PechaKucha Night looks like it’s here to stay, at least for another year.

In a “pechakucha” event — a name from the Japanese word for “sound of chit-chat” — speakers are allowed to give a PowerPoint presentation on any topic, though the presentation must conform to a rigid format. You may use only 20 slides, and you may spend only 20 seconds speaking about each slide, which limits each presenter to six minutes and 40 seconds onstage.

David Verde, organizer of PechaKucha Southwest Virginia, originally PechaKucha Roanoke, brought the hip international phenomenon to the region, officially endorsed by pecha-kucha.com with an agreement that he would hold four sessions. (Full disclosure — I participated in the third, held Sept. 5 at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg.

The final Southwest Virginia PechaKucha Night of 2012 takes place 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Water Heater, 813 Fifth St. S.W. in Roanoke. Tickets are $5 at the door. Advance tickets $3, students $2, can be ordered at www.eventsbot.com/events/eb234345488.

Verde, who also maintains the Style Street blog for The Roanoke Times, wrote in an email that he’s set to hold four more next year, two in Roanoke and two in the New River Valley, and that he’s hoping to get more volunteers involved in 2013.

He also hopes to arrange a “PechaKucha Party Bus” that will further help the Roanoke and New River Valley crowds mesh. “The ticket price will be a bit higher to cover the transportation cost, but it will include the round trip, a complementary drink on the ride to PechaKucha and their ticket into PechaKucha Night itself,” Verde wrote.

The first PechaKucha of the new year will take place March 27 in Christiansburg, followed by a June 5 session in Roanoke and a Sept. 18 event in Blacksburg. The final 2013 PechaKucha takes places December 2013 in either Roanoke or Salem.

For more information, email pkroanoke@gmail.com.