Researchers are used to presenting their work as journal articles, books, conference talks and lectures. All of them require comprehensive overviews of previous studies, detailed descriptions of the data and methodology, bullet-proof argumentation, and a lot of field-specific jargon. But what if we could do it a bit differently this time?
And we did! A couple of weeks ago Plural research center organized an event in which language and literature researchers and research teams could present their ongoing work in the form of PechaKucha. PechaKucha is a visual storytelling format where a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each. It was invented in Tokyo, and the Japanese name quite well describingly translates as ”chit-chat”. So, forget about the lengthy theoretical discussions and talk about the things you are most excited about. Show the pictures that are too cool for your conference presentations and have fun!
And we did that too! Putting together a 20-slide presentation with a strict time limit felt at first a bit intimidating, but soon we started having fun. We included our most artistic construction site pictures and created a narrative that presented GLO-LO in a concise and fun way. We even managed to make it quite scientific! Covid pushed the event online, but that worked surprisingly well. The talk was given by Nathalie and Hanna-Ilona, and the rest of the team was in another room enjoying the ride. After the talk, the presenters joined the viewers, accompanied by high-fives and excited chit-chat – ぺちゃくちゃ. The rest of the event was great too. It was indeed nice to learn about others’ projects in this engaging way.
Teksti: Hanna-Ilona Härmävaara
Kuvat: Joona Poikonen