Toddlers run and run and run like crazy. Adults, not so much.
Josh Maher explains why we grown-ups should give running – particularly barefoot running – another go.
Was he wearing those wacky toe shoes while giving his talk? Heck yeah he was.
Category: Event
Yes for One Year: Confronting a Fear – Shauna Causey
Anyone who knows Shauna Causey in Seattle today would never have guessed that she faced a crippling fear of public speaking for years. One of Seattle’s iconic presences and very regular speakers, Shauna conquered her fear of public speaking by brute force: say “Yes” to speaking opportunities for one year.
Shauna’s year long experience left her with a set of lessons and stories for confronting a fear of public speaking. She shares these tips on stage, including:
- Take honest feedback honestly
- Acknowledge hecklers and move on
- Practice in front of a wall full a sticky notes with eyes on them
For the full story, be sure to watch her talk:
Know Your China – Lois Wang
It’s a big country that’s getting bigger – socially, politically and commercially. But how well do you know your China?
In this talk, Lois Wang shares her theories about this culture on the other side of the world, and how to use some principles of consumer psychology to – and I quote – “sell them anything.”
The Secret Superpowers of Being Deaf – Alex Alviar
Being deaf, it turns out, helps you see things others don’t.
Alex Alviar was born deaf and has lived much of his life with a cochlear implant. In this talk, he shares how he engages the world, how the world reacts, and the unexpected things his senses have shown him.
“It’s like having a secret superpower that no one’s really aware of and that I can’t fully control, sometimes for the worse but usually for the better.”
Prepare to never see deafness the same way again …
Talk Submissions due on Monday
If you’re still thinking about submitting a talk for the Ignite on February 19th, now is your chance! You have until Monday at midnight to get your talk in for consideration. After that, we won’t be taking any more talks until late February.
How To Grow a Park – Dawn Hemminger
Dawn Hemminger‘s story began with a great idea to create a beautiful, safe and sustainable green space in her East Ballard neighborhood. This idea is no different than any one you may have that could enrich your life and the lives of those in your community. This talk proposes that the difference between just having an idea and turning it into reality depends on your success in following 6 key steps:
- Share your idea
- Host events
- Team up
- Embrace change
- Be tenacious
- Celebrate
Dawn’s community has grown the 14th Ave NW Park from a scribble on a napkin to a $2.9 Million funded reality with plans to break ground this year. If her experience can help you avoid any pitfalls or speed your progress, then this talk will have done its job.
The Long Lost Art of Explanation – Lee LeFever
Lee LeFever, creator of CommonCraft, is on a mission. He wants to help everyone become more effective explainers.
In this Ignite talk, Lee discusses — well, explains actually — the basics of explanation and how to take a complex idea and explain it with context, connections and stories leaving viewers with ideas for how they can be better explainers.
Catch Dan Pink at Town Hall January 9th
Our friends at Seattle Town Hall have a nice doubleheader next week on Wed. January 9th. If you buy tickets to either talk you get entry for the other.
at 6pm: William Janeway, an active venture-capitalist for decades leading the Warburg Pincus Technology Investment team (which sounds impressive but I’ve never heard of), will be talking about his new book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, an examination of the triad of government, finance and entrepreneurs. He thinks in triads and wears a bow-tie: what more could you want? Tickets here.
at 7:30pm: popular business writer Daniel Pink offers a fresh look at sales and persuasion, showing how economic forces have changed how people approach convincing each other to do things, in his new book To Sell Is Human, a title that either makes you cringe, or gleeful at the prospect of the sales that await in your friendships – Please go and tell me my cynicism is unfounded! Tickets here.
Also coming soon at Town Hall:
- Jan. 14, James Weatherall discusses The Physics of Wall Street (or: Predicting the Unpredictable). Apparently he also likes cats. Tickets.
- Jan 21, Oliver Burkeman: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking – advocates a “negative path” to happiness by embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity, and uncertainty, a perfectly timed talk for Seattle in January. Tickets.
Latest Ignite Seattle Videos are Posted
We’ve been working hard over the last few months to get the most recent Ignite Seattle videos up on YouTube. You can see videos from both Ignite 17 and Ignite 18 over at our YouTube channel.
In the coming weeks, as we get closer to Ignite Seattle 19 (Feb. 20th @ Town Hall), we’ll be posting some of the highlights from the last two events.
Also, don’t forget to submit your talk ideas. The submission deadline is early January, so get your ideas in now.
Happy Holidays from everyone at Ignite Seattle!
Author of The Black Swan at Town Hall (tickets 1/2 price for Ignite fans)
Our friends at Town Hall have a special offer for the Ignite Community. Tickets are 50% off for a great talk by one of the most controversal figures in intellectual circles today: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He’s in town promoting his new book AntiFragile. He’s the author of the bestsellers The Black Swan and Fooled By Randomness. If you’ve read his books, which I have, he is sure to entertain, as his sizable ego and intellect take no prisoners in his critiques of politicians, executives, enemies and our species at large.
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
To get your special Ignite discount, buy tickets and use the code: ignite on the checkout screen (4 tickets max at discount).
Here’s more about the lecture:
Called “the hottest thinker in the world” byThe Sunday Times of London, the always-provocative (and often-hilarious) Nassim Nicholas Taleb outlines the fragile world we live in—and how and why we should become more “antifragile.” What Taleb calls the antifragile actually benefits from shocks and stressors (just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension); this, he says, makes uncertainty not only desirable, but necessary. Posing a revolutionary message (“There is no stability without volatility, and what is not antifragile will perish.”), the author of The Black Swan and the new Antifragile explains how we can gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. Presented by Town Hall and University Book Store as part of The Seattle Science Lectures, sponsored by Microsoft. Series media sponsorship provided by KPLU.
Advance tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510 and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.
Ignite Seattle 