Ignite Boulder is one of those events that seems to fit right into the unique culture of this town. What is Ignite Boulder, you might ask? Well, let me sum it up in one word: entertaining. Ignite events are held all over the country, and the format is pretty simple. Presenters are chosen by the organizers and the attendees weeks before the event via online voting, and anyone can sign up to present. Each Ignite has a theme, such as Heart and Soul, and the presentations are supposed to have some connection to that theme. This is where it gets interesting. Each presentation is only allowed to be 5 minutes and 20 slides long, and slides auto-advance every 15 seconds. This leads so some very quick, but generally enlightening, and almost always funny presentations.
What I enjoy most about going to the Ignite events is the creativity of each of the presentations. Recent topics have ranged from Food Photography to Brazilian Portuguese to Decision Making. Every presentation has made me laugh, and almost all have a deeper underlying message.
The most recent Ignite I attended was Ignite 8 (or IgnEight as it quickly became known as). The Ignite Boulder events are held at the Boulder Theater, which is a great venue that holds about 850 people. On this particular night, every seat was filled. The Ignite Boulder events attract a wide variety of folks, both as presenters as well as in the audience. As has become a sort of tradition with the Boulder Ignite events, Ignite 8 was kicked off by Ef Rodriguez. Ef has been the "ice-breaker" at every Ignite I've been to, and his presentations are always entertaining. For this Ignite, Ef broke the ice with a musical presentation on stepping up your game in the dating scene. Nothing says Ignite like being coaxed to "lay down the velvet" on your next date. I also managed to learn few words in Brazilian Portuguese (Fala Serio!), was seriously inspired by a 17 year old's presentation on the time she spends in Mexico with orphans, including smuggling eyeglasses over the border! Like I said, these presentations run the gamut from silly and funny to inspiring.
As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the presentations, and was impressed by the unique nature of the halftime band that played Zimbabwean music on an array of xylophones. I've heard that Boulder's Ignite events are unique, even among all the other nationwide Ignites, and I'm not surprised. Boulder is full of exciting, unique events like this, and I look forward to exploring more.