Imagine that you’re in front of an audience made up of your friends, family, and people from your community, about to present a 5-minute talk on the thing you’re most passionate about. You have a few last-minute butterflies, but off you go—and the crowd loves it. Welcome to Ignite. Ignite is a fast-paced geek event started by Brady Forrest, Technology Evangelist for O'Reilly Media, and Bre Pettis
of Makerbot.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine. Speakers are given 20 slides, each shown for 15 seconds, giving each speaker 5 minutes 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. Ignite has two parts: the Ignite contest, where people make things, and Ignite talks, where presenters get 20 slides and five minutes to make their point. You can opt to only have talks, but the contest is fun and can serve as a great warm-up for the talks.
