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Pecha Kucha — the fast-paced and fun networking event that gives creative people the opportunity to present their ideas in just under seven minutes — is back in town. Within the time given, a speaker gets to show 20 slides and has 20 seconds to explain each one — this snappy concept helps to keep the event interesting and avoid lengthy, boring presentations.

Pecha Kucha, a Japanese expression, can be roughly translated as the sound of chit-chat and was first held in Jakarta back in March. Due to its huge success, organizers Dian Guritno and Sharon Issabella, of the public relations consultancy service Maverick, rushed to set up a second round.

The theme of Pecha Kucha Jakarta Vol. 2 is Metro Retro.

“We have a lot of communities in Jakarta that follow the retro theme,” Dian said. “They are very active, but many people don’t know what they do.”

“A lot of metropolitan people in Jakarta are busy and always seem eager to be updated with the newest and latest trends and technologies,” Sharon added. “But sometimes they forget about the historical values of Indonesia. We want to remind the Pecha Kucha audience of that.”

Metro Retro will have 12 speakers, including a collector of old books, a collector of old comics, members of the Indonesian Railway Preservation Society, the Jakarta Heritage Community and the Old Bicycle Community.

“Maybe you would think that, for example, the Indonesian Railway Community is a group of old people, but most of the members are really young,” Dian said. “Right now they are working on a project at the railway station in Tanjung Priok. They are renovating it.”

For additional entertainment, Dian and Sharon are collaborating with a local independent music label and a band to perform during the break, similar to the first event where a poetry and music recital took place.

While Sharon and Dian were pleased with the success of the first event, with about 150 people attending, not everything went as planned.

“We had a lot of speakers that night who came in and thought they would be able to master the stage, but some didn’t,” Dian said. “They had problems with the 20-second time limit and finished too soon or too late. People were laughing a lot, so it was actually really entertaining.”

One of the most memorable speakers at the first event remained silent throughout his presentation.

“Adi Purnomo, an architect, presented pictures of a leaf on all of his 20 slides, each one from a different angle,” Dian said. “We kind of expected him to talk about nature, but during his presentation he went up on stage and just remained silent. His message was that even during silence, there can be communication. That was pretty interesting.”

The success of Pecha Kucha Jakarta has inspired others to organize their own Pecha Kucha events: Surabaya saw its first Pecha Kucha night last weekend and one was held in Bali at the end of April.

“For the first Pecha Kucha in Surabaya, we were helping the organizer,” Dian said. “He is actually a doctor, but very interested in the creative fields. He called us and we gave him tips and some media contacts so he could promote the event.”

However, the first ever Pecha Kucha in Indonesia took place in Bandung.

“We went to their fifth Pecha Kucha event at the end of May,” Dian said. “It was the first time we ever met the guys behind Pecha Kucha Bandung. They have a team of 15 people and are really professional and serious about it.”

Pecha Kucha was formed by two architects based in Tokyo in 2003.