SPEAKERS AT tonight’s Pecha Kucha event in the Dublin Sugarclub have just over six minutes to inspire their audience. The concept was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (of Klein Dytham Architecture) as a way for designers and artists to meet and show their work in public. It comes from the Japanese words for chit-chat.

The idea is to keep things interesting, something that those who have sat through overlong Power Point presentations will appreciate. As those behind Pecha Kucha say: “Give a mike to a designer (especially an architect) and you’ll be trapped for hours.”

Participants can show 20 slides for 20 seconds each, adding up to a total of six minutes and 40 seconds. It also ensures that there is time for plenty of presentations and tonight 10 architects and artists will speak their minds. They include Ali Grehan (pictured), Dublin City Architect; Mike Haslam of Solearth; Dominic Stevens; artist Alan Phelan and photographer Richard Gilligan.

It starts at 7pm, speakers take to the stage from 7.45pm and it costs €5 at the door (the last one was packed). It is organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation and Small Print.

“We feel it is important for us to highlight our creative culture, develop it and then share it with others,” says Nathalie Weadick of the IAF. Visit www.architecturefoundation.ie.