About
What is Ignite?
Fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, global—Ignite is all of these and more. It’s a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have an idea—and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd. Run by local volunteers who are connected through the global Ignite network, Ignite is a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections in each city. And, via streaming and archived videos of local talks, local Ignites share all that knowledge and passion with the world.
Ignite was inspired by Pecha Kucha Nights, where speakers are given 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds, giving each speaker 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame. The first Ignite took place in Seattle in 2006, and since then the event has become an international phenomenon, with gatherings in Helsinki, Finland; Paris, France; New York, New York; and many other locations.
Ignite can sometimes have two parts:
(1) the Ignite contest, where people make things (think high-school science fair — where a team builds something out of cheap, easy-to-get materials, such as popsicle stick bridges or paper airplane contests), and
(2) Ignite talks, where 16 presenters get 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide, and 5 minutes to make their point.
Presentations are a mix of serious vs. fun presentations, and are often about geeky activities…but absolutely NO sales pitches or gimmicks will be tolerated!
If your presentation is about what you do for a living, is about your business, or is about your product/service…it’s probably not Ignite material. On the other hand, if your presentation is about what you are passionate about (or passionate against) in your free time…now we’re talking!
If we sense that your presentation is a sales pitch (e.g., you should hire me, you should invest in my company, you should buy my product), you’ll be forcibly removed from the stage.
How it all began
Ignite got its start in Seattle in December, 2006, as a personal project of O’Reilly’s Brady Forrest (Technology Evangelist for O’Reilly Media) and Bre Pettis (of Etsy.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine). 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. 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 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. As Ignite enters its fourth year, O’Reilly is launching Global Ignite Week to celebrate, amplify, and share the Ignite phenomenon.
Global Ignite Week
IgniteDallas was launched during the first Global Ignite Week (March
1-5, 2010) when 50+ Ignites took place in cities around the world.
Upwards of 10,000 entrepreneurs, technologists, DIYers, creative
professionals, and enthusiastic knowledge-seekers gathered in local
pubs, theaters, and other convivial venues for an evening that is a
unique blend of networking, information, and fun, encapsulated in the
Ignite motto: “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”
Global Ignite Week 2011 is set for February 7-11, 2011, with events in
over 100 cities worldwide.
In talks that are exactly five minutes long, Ignite presenters share
their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that
auto-advance every 15 seconds.
Global Ignite Week happens online as well as in person, which makes
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 www.igniteshow.com.
