Since 2008, Pecha Kucha Night Vancouver has not only been an inspiration for legions of creative and curious Vancouverites but also a jumping off point for ideas and conversation. Over the years more than 500 of the city's movers and shapers have graced the stage and presented in the syndicated Pecha Kucha format of 20 slides for 20 seconds each. The speaker series outgrew multiple venues as it sold out all 38 events and in the end was bursting at the seams of the Vogue Theatre. Hundreds of 6 and a half minute talks curated by the organizers, Jane and Steven Cox of Cause+Affect, most definitely made this city a better place; they not only brought together the community but inspired it in a big way. Many of the talks lit a fire under our collective asses, introduced us to great ideas and great people, and invited conversation and collaboration.
Today Jane and Steven announced that they're calling it a day. When they launched in 2008 it was because they "saw a need for a platform for creative Vancouverites to share their work and ideas with each other and a broader audience. Now, with the proliferation of cultural speaking events in Vancouver, that need has been filled". They plan to bring more events to life in Vancouver but are closing the book on this one, or their involvement in it anyway. The series will likely be picked up by someone else who will be standing on the shoulder of these two giants who, with their dedicated team, brought it together and ran it for so long. I actually spoke at one of the very first ones when this web site was an underground thing that nobody had heard of. It was the first public speaking engagement I'd ever done and I was so nervous I nearly crapped myself. But it got what we were doing out there and in front of people, and we've grown over the years to be where we're at now as a part of the media landscape. I regularly speak at things, do live TV and radio, and I can say that Pecha Kucha were the first to give V.I.A. a chance and introduce us to a wider audience. I have to personally thank Jane and Steven for that. We all should thank them, as a matter of fact.
If you're one of the few who never got to go or you did go and you simply want to reminisce on some of the better talks, many of the recent ones can be found on Cause+Affect's Vimeo HERE.
Some of the notable PechaKucha Night speakers included:
Jim Green
David Eby
Karri Shcuermans
Gordon Price
John Fluevog
Omer Arbel
Graeme Berglund
Ross Macmillan
Danielle Laporte
Brent Comber
Michael Green
Marian Bantjes
Jeff Hamada
Bruce Haden
Brent Toderian
Bing Thom
Ken Lum
Mark Brand
Stewart Butterfield
Katrina Pacey
Pamela Goldsmith-Jones
Terry David Mulligan
Germaine Koh
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Andrea Reimer
Mo Dhaliwal
Simon Barry
Grant Lawrence
Christopher Gaze
Jen Sookfong Lee
Dr. Ron Burnett
Nancy Bendtsen
Once again, a big thank you to Jane and Steven and their team. You guys made this city more awesome, and we're looking forward to what you come up with next.
