Four Nights, 40 Cities, 500 Talks, 10,000 Participants
Ignite Community Spans the Globe with "Worldwide Distributed Conference"
Sebastopol, CA—O'Reilly Media announces the first Global Ignite Week, a "worldwide distributed conference" of community-fueled Ignite events in more than 40 cities, from March 1-4, 2010. Upwards of 10,000 entrepreneurs, technologists, DIYers, local heroes, and creative professionals are expected to participate in cities including Seattle, Boston, New York, Nashville, Brussels, Paris, Sydney, and Bangalore. Igniters will gather in 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." 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—whether they're ready or not.
Global Ignite Week is both an in-person and online event. Local Ignites will stream live video during the event, and video of their talks will be archived afterwards. At least 500 five-minute session videos will be available on the new Ignite video site, to be launched in conjunction with the event. For a sampling of the best Ignite videos, see the current Ignite Show channel on YouTube.
About Ignite
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. 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 both celebrate and amplify the Ignite phenomenon.
To find or lead an event in your city, or get information about Global Ignite Week, see:
http://www.globaligniteweek.com.
For information about sponsoring Global Ignite Week, contact Sara Winge at sara@oreilly.com.
A sampling of Ignite videos:
Scott Berkun, a popular speaker and author of Confessions of a Public Speaker and The Myths of Innovation, offers great advice on "Why and How to Give an Ignite Talk." http://bit.ly/qALyQ
Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, on "The Practicality of Pessimism: Stoicism as a Productivity System." http://bit.ly/5nbIE9
Alexis Bauer, coffee shop owner and community maven, gives step-by-step tips on "How to Work a Crowd." http://bit.ly/6n1ojT
Avant cellist Zoe Keating's entertaining reality check, "Should you quit your high-paying tech job and join a rock band?" http://bit.ly/12PPJJ
Ignite co-founder Brady Forrest on the why and how of Ignite (from Amsterdam, after hosting Ignite Picnic). http://bit.ly/igniteamsterdam
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.