What is IGNITE and why it’s not just for pyromaniacs. My name is Jodi Born and I can be found on Twitter @wildbluebug. I will friend you on Facebook, but only if you’re a person and not a business trying to be a person.
Here are the founders… Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Media – not to be confused with Bill O’Reilly… This is Tim O’Reilly.
and Bre Pettis of Etsy.com and Make Magazine. I thought it was a girl before I saw his photo. neither one of these people are documented pyromaniacs.
The inspiration for Ignite was from a similar format in Japan called Pecha Kucha . They have a 20x20 format – 20 slides/20 seconds
speed geeking – 5 minute simultaneous presentations online
lightening talk – similar format
all of these formats do not require you to be a pyromaniac
So the two big questions and challenges for Ignite Speakers are : If you had five minutes on stage, what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds?
So if you dilly dally and get off track…the slides will just keep going. Hopefully you don’t completely lose your place or train of thought and practice so that your message gets out clearly.
…the slides will just keep going. Hopefully you don’t completely lose your place or train of thought and practice so that your message gets out clearly.
So there will be a thoughtful committee who decides which presentations should be heard… or we can go the route of letting the public decide based on topics. Though popularity contests are not my favorite thing.
So it’s important that the speakers who are chosen for the event understand the pressure and format and won’t chicken out at the last minute due to stage fright.
of course interesting topics are a must. we don’t want anyone or the event to be a failure… ideally our Ignite show will go on every year going forward.
Ignite got its start in Seattle in December, 2006, as a personal project of O'Reilly's Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. They dreamed up an event where people could share their ideas over beer, and sent word out through their network. On December 7, two hundred Seattle geeks looking for "a fun night of geekery and networking" squeezed into a bar on Capitol Hill.
" squeezed into a bar on Capitol Hill. They found beer, but so much more. First up, a friendly but intense competition to build the sturdiest popsicle-stick bridge. Then 25 intrepid locals took a turn on the stage for their five-minute Ignite talks. The consensus
The consensus was that it was a blast. Word got out, and other communities wanted Ignite in their cities. Brady and Bre turned the event over to O'Reilly, and nearly 200 Ignites have been held, about half of them in the past year. Though wooden popsicle sticks were involved, there were no fires and no known pyromaniacs at the events.
As Ignite enters its fourth year, O'Reilly is launching Global Ignite Week to celebrate, amplify, and share the Ignite phenomenon.
From February 7-11, over 100 cities will host community-powered Ignite events attended by upwards of 12,000 technologists, entrepreneurs, DIYers, and creative professionals on at least six continents.
Global Ignite Week happens online as well as in person, making Ignite talks available to the whole world. Local Ignites will stream live video during their events, and then add those talks to the 1300+ five-minute videos archived on IgniteShow.com.
I did a search of the archives and have yet to find any pyromania affiliated videos! Perhaps a good idea?
So perhaps you see this format and are thinking you can blast your elevator pitch for the million dollar home you have for sale and reach an infinite amount of people. This won’t happen.
IGNITE IS NOT for Marketing your business, unless you’re a valuable sponsor.
Ignite is NOT boring, or slow, or painful. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, I’d welcome you to submit a proposal to speak… could be interesting. Crowd cheers, comments, participation are encouraged as long as they do not interfere with the speaker.
As I’ve demonstrated, Ignite is FAST paced with possible sensory overload (but the good kind). The event is photographed, videotaped, and web-streamed so it’s available for the entire community in case they didn’t get a ticket to the event due to limited seating.
Ignite is about Sharing an Idea and hoping that it sparks into something larger than yourself. It’s about sharing your passion with others. It’s about making connections.
At every Ignite event, artists, technologists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers answer the challenge and come to see what is important to others in the commmunity.It’s a a night of exciting ideas and conversations…some of which don’t happen on-stage.
Why become involved? Besides the obvious perks of fun, possible friendship, having your finger on the pulse of what is going on. The main goal is To forge new connections within the areas creative, entrepreneurial, artistic, and technology communities.
It’s about being a true leader in your community.
And helping peoples ideas get off the ground. During the evening of inspiring talks and impassioned conversation, we will award Ignition Grants of up to (with help from sponsors, ticket sales, and tshirt sales) $1500 for new, innovative projects to help improve the quality of life in the area within a six month timeframe.
So I’m not sure I’ve answered these questions perfectly, but hopefully I’ve given you a better idea of what Ignite is about by only taking up 5 minutes of your time. We have a list of areas we need to focus on to be able to get a solid date and invite people to submit their speaking ideas.
If we all take little pieces, we can get make it awesome. Thank you, the end.