From PechaKucha to ABA TECHSHOW
A good part of Slaw is playing hookey today, visiting the ABA TECHSHOW at the Chicago Hilton. It’s the 25th Anniversary show, so we are having fun looking forward and back – and seeing how far we’ve come since the days of DOS and 20 MB hard drives.
Last night, we were entertained by an IgniteLaw session in which twelve speakers gave provocative and creative talks about legal technology and the future of law practice.
As much as the topics selected, the format was interesting. Based on the Tokyo based PechaKucha project – which looks like it might have been inspired by TedTalks – this gave speakers 20 slides, with 18 seconds per slide. 20 lean slides, often just a picture.
Some speakers struggled to keep up – others were inspired to focus and deliver memorable presentations.
Given the bad PowerPoint which plagues most lawyer presentations, this is a format that’s worth looking at.
Last night’s videos haven’t yet been posted. But here is Marc Lauritsen from last year.
And for those near Toronto, Global PechaKucha Day is happening on Saturday April 16th. The Toronto group will join PechaKucha chapters from around the globe in bringing the creative and design communities together to raise funds for disaster relief. It’s at the Design Exchange at Bay Street and Wellington Streets,
David Whelan summarized the whole session.
One show business tactic that I rarely see used is turning off the slides. In this case it could have been a blank slide, the equivalent of white space on the page.
Several speakers finished early and used the precious last 18 seconds of screen time to leave the audience with a final message. Very powerful, I thought.
And generally, as a media producer for attorneys, litigation and marketing, I love the idea that lawyers are adding 21st century tech to their 19th century professional posture.
See you all next year at IgniteLaw3,
Doug vanderHoof
Chicago