There’s already been plenty of smack talk about ass kicking, cage matches, zombies (and Thriller dances), metal bikinis, and reverse voting, and that’s sprinkled in with conversations about saving the world, saving money, making PowerPoint suck less, and how to avoid SEO snake oil salesmen. Oh, and sex and Jesus, of course.
The Ignite Raleigh deal is that you submit a 5-minute speech topic, the universe — nay, the galaxy — votes, and the top ten vote-getters speak. Voters get 10 votes, and can give as many as three votes for any one topic. For the speakers, there isn’t a gong (don’t get any ideas, O Runners Of This Event) but if you go over the 5-minute time limit, there’s a Big Horrible Penalty. Dunno what it will be this year, last year it was threat of Rickroll. /shudders/
The only reason I have a topic in this year’s candidates — which is, of course, “13 Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing” — is that I was working to convince my friend Charlotte that she should speak. She had dropped by to pitch her supercool new idea to me. “You need to pitch this at Ignite Raleigh,” I told her. “It’s totally easy; you just talk about something you’re passionate about. It would be the perfect place to launch your idea into the universe.” She was reluctant. So, in true Tootsie fashion, I took 2 minutes to submit a topic on the site and was shocked and thrilled to see it rise to the top. “See? See?” I crowed, “You should do it!”
And a week later, she did. And lo, her topic skyrocketed to the top of the list. How awesome is that? (She tweeted that update over there before the skyrocketing part. Now she loves me forever, and even somehow got some of her friends and her mom — her mom! — to give me a vote. What a rockstar! There’s a rumor, btw, that she will be presenting in a corset; I can’t substantiate that, however, and this should in no way be construed as a plug for women’s undergarments, Madonna notwithstanding.)
Some of the topics that are quietly lurking at the bottom of the vote list are pretty interesting, too. There’s one about the winter Olympic sport of curling and even one comparing Poken and Bump (a recent social sharing craze). If that latter speech gets in, when you hear shouts of “Group Poke!!” you’ll grok. That’s not an argument for or against, I’m just sayin’. Btw, if you come to IR, be sure to ask to see Greg Ng’s [Ch]Elvis Poken. Worth the price of admission right there.
There are plenty of Ignite videos from around the world for you to check out, in case you’re new to this game. But be warned: over 140 people registered to come to this event in the first two hours alone; one wonders if the fabulous little Lincoln Theater — which is pretty packed with 500 — will pop by the time all is said and done. Uh, maybe you better get your (free!) ticket now, rather than wait. And if there’s just no room left at the Lincoln, you might could sneak in by volunteering to help coordinate the whole shebang.
And if your speech doesn’t make it to the top of the list (or even if it does) at Ignite Raleigh, you’re invited to submit your topic to Fizzled Durham, the anti-Ignite, aka Dan London’s franken-brainchild. How brilliant is that? Fizzled Durham may turn out to be the more powerful of the two events, as the best ideas often come from the fringe.
There are so many interesting and creative people in the Triangle area; I’m proud to be connected with you all. Group fist bump!
Now go vote for me.
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