Ignite Ann Arbor 5 will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Blau Auditorium at the Ross School of Business on the University of Michigan campus. The deadline to apply to speak is on Monday, Jan. 17; speakers will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 20, and 20 pages of slides from speakers will be due on Tuesday, Feb. 1.
Apply here to speak at Ignite Ann Arbor 5.
The previous four Ignite Ann Arbor events have had 58 speakers and more than 1,300 audience members, according to event organizer Ryan Burns.
Mike Gould’s talk on Running With Lasers was a hit at Ignite Ann Arbor 3.
Jim Deakins | AnnArbor.com
How it works
If you’ve never heard of this format before, Scott Berkun’s talk on how to give an Ignite talk is an elegant example of the style. Talks have exactly 20 slides, and slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. Five minutes after it begins, the talk ends, and the next presenter goes on stage. This fast paced format is remarkable for inspiring people to be concise, and unlike many public talks with lots of speakers the event tends to run on time.
The Ann Arbor District Library roundup of previous Ignite sessions includes links to previous presentations. Some Ignite presenters have given longer versions of their talks at the library, including Suzanne Fischer’s talk about Early Mechanical Television, and Jack Zaientz’s talk about The Silver Age of Jewish Music.
Video
Erik Hofer at Ignite Ann Arbor 4 on Having a great time in bed. This talk will describe what I’ve learned about achieving mindblowing sleep through the help of a suite of personal informatics technologies that help me better understand my sleep patterns and provide me with information that helps me perform like Rip Van Winkle in the bedroom.
I spoke at Ignite Ann Arbor 3 about how to organize lunch.
Similar events
Ignite Chelsea is based on the same Ignite format. The next event is on Feb. 11, 2011 at the Clocktower Commons building.
Brian Wecht and his collaborators from The Story Collider are coming to the Ann Arbor District Library on March 11 to present entertaining and personal stories about science.
TEDxUofM is April 8 at the Michigan Theater.
Pecha Kucha is a similar talk format, as concise and visual. Speakers present 20 slides for 20 seconds for each slide. The format was invented by architects in Tokyo in 2003. There is no Ann Arbor group, but the Detroit organization will be hosting Pecha Kucha Detroit 8 in Dearborn at the Arab American National Museum on April 14. The deadline for proposals is in February; check the site for details.
Edward Vielmetti writes for AnnArbor.com. Email him at EdwardVielmetti@annarbor.com.
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