Pecha Kucha Volume 11

Pecha Kucha - Volume 11

We had a special edition of Pecha Kucha Vancouver as part of Vancouver Interactive Digital Week with the theme of living in the real digital world.

Here are some of my highlights:

Kevin Vallely, adventurer/designer, who traveled to Antarctica and was haunted by a four year old's question to him: "what are you looking for?" We could pause and look at our own lives - what might that four year old ask us?

Learning about The Cultch (the pronunciation reminds me of a cross between culture and couch) from Heather Redfern, executive director. The Cultch is an East Van theatre that offers programming in theatre, dance and music by local, national and international artists.

Irwin Oostindie shared his passion for W2, giving a call to action to the crowd (many of us could be mentors) and his perspective on how technology and communication is a human right.

Inspiring me to do a 24 hour fast from technology (I'll have to work my way up to a full electronics fast!) was Mara Branscombe - dancer, yogi, producer and co-director.

Lauren Bacon, partner of Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, an integrative thinker who reminded us that the path to truth is through stories, not story (singular). My example: something like this doesn't work with one person.

I'll be looking through a different lens when it comes to internet openness thanks to Brian LeRoux, chief software architect. Because 'free as in beer' is not the same as 'free as in speech'. I also loved his definition of embraces change = look for ways to work together quickly.

Michael Gordon worried me when he started out (sometimes sarcasm is lost on me) but I loved his riff on play in cities. His talk reminded me of a short video I watched some time ago about former pro skateboarders and how often they made good artists/entrepreneurs from what they learned from skateboarding (commitment, not afraid to try new things and make mistakes).

Todd Smith, of art direction and motion design fame, touched on an age old debate on learning styles and his complaint with the iPad (we've become users and are no longer makers).

For photos of the night, see Nicky Tu's work.

For the next Pecha Kucha, I look forward to returning to a more intimate venue and a reprieve from shallow sales pitches.