About

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. Produced by perketing.com for Spokane, who is 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.

HOW IT WORKS:

1.  Ignite talks, where 16 presenters get 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide, and 5 minutes to make their point.

2.  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!

3.  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!

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.