Ignite SF, 5 Minute Geek Talks: Call For Speakers

My friend Brady Forrest has been organizing Ignite events around the country since the first Ignite Seattle last December. The format is simple, its a series of speakers who each do a geek talk with 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide, for a total of 5 minutes. The series has evolved quite a bit over the year and there is now a Ignite community website hosted by O’Reilly Media, which coordinates Ignite events all over the US.

In April Brady organized a Ignite SF event at the Web 2.0 Expo and he now is bringing the series back to San Francisco for Ignite SF on Tuesday, October 16th at the DNA Lounge. Brady is still looking for a few more speakers for Ignite SF:

It’s going to be a fun, geeky evening, There will be 16 speakers. Each speaker will get 5 minutes on stage. Each speaker gets 20 slides that rotate automatically after 15 seconds. We’ve been doing them a lot in Seattle and they’ve become very popular. If you do it you’ll get eternal internet fame and a drink ticket! :-)

The talks are generally on geeky subjects. The best ones are not typically product demos. Instead, the best talks share a passion, lesson learned, a concept or how to do something. The format is challenging one for a speaker, but it keeps the audience engaged and on their toes. When we hold them in Seattle you can feel the crowd rooting for the person on stage.

Here are some of the best talks that we’ve had so far:

Elan Lee – LIFE: if you’re bored, you’re doing it wrong

Scotto Moore – Make Art Not Content

Jordan Schwartz – Beekeeping and the HiveMind

If you are interested in speaking put in a submission (no promises).

Even if you don’t want to speak I hope that you decide to come. It’s a free event. RSVP at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/263028/

thanks,
Brady

photo credit: Scott Beale