PechaKucha

Another full house for PechaKucha Akron!

On February 3, 2017, PechaKucha Akron had another huge and very successful event, this time taking place at the Akron Urban League facility. When we arrived, we were surprised by the large size of the venue, but not surprised when 415 attendees arrived. We knew that PechaKucha Akron is a must-attend event in Akron, and we knew to come early to get good seats.

This blog post contains the official PechaKucha Akron descriptions of the talks, and videos from the event, as well as tweets in which attendees shared information and photos.

It all started when I received an email from Michael Christoff, who is one of the members of the PechaKucha Night Cleveland leadership team. He wrote that he was inviting me to a special first-time-ever PechaKucha Night Cleveland Past Presenters Happy Hour. This would be an event where the 250+ PechaKucha Night Cleveland presenters from the past eight years would be invited.

Although Julie and I have written blog posts about PechaKucha Night Cleveland and attended many of their events, I had never done a PechaKucha talk myself. I was extremely honored to be invited to this closed event for people whose presentations I greatly admired. It meant a lot to me.

But it got even better -- I was in for a BIG surprise!!!

We were looking forward to the November 4, 2016, PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 5. From past experience, we knew that PechaKucha Night events were always interesting, and because Stuart had heard of The Bit Factory, but had never visited it. 

We were rewarded by our attendance at PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 5 with great talks, interesting location -- The Bit Factory -- and Akron Soul Train art.

At the start of the week of August 15, 2016, we were prepared to write a blog post about how lucky we are in Cleveland to have PechaKucha Night Cleveland (@PKNCLE), which was coming up on Friday, August 19th. As the week progressed, we realized that, starting on Wednesday, we were going to have the opportunity to attend five consecutive free creative arts events! All of these events deserved at least a special mention and a thank-you, while some even warranted a full blog post.

Thus, this blog post has morphed into something different. While focused on PechaKucha Night Cleveland, it will also include mention of the other free creative events, and an additional inaugural arts event. This is our way to publicly thank the following organizations for their work to provide these free arts events:

• Wednesday: WOW! Wade Oval Wednesdays - University Circle (@InTheCircle)

• Thursday: Edgewater LIVE 2016 - Cleveland Metroparks (@CleveMetroparks)

• Friday: PechaKucha Night Cleveland (@PKNCLE)

• Saturday: Arts In August - Tremont West Development Corporation (@TremontWest - @ArtsInAugust),
  plus the inaugural Flats Festival of the Arts (@FlatsForward) which cost $10.

• Sunday: Celebrate100! Party in Your National Park - Cuyahoga Valley National Park (@CVNPNPS - @forcvnp)

PechaKucha Night Cleveland is always a good time, so I want to share with you my photos and tweets from PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 27. It took place at the Music Box Supper Club on February 18, 2016.

I don't know if it is possible to capture the full atmosphere of the evening in a blog post. I do hope it will encourage you to go in person to a future event to truly experience it live!

Akron creatives from diverse disciplines present their work in a unique format -- 20 slides of 20 seconds each.

We were excited to spend the evening in Akron at the Akron Civic Theatre, since we had not been to this great venue in years. We attended the second PechaKucha Night Akron on February 5, 2016.

If you have never attended a PechaKucha event at any of the over 800 cities around the world, we strongly suggest you do so. We were very impressed with the second PechaKucha Night Akron. We had already written blog posts about two of the presenters, so it was great to get updated on their current work, and learn about exciting developments from the other presenters.

We keep hearing from people we talk to that there is so much going on in Cleveland. One of the great ways to learn about what is up-and-coming in our city is by attending a PechaKucha Night Cleveland. All PechaKucha Night Cleveland events are special, but on August 7, 2014, it was combined with other events happening in our community that made it all extra special -- AHA! Cleveland events and Gay Games 9.

We want to share with you Stuart's experiences at PechaKucha Night Cleveland, and both of our experiences with the AHA! Light Up Cleveland installation.

Weekends and weekdays -- we have found that there is so much going on in Cleveland! We want to share with you here two events that we attended last weekend.

The first event, attended by Julie and Stuart, PechaKucha Cleveland, was something we have enjoyed many times in the past. Knowing the history of the location, The City Club, added an interesting dimension.

The second event, attended by Julie, Kevin, and Stuart, was a gift to the community from the The Cleveland Foundation as part of their 100th birthday celebration -- a free day at the Great Lakes Science Center.

This is the first installment, entitled PechaKucha Cleveland at The City Club.

We have found that PechaKucha Night Cleveland always makes for an enjoyable time. Thus, we were excited to attend PechaKucha Night Cleveland's August 23, 2013, outdoor event behind the West Side Market in Cleveland's Ohio City.

Presenters:

• Paul Benner (@CLEBrewShop​ - ClevelandBrewshop.com) The Cleveland Brewshop
• Fred and Laura Bidwell (@TransformerStat - TransformerStation.org - @FredBidwell - BidwellProjects.com) Founders, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation
• Marco Ciccarelli (@techne_m - TechneArchitects.com) architect, studioTECHNE|architects
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #2 - Marc Ciccarelli - Aristotle, Emptiness, and Godzilla
• Brandon Juhasz (BrandonJuhasz.com) Artist
• Faith McFluff (Faithmcfluff.com) Hula Hoops: It's not Just a Toy Anymore....
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #3 - Faith McFluff - Hula Hoops
• Mark Michel (ItMakesYouHappier.com) Graphic Designer/Street Artist
• Wayne Mortensen (@arlomort - www.npi-cle.org) Architect, Neighborhood Progress Inc
• ​Loren Naji (LorenNaji.com) Artist/Gallery Owner, Loren Naji Studio Gallery
• Johnny S. (JohnnyvilleSlugger.com) Johnnyville Slugger
• Marilou Suszko (@MarilouSuszko - MarilouSuszko.com) Behind-the-scenes stories of Cleveland's West Side Market
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #1 - Marilou Suszko - The West Side Market: Myths and Made-Up Shit
• Andy Tveekrem (@Mrkt_Grdn_Beer - MarketGardenBrewery.com) Brewmaster, Market Garden Brewery
• Mike Zubal (@ZubalBooks​ - ZubalBooks.com) Zubal Books

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!