6 minutes and 40 seconds

Recently a phenomenon has hit Minneapolis- 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide (that’s 6 minutes and 40 seconds total).

To be fair, Solutions Twin Cities has been doing this since its debut in May of 2007.   The presentation format is exactly what it says.  You are allowed 20 slides, each of which are shown for 20 seconds only- and you don’t control the slides, so they keep moving whether you’re on pace or not.

Last Friday night’s arrival of Pecha Kucha is the first time Minneapolis has taken part in this international trend. Largely led by the design community in Tokyo, Pecha Kucha provides a great excuse for the creative community to share ideas. Last Friday, people waited outside in a line down the block to hear and see plots for screenplays, University Avenue photographs, and the Parisian bike-share program. You can find Pecha Kuchas all over the globe, like in Denver, LA, Omaha, Oaxaca, Mauritius, Buenos Aires, and Melbourne- and that’s just this week.

And as if that weren’t enough, Ignite comes to Minneapolis April 22nd at Solera. Ignite appears to be a bit broader in definition (although shorter, allowing only 15 seconds per slide), and can include pretty much anything as far as I can tell. I think their tagline “Enlighten us, but make it quick” sums it up well. Their website shows sample Ignite videos “How to be a good news commenter” and “How to buy a car”. If that doesn’t get you curious, perhaps free beer will get you there.

Solutions for the other 90%

Last night I attended a Solutions Twin Cities event held at the Walker Art Center in conjunction with their Design for the Other 90% exhibit. Because of this connection, this particular volume of Solutions was focused on design. Presenters from the University of Minnesota College of Design, including the Dean Thomas Fisher, provided a framework and showcased student projects. Emily Pilloton from Project H in San Francisco gave us several examples of great design that considers social impact. Gabriel Cheifietz from 612 Authentic gave us a quick lesson on the different between telling a story, like we see on the news every night, and showing a story through short documentary (there are some great short films available on their website). Marc Swackhamer of HouMinn talked about the process of discovery and innovation involved in developing alternative building materials. Of course my favorite was Peter Rich, representing the Microfinance Alliance (full disclosure: I am the outgoing president), who gave a great overview of how financing fits into addressing the problems of the developing world. Hats off as usual to Colin and Troy over at Solutions Twin Cities.