Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Man, that was TOUGH. We received over 50 talk ideas for Ignite Portland 4. The vast majority of them were really, really good. But we only have room for 13 talks on stage at the Bagdad (plus the traditional “What is Ignite?” talk). So before I announce what those 13 talks are going to be, I just want to give a HUGE “Thank You!” to everyone who submitted a talk that wasn’t chosen. Your talk ideas made the competition fierce, and that competition means that the talks that were chosen are the cream of the crop. Even if you didn’t get picked, submit your talk idea next time – don’t lose heart!

Without further ado, here, then, are the 14 talks that will make up Ignite Portland 4. Follow the links to read the speaker’s description of their talk:

• What is Ignite? – Josh Bancroft
• Five Things Portland Can Learn From Kentucky in Five Minutes – Jeff Hardison
• A Short Introduction to Cyborg Anthropology – Amber Case
• Spirituality in Community: It’s not just for religion anymore – David Kominsky
• How to Bluff Your Way Through Life or a 5 Minute Presentation – Cami Kaos
• Cooking with the Seasons: The Garanimals Method – Katherine Gray
• Dating Rules for the Actual World – Alexis Rehrmann
• Story as Bloodsport: Battling to craft narrative – Melissa Lion
• How To Make People Think You’re a Portlander – Without Actually Living in the State of Oregon – Carolynn Duncan
• 7 One-Night Stands with a Baseball Fan – Nova Newcomer
• Divided We Win: 5 Reasons Why FOX News is Saving Our Media and Democracy – Abraham Hyatt
• Juice Up any Conversation or Presentation with 5 Impressive-Sounding Theories that Apply to EVERYTHING – Eric Anderson
• How to get people to do what you want them to do… – Betsy Richter
• 10 Karaoke Commandments – Alex Williams

There you have them. The talks that are going to light up the stage at the Bagdad Theater on Thursday, November 13. Speakers, get working on your talks (the deadline to turn in your slides should have been in the acceptance email you received). Everyone else, stay tuned for information on tickets to come to Ignite Portland 4 – they’ll be free, as always – and get ready to be blown away at IP4!

Hey everyone!

There’s only 1.5 days left to get your Ignite Portland 4 talk idea submissions in. The window officially closes at 12:01 AM Wednesday 10/15 (that’s the hour after 11PM on Tuesday night 10/14, just to be clear). If you’ve got a talk idea you’d like to share on stage at Ignite Portland 4, now is the time to get it in.

We’ve got a great selection of ideas submitted so far – 31 as of this morning. You can view them all if you’re looking for inspiration, or to size up the competition. We’ll be picking about 14 talks to be presented onstage at Ignite Portland 4 (Nov. 13 at the Bagdad Theater), and announcing the lineup of selected talks on October 20.

In the past, there’s been a “surge” of submissions in the last day or so that submissions were open. I’m not saying that the creative-type people who present at Ignite are procrastinators, but… What I mean is, it’s definitely not too late to think up a talk idea and submit it. All you need is a idea – NOT a finished presentation (that comes later, if you’re selected).

Honestly, just like the past 3 Ignite Portland events, the quality of the submissions we’ve received so far is high enough that we could have a couple of Ignites with just these ideas. So why beat the drum and try to get more? Past events have set the bar pretty high. We want IP4 to be amazingly, mind-blowingly, life-changingly good. And that can’t happen without your ideas. We never know which talks are going to be smash hits, but there are always a few that take EVERYONE by surprise. Maybe this time around it will be yours? We’ll never know unless you submit! Hurry up! The clock is ticking!