In our day-to-day conversations, we rarely get the chance to sit down and truly take in someone else’s perspective. Exploring what makes another person tick requires a bit of unadulterated time and space that we usually don’t make room for in our lives.
We try to provide that time and space at IgniteChicago. A person is given five minutes to speak on anything possibly imaginable: the hilarious, the frightening, the astounding, the enlightening. Twenty powerpoint slides automatically move behind the person every 15 seconds. The result is the opportunity to peek into the brains of people who are brave enough to let you. In return, it gives us as the audience moments of “oh that’s how they see it,” “isn’t that awesome,” and even “that inspires me.”
During our most recent IgniteChicago (Nov. 2) at 1871, ten speakers gave us that glimpse into their headspace, sharing a concept, experience, or story they are passionate about. Here is a taste of their talks in their own words:
“What if the government was the easiest client to work with?”
– Jed Wood, Redesigning Government (view his full Ignite talk here)
“Super geeks are the enriched uranium of the social web.”
– Cam Balzer, Social Reactors (view his full Ignite talk here)
“Computer science isn’t about math, it’s about building worlds.”
– Matt Butcher, How Plato Invented Computer Programming
(view his full Ignite talk here)
“It takes just as much energy to be kind as to be snarky.”
– Paulette Jacobsmeier, Old School (view her full Ignite talk here)
“As of today I have 5 pairs of pants. Over three years, that’s a 500% increase. […] If that number continues to grow over the course of my career, I will have over 6.1 billion pairs of pants by the time I retire.”
– Brian McGovern, I Am a Great Success and Also an Adult Human and I Can Prove It! (view his full Ignite talk here)
“A homeless man once told me that he was where he was because of a whirlwind of bad events. So I turned that around and said, what if I wanted to be successful: I could have a whirlwind of motivation.”
– Ying Maneein, Baby Steps (view his full Ignite talk here)
“We love being picked…but it’s crap. We just build up gatekeepers in our life. What if we pick ourselves?”
– Griffin Caprio, Why the h*ll are you asking for permission? (view his full Ignite talk here)
“One of the most important things you get out of recess is how to resolve disputes, such as rock-paper-scissors.”
– Keri Christensen, Settling Things (view her full Ignite talk here)
“In conclusion, ‘the grass is greener where you water it.’ I think that’s in a Drake song right now.”
– Lindsay Saewitz, Choosing the Best Grass (view her full Ignite talk here)
“People often ask me, ‘How do you know which neighborhood to choose to live in?’ I google ‘hipster neighborhoods’. I hate to say that. I clear my browser history right away because I don’t even want to admit that.”
– Smith Schwartz, Well-Designed Travel (view her full Ignite talk here)
Inspired to share something you care about? We would love to be on the receiving end of that passion. Apply to be a speaker here.
The next IgniteChicago is February 5, 2013 at 1871. Sign-up here to be alerted when tickets go on sale here and don’t miss another opportunity to experience others’ perspectives firsthand.
Visit http://ignitechi.org and follow us on Twitter at @ignitechicago.
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