from the restaurants
on Main Street Unionville primarily, who have provided food donations for the event. There are
no formal contracts with these supporters and because they are donations, it is not always
guaranteed that the vendors will deliver. PK Volume 6 had food donated by Ambiyan, Planeta
Mexico Markham, Mr. Black Coffee, and Whole Foods Unionville–all vendors that donated food
for previous volumes of PK. There was a fifth food vendor, but they never delivered their
donation. All of these sponsorships are also decided on an event-by-event basis. No general
monetary sponsorships have been secured yet, but cash donations are encouraged at each PK
Night. In-person donations are not generating as much revenue as previously hoped–around $140
was raised from Volume 6–and there are no alternate means of contributing (Ange & Cheryl).
Photo by:
Louis Li.
PechaKucha
Vol. 6
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When PechaKucha Markham began in September 2013 there were approximately 60
people in attendance–this past event had as many as 175 people estimated in attendance (Ange &
Cheryl). In just a year and a half, PK Nights in Markham have grown to such an extent that not
everyone can be accommodated in the space in the Varley Art Gallery. This past sixth edition
saw at least 40 people without seats and the food and alcohol at the cash bar sold out before the
end of the night. The growing interest in the event, positive though it may be, is also problematic
in terms of space because the event is not ticketed and there is no pre-registration, making it hard
to estimate more precisely what the attendance will be when planning future PK Nights.
Ange and Cheryl also mentioned that the method around organizing the PK Nights has
been very organic and unstructured,
but now they need to reconsider the
organizational needs of the event as it
gains popularity. They acknowledge
that they need to formalize their
relationships with partners and define
the volunteer structure, especially the
specific roles within it, to allow for a
smoother-running event. They are
considering creating an organizing
committee structure but want the Photo credit: Louis Li
organization structure to reflect the relaxed tone of PK Nights themselves. There is also a need
for systems to be in place so that information about the sponsors, marketing, and presenters from
past volumes of PechaKucha is easily accessible for future reference.
Both of these co-organizers feel that there have been many improvements from Volume 1
to Volume 6, the foremost improvement being the flow of the event itself. Ange and Cheryl
agree that their co-hosting style has become more comfortable and find there are not as many
technical glitches or interruptions from start to finish. And as people are becoming familiar with
the event, there is more interest from attendees to present themselves or volunteer at the next PK
Night. They encourage interested prospective presenters to attend a PK Night before presenting
to get an idea of the format and the tone of the presentations, and they have noted this has helped
to improve presenter content and comfort levels. It has also helped to eliminate the mindset that
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presenting at a PK Night is about crafting a sort of sales pitch and they believe has therefore
helped to preserve the relaxed and open atmosphere of the event. They feel the event owes its
heightened profile within the city to City staff and officials spreading the word about PK
Markham, and the excitement from these City officials and counselors has emboldened Ange and
Cheryl to think about the future of the event series more critically.
Future Goals
The organizer’s main goal for Volume 7 of PK is to attract two main series sponsors–one
food and one monetary–so plans are underway to craft a sponsorship package complete with
demographic data, which began to be collected at Volume 6 for this expressed purpose. With the
answers to the extra questions on the ballots for the prize draw, they also will start to build a
database for e-blasts to better market future events to past attendees.
The next hope is that a “sweet spot” for space can be found with a bigger screen, better
amps and more seating. Cheryl mentioned how perfect it would be for the Flato Markham
Theatre to sponsor PK Markham with the necessary sound equipment for the nights.
Furthermore, they would like to tap into the networks of the other City assets–namely, the
Markham Museum and Flato Markham Theatre–to find future presenters and audience members.
Finally, Cheryl discussed how she would like to see PK Markham merchandized with PK
business cards made for the co-organizers and key volunteers, and PK Markham trinkets (key
chains, magnets, etc.) to better market the event.
PersonalThoughts & Event Recommendations
I have attended about half of the PechaKucha Nights in Markham and have been able to
witness how much the event has improved. Aside from the great need for a PK Sponsorship
package and stable sponsors, I see a need for the sponsorships to come from the whole of
Markham, and not just the smaller Unionville area. A partnership with the Flato Markham
Theatre would be a good start and would be extremely profitable if the Theatre’s food sponsor,
the Village Grocer, also chose to sponsor PK Nights. More alliances with small businesses and
start-ups to advertize and sample their products at the event, for example, Sassy Chameleon Tea
& More, and Blossom and Bloom had booths at Volume 6, is another amazing way for
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individuals to share their great ideas with the community at large, so I would like to see more
collaborative efforts between PK Markham and these small businesses in future.
One new feature from PK Markham Vol. 6 I did not see as particularly effective was the
“PechaKucha Mix” segment introduced after the Beer Break, where four volunteers from the
audience were invited to come to the front and give a short PK-style presentation based on a
number of random images projected onto the screen. Since the volunteers had never seen these
images before, these “presentations” became just descriptions of the images themselves–with no
over-arching idea or theme. This made the “presentation” awkward for the volunteers and
audience members as the “presenters” struggled to find words to describe images they had no
connection with.
Lastly, I believe PK Markham needs to continue to grow as an individual brand outside
of the Varley Art Gallery and the Markham Public Libraries, meaning PK Markham should
have: its own Twitter account, a separate section on the City of Markham website linking to the
host PK website, a separate PK e-blast anyone can subscribe to through the City website, and
their own promotional print materials (business cards for the organizers and permanent flyers in
every City building to grab people’s interest in between event nights). This truly is an incredible
event and I cannot wait to see how it improves and develops in future.
The PK Markham Vol. 6 presenters & some volunteers, Photo by:Louis Li
