It’s easy to be popular if you’re rich, or good-looking, or good at sports. But the rest of us have to be funny if we want people to like us. Acclaimed writer, humorist, and data analyst Joel Grus has spent years of research and experimentation uncovering the basic principles of humor. In this 5-minute talk, he’ll teach you how to master these principles and make people laugh.
Don’t forget, Ignite Seattle 13 is TOMORROW NIGHT!
Buster Benson is the founder of a new health-improvement social game called Health Month. In previous lives, he co-founded The Robot Co-op, and McLeod Residence, and has build a few fun things like the Locavore iPhone app and 750words.com.
Six days until Ignite Seattle 13!
James Callan is a champion of non-snoozefesty content and an ardent foe of grammar Nazis. He’s a freelance content strategist, a trivia whiz, a dad, and a soother of troubled hearts and wayward souls.
Don’t forget, Ignite 13 is in 9 days!
Mandy Sorensen works in the Seattle area as a small animal veterinarian and is in hot pursuit of her Master’s of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. Her professional interests include parasitology (of course), infectious diseases, endocrinology, and soft tissue surgery. In her spare time you can find her surfing, hiking, attempting to brew beer, or headed to a show.
Gregory Heller is a master of the SCRUM style of project management. When he was preparing to get married… he figured why go the normal route? Why not apply his knowledge for a different kind of project – his wedding!
Do you want to speak at Ignite? Submissions for talks are open until Friday, Jan 7th! Everyone has something interesting to say – what will you talk about?
We’re super-excited to present our line up for our next event, held once again at the King Cat Theatre on December 7th at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Here is the list of speakers for Ignite Seattle 12 (in no particular order):
Scott Berkun (berkun) How to write well, instantly, ever time
There is talk of the death of writing, but writing is everywhere: in email, Facebook, text messages, we write now more than ever. It’s true much of it is bad, but we’ve mostly sucked at writing for as long as we’ve had words. Berkun, author of a popular blog and three bestselling books, will explain all you need to know about writing essays, books, blogs and everything else, in 5 short minutes.
Emily Chen (tenshiemi) Paring Life: Have Less, Live More
Last year I did an end of the year apartment purge of everything I considered junk. When I returned home from Value Village I was shocked by how much stuff I still had. I experienced a flash of inspiration and decided to commit myself to getting rid of something every day for a year. Every item is posted on my blog and free to any requester. I’m now over two hundred days in and I would like to share what I’ve learned along the way and strategies for optimizing your possessions for happier living.
Brady Forrest (brady) What Cities Can Learn From Burning Man
Gregory Heller (gregoryheller) SCRUM Project Management For Wedding Planning
What happens when two people with project management experience decide not to hire a wedding planner and instead run their wedding planning through a modified SCRUM project management process? Certified SCRUM master, Gregory Heller will share his experience and lessons learned. Consider this a geek’s guide to planning the perfect wedding.
Mandy Sorensen (mandercrosby) Fleas, worms, and other nasty parasites: what they are, and why should you care?
Sure you’ve got a dog or cat at home. Are you sure you don’t also have a small population of nature’s most industrious little buggers hiding in your carpet or in your yard? Odds are, you do and you just don’t know about it. What you should know about the most common creepy crawlies out there.
Phil Thompson – Chemistry of the Cocktail
The chemistry and history of the cocktail, the flip.
Buster Benson (busterbenson) Virtual goods can improve the quality of your real life experiences
I’m building a social game, Health Month (healthmonth.com). As gamification has gained popularity, there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not points/badges/etc cheapen experience, lose value over time, or just simply ruin everything.
Alissa Mortenson (foolissa) Making Collaborative Art that Doesn’t Stuck
Adam Philipp (mypatents) How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Software Patents
Its seems there is nothing more reviled in geekdom than the software patent. It is lambasted from the left and the right from the ivory tower to the grass roots. It seems that it is singlehandedly to blame for the colossal failure of all progress in the field of computer science and stifles innovation and development of all the best products.
Beth Buelow (coachbethb) 5 Reasons Introverts Rock the Business World
The myth: Introverts are shy, socially backward and quite possibly all serial-killers-in-waiting.
The truth: Introverts are among the most famous, wealthy and successful people on the planet.
A five-minute look at what happens when introverts unleash their super-powers in the business world and beyond (and how to tell if YOU might be a member of Club Introvert).
Ellen Kowalczyk (elleliz) Got a minute?
Does your work / life balance look more like work / work / life balance? Feel like you’re constantly behind? Forget and lose track of the important things you meant to do? I’ll share a few ways to get back in control of your time and be more successful and more relaxed at the same time.
James Callan (scarequotes) Five big things grammar nazis get wrong about language
So sometimes you use “it’s” where you should’ve used “its.” Unfortunate? Yes. A sign that the sky is about to collapse all over our precious English language? Contrary to what a persnickety bunch of chicken littles would have you believe, no. Language is an art and a science, and grammar nazis need to be fiercely resisted as they browbeat us all with their ignorance of both.
Joel Grus (joelgrus) How to Be Funny
It’s easy to be popular if you’re rich, or good-looking, or good at sports. But the rest of us have to be funny if we want people to like us. Acclaimed writer, humorist, and data analyst Joel Grus has spent years of research and experimentation uncovering the basic principles of humor. In this 5-minute talk, he’ll teach you how to master these principles and make people laugh.
Karen Cheng (karenxcheng) How to Solve a Song
It’s happened to all of us – you hear a song that you don’t want to like. You try to resist, but you can’t. By the end of the song, you’re tapping your foot and singing along. Why are some songs so irresistibly catchy?
I used to think it was magic. But when I looked closer, I had an epiphany – It’s actually just math. Songs are catchy because they’re scientifically engineered to be that way. I’ll show you how.
Melanie St. Ours (MelanieStOurs) One Forbidden Thing
There are forbidden places in every city. Certain street corners after dusk, the mortuary underneath the funeral parlor, slaughterhouses, executive board rooms — these are all places of restricted access, places that are not open to everybody. In ancient myths and traditional fairy tales, such places are often the sites of initiation; disobedience is often the first step on the hero’s journey.
What places are forbidden to you? And what would happen if you went there anyway?”
Tom Music tells us about more than just how he survived cancer. He tells us (in less than five minutes) about how he, the rightful captain of his body, crushed the rebellious and subversive elements within his immune system.
Tom Music is a developer, musician, writer, speaker, and cancer survivor. He blogs about diagnosing and treating his lymphoma at Lymphomartini, and posts life-changing nuggets of wisdom on Twitter as @tommusic.
Once upon a time, Roberto Hoyos was selling products for Apple. Today, he’s selling his own product and his own ideas. Here’s how he did it (in 5 minutes).
In 2006, while working at the Apple store, Roberto Hoyos stumbled into his passion — viral marketer/entrepreneur. His business idea started out as a simple web post with pictures of his latest geeky creation — handmade fleece pillows resembling the Mac OS X icons. The post soon went viral and crashed his website in a matter of hours. Roberto spent a year perfecting the product and eventually, after some social media elbow grease, morphed this arts and crafts project into the worldwide brand now known as Throwboy.
Today Roberto, 28, runs Throwboy out of his Seattle apartment with help from a small staff of family and close friends. You can find Roberto on Twitter @robertohoyos, @throwboy and on the Throwboy blog.
Ignite Seattle 12 is happening on December 7th and talk submissions are open. If you have a 5 minute talk that will inspire, teach or just make people think then throw your hat in the ring. We’ll take ~16 speakers (and no repeats from last time). Get your talk in by October 22nd.
If you need inspiration about “How and Why to Give an Ignite Talk,” Scott Berkun can help you out.
Tonight at the King Kat Theater, we are proud to present, Ignite Seattle 11. Somehow I have successfully avoided making any references to Spinal Tap when talking about the event. Doors open at 7pm, our pre-event starts at 7:30 and speakers start at 8:30.
If you can’t make it, we will have a live feed of the event over on our Live Stream page.
Without further ado, here is our list of speakers (in order of appearance):
Frank Catalano (@FrankCatalano) How Science Is Destroying My Childhood
I love science: As a kid, I marveled at planets such as Pluto, wanted to see a real dinosaur, and enjoyed mysterious sea creatures. My love of science spawned a career including stints as a science and tech reporter, science-fiction writer and, lately, tech industry consultant. But science is slowly erasing my childhood, and Pluto was just the start. It appears no planet — or creature — is safe.
Jenny Lam (helveticagirl) – What Not to Wear: the typography edition
Todd Bishop (toddbishop) The Geek’s Guide to Seattle: Understanding Our Nerd Heritage
Michelle Bates Toying with Creativity – the Joys of Plastic Cameras
The world of photography has become a race for the newest and most advanced cameras. Spin the wheels of technology backwards with Michelle Bates as she introduces you to the wonders of image-making with simple plastic cameras that use film and have no adjustments. See world-class photographers using Holgas and other toy cameras for fine-art, photojournalism, portraiture, fashion, commercial and editorial photography. Learn how going low-tech can open up a whole new world for your creativity!
Andrew Hyde (andrewhyde) I own 15 things: The Art of Minimalism and Travel
Recently I gave away or sold almost 1000 items I owned. I now just own 15 and am embarking on a yearlong vagabond around the world. Homeless, unemployed and without any direct purpose or plan; I’m either the most alive or the most alone I’ve ever been. This Spark will be about the unintended consequences of these actions.
Myra Stephens (SniperWulfzen) Citing your sources: Controlling Hazardous Substances in Consumer Goods
That hoodie you’re wearing? It might surprise you to know that potentially every part of it – zipper, thread, fabric, etc – came from a different source. In a free market economy, corners are frequently cut in order to keep high profit margins, which can result in cheap goods containing potentially hazardous substances. Through elementary sketches, let me help you become an enlightened consumer.
Roy Leban (royleban) Anatomy of a Crossword
In this talk, I’ll discuss lessons learned from solving and constructing crosswords and other kinds of puzzles, reasons why everybody should solve puzzles, and how creating puzzles can you make you a better solver (and maybe a better person).
Jenny Ingram (jennyonthespot) How To Be An Internet Movie Phenom Without Taking Your Clothes Off!
Vlogging is all the rage. But let’s face it… YouTube has far, FAR more crappy vlogs than awesome ones. What does it take to go from “crap” to “awesome”? I have some ideas, and not one of them includes taking off your clothes for the camera.
Jacob Appelbaum (ioerror) Going Dark
Lisa Bronwyn (junefontaine) Finding Your Nietzsche
What do you when you’re 36, for example, and still have no idea what you want to be when you grow up? What if you missed every memo and hint thrown your way? What if, horror of horrors, you were sick during finger painting class in kindergarten and that very day held the clue to your future self?
Roberto Hoyos (throwboy) King of Geeky Pillows: How I turned a one-time sewing hobby into a global business
Once upon a time, I was selling products for Apple. Today, I’m selling my own product and my own idea.
Cheri Walters (@dearcheri) How to Taste Wine Like a Smarty Pants – 5 Steps to Building Your Palate
Many assume a golden palate is required to experience the nuances of wine. But this just isn’t true. In fact, if you were born with the ability to see, smell and taste you too can train your palate to compete with the experts.
Tom Music (@tommusic) Lymphomartini: Immutiny on the Bounty
Knowing something is wrong, but not knowing why (or what you can do about it) is scary. Even scarier is when that something is cancerous! After learning the mechanical side of what he faced, and the ways to attack it, Tom was mentally ready to join the fight for his life.
Damiana Merryweather (merryweather2u)
Wookin’ Pa Nub on the Internets or A guide to successfully navigating online dating
Finding a love match has never been easy. Especially for those of us who work a lot, have busy lives already or who aren’t naturals at standing out in group settings. Thankfully, that is what internet dating sites are for. Unfortunately, being good at coding or running complex Google searches doesn’t mean that you a natural at on-line dating.
Ignite Seattle 