Networking is the Name of the Game…It’s easer to say than “Pecha Kucha”

The rest of the conference I spent a majority of my time networking with others in the industry. I didn’t find the educational sessions all that engaging, except for one on Pecha Kucha (peh-chak-cha….my linguistics friends forgive me).

Pecha Kucha is Japanese for chit-chat and is a new way to present using PowerPoint. Presenters are allowed to use 20 slides, which are shown on screen for 20 seconds each. It equals a 6 minute, 40 second presentation. It was great! If you’ve ever sat through a boring presentation with the presenter rambling on and on and on or reading to you EXACTLY what is already on the screen, this is definitely for you. Ideally, there are no words – only pictures!

For an example and more information (video not mine):

I hope this spreads like wildfire and makes presentations 100 000 000 000 000 times more interesting. I plan to try it the next time I have a presentation to give.

Another highlight a performance by Jason Alexander as motivational speaker Donny Clay. It was, in a word, super-hilarious-and-had-everyone-rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-the-entire-time. Words other than that can’t describe what happened, so check out Flickr. He kept it very relevant for his audience and called us (meeting professionals) out on our quirks (e.g. – for decor, there were evergreen trees on the stage and saplings as centerpieces (as they were going to be donated and planted instead of huge floral arrangements) and he questioning why we would bring trees…INSIDE!)

We also heard from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speak to us about his efforts on behalf of the environment and how things are worse today than they were 8 years ago. He got a little rambling for the last 20 minutes (he spoke for about 40), but I think overall he had a good message. Everyone seemed to enjoy him.

I had a direct flight back to DC – which was excellent. I was worried that we would maybe be delayed a bit because it was snowing in DC, but I was less worried as I wasn’t laying over anywhere. We boarded at 9:30am and would have gotten in on-time at about 4:45pm in DC (time change…it’s about a 4.5 hour flight). But, because of the weather, we circled DC for about an hour before getting off the plane at 5:45pm. It was made all the better that my seat-mate and I didn’t have anyone sit between us in the middle. Somehow, we won the lottery, as the plane was full. It was great.

I flew Alaska Airlines on the way back, and I thought they were pretty good. Check-in was a little different. Imagine a U. The base of the U is where the self-check-in machines are; the arms are where you go to check your luggage. But instead of 2 lines, there are about 6 on either side. I can see how it might help save space and (maybe) make it a bit more efficient, but it’s a total craps shot whether you pick the right line, let alone the right side. There were a few impatient beings who kept walking back and forth trying to find the line that was 2 seconds shorter than the one she was already in. I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll get it figured out the next time I fly them.