Help Wanted: Ignite Seattle Marketing/ Media Champion (P/T)

Here at Ignite Seattle a small team of volunteer organizers works behind the scenes to make everything happen. Thanks to you, our fans, our events have become so popular now that we’re looking to grow our team. Here’s what we are looking for:

Marketing/Media Champion (P/T)

Ignite Seattle needs someone who can lead the way for our kind of storytelling on the interwebs. You will use your proven social media talents to transform our nascent marketing efforts before, during and after our events into a glorious wave of tweets, posts and shares, spreading the ideas of our speakers far and wide. Perks include working with a high fun / high trust team, your fill of good bourbon and wine and the joy of using your talents for the altruistic goodness of the Seattle creative community.

Minimum time commitment: a couple of hours a week between events, 5-10 hours a week, or more, leading up to and during the event (3 to 4 times a year).

The role: you’d lead our social media and other marketing efforts. This includes working with other organizers to define strategy and also leading the work to implement tactics. We all support each other, but we’d look to you as our marketing expert.

Rewards: none of us organizers are paid – this role is something you should do because you like Ignite Seattle, you love doing pr/marketing for cool projects, and you want to volunteer to be part of an important community (of ideas). You will meet many interesting and amazing people, as they (our speakers and audience) are the stars of each event – Ignite Seattle might be one of the most rewarding things you contribute to regularly. You’ll know much more about your city and what great things are happening.

How we work: We are mostly virtual (Slack), with monthly in person meetings related to the events and our speakers. We are all volunteers and happily wear many hats. You will get your hands dirty often as we are a small, lean team.

How To Apply: 

  1. Study the marketing/media efforts Ignite Seattle already has. What two things would you improve first and how? (You won’t hurt out feelings)
  2. Give us a brief rundown on your past marketing/media experience (link to resume or LinkedIn is fine)
  3. Email the above to pr@scottberkun.com

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Speakers for Ignite Seattle #32

Our 32nd Ignite event, and part of our 10th anniversary year, takes place on Thursday  February 23rd, 7pm/8pm at Town Hall Seattle. Tickets $5 at the door or in advance (we frequently sell out – buy tickets early. Or NOW. Really).

Doors open at 7pm, with a cash bar and a fun (optional) social interactive game (you don’t have to play, and since there is a bar you can stand and drink and make fun of the people who do, but we suspect you’re more likely to play than you think).

Talks start at 8pm, with an nicely sized intermission halfway through for you to do various acts of biology and sociology, including getting more drinks.

Here are the brilliant speakers we are thrilled to bring to our stage:

  • It Takes a Village, Stephanie Carrillo
  • Become a Wifi Ninja: Learn How to Fix Internets, Patrick McCanna
  • Storage Hacking (or how to hoard neatly 101), Beth FitzGibbon
  • Holy Shit – A New Way “To Go”, V Calvez
  • A World For Every Classroom, John Krajewski
  • The Power of Wearing Your Pain, Bridget Foley
  • A Gut Feeling: Microbiome and Mental Health, Hannah Thomasy
  • No, I Don’t Know Where To Buy Weed, Farris Holliday
  • Obsession With Causality, Andrei Borodin
  • Being Uncomfortable Is The Only Way to Grow, Virginia Emery
  • How To Win A National Award, Stephanie Lucash
  • Why We Stopped Eating The Nasty Shit, Andrew Ho
  • Simulating The International ComMUNity, River O’Connor
  • Badass 3.0, Karen Johanson
  • Lets Talk About Menstruation, Sara Gentzler
  • How To Be Mad at Your Kids, Jenni Pertuset
  • (Speaking order TBD so don’t presume this is it)

Looks like a great night, yes? Get your tickets here. 

Throwback Thursday: A 2007 Talk About the Rise of the “Third Screen.”

Our next Ignite Seattle event is on Thursday, February 23, 2017. Do you have a great idea or fascinating story you want to share with your city? This is a unique chance to share something important, funny, or geeky with Seattle…and the world.

Beth Goza shared this talk in 2007: “Is 2008 the year the ‘Third Screen’ Takes Center Stage?”

Maybe you have a response to this, or an inside scoop on the next Big Thing.

Either way, submit your own talk idea by tomorrow, January 13th!

Get Your Friend to Submit an Ignite Talk by Friday!

Our next Ignite Seattle event is on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

Do you know someone with a great idea, interesting project, or fascinating story you want others to hear about?

Get them to submit a talk idea by Friday, January 13th!

The Ignite audience LOVES  to engage with a wide variety of topics — for instance, here’s a talk from 2010: Mandy Sorensen on “Fleas, Worms, and Other Parasites.”

Share Your Project or Side Hustle From the Ignite Stage!

Our next Ignite Seattle event is on Thursday, February 23, 2017. Do you have a great idea or fascinating story you want to share with your city? This is a unique chance to share something important, funny, or geeky with Seattle…and the world.

Submit your own talk idea by Friday, January 13th!

To inspire you, here’s a talk from 2013: James Davenport,  sharing his side project in a talk called, “Mapping the United States of Starbucks.”

You Have One Week to Submit Your Ignite Talk Idea!

Our next Ignite Seattle event is on Thursday, February 23, 2017. Do you have a great idea or fascinating story you want to share with your city? This is a unique chance to share something important, funny, or geeky with Seattle…and the world.

Submit your own talk idea by Friday, January 13th!

To inspire you, here’s a talk from 2009: Mehal Shah on “Fighting Dirty in Scrabble.”

We want challenging talk ideas

Here at Ignite Seattle we’ve built a finely tuned machine. Each event delivers on great talks, fascinating stories and a fun and welcoming community atmosphere. But one problem with finely tuned machines is this: they become predictable.

Over the years we’ve had some folks bring us bold ideas that challenge us. They push the limits of the 5 minute format or what can be done with an audience of 800 people. We’re always looking for more talks like this. Do you have something in mind? We want to hear from you. Submissions for the next Ignite are open.

Challenge us with:

  • New ways to use the 5 minute / 20 slide format
  • Topics or perspectives we’ve never had on stage before
  • Interesting ways to use the stage or the audience
  • Something we’ve never even considered

To seed your thoughts, here are some challenging examples from Ignite Seattle history:

Tag-Team: How To Have An Argument

Live music performance: How to Solve a Song

Getting the crowd to dance on stage: Where the hell is Matt?

A Wedding In 5 minutes: Wedding Planning for Geeks

An improv talk within a talk: Improv, Public Speaking and You

Slides that only keep time: Attention and Sex

One armed Juggling: The Juggling Act of Life

Live Burlesque: To Be A Great Leader

 

 

 

 

Ignite Seattle #31: Videos & Recap

Thanks to all of you who joined us last night for another sold out show at Town Hall Seattle. For our 10th anniversary we couldn’t ask for a more supportive, energetic and playful crowd. Our sincerest hope is that you keep coming to our shows, and help spread the word about what we do – we want to keep this forum for the exchange of ideas going for a long time.

Photos:

All of the videos from last night are now live (Thanks to Bootstrapper studios)! You can watch individual talks or the entire show in one video.  Please take a minute to share your favorites on all the interwebs.

  1.  Happiness through Calculus, Jordan Couch
  2. Guaranteed Successful Design, Noah Iliinsky
  3. Definitely Not Nordstrom: A Rally Call and Celebration of Awkwardness, Kristin Leong
  4. Not Everything Is A Collaboration, Eric Holdeman
  5. Appy Bride: How I Infuriated the Wedding Industry & Got My -Dream Wedding, Sarah Schacht
  6. Hello, My Friend. Madi Williamson
  7. Eat Your Ice Cream: How To Live Like You’re Dying, Robin Tarter
  8. Building Solid Teams with Silly Games, Shannon Mead
  9. After the Psych Ward, Jeffrey Hicks
  10. Our Brain’s Next Firmware Update, Laura Lantz
  11. Nope! Really! Africa is Not A Country. Kevin Obbayi
  12. The Irish Goodbye, Kelly Kanary
  13. So You Think You Can’t Dance, Sandi Olson
  14. Breaking Bread, Breaking Boundaries. Phillip Deng
  15. The Streets Where You Live, Amy Cash
  16. Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones, Andrew McGee
  17. Ignite Seattle #31 – Entire show

 

 

Where to eat and drink before (and after) Ignite Seattle

[updated March 4th 2023]

Our current home for Ignite Seattle is the lovely Town Hall Seattle, located on First Hill, just across from I-5. It’s a curious little neighborhood that many Seattleites don’t know very well (it has so many hospitals nearby, it’s often jokingly called “pill hill”).

To help you get the most out of your Ignite experience, here’s a short guide for where to eat and drink before (or after) Ignite. Of course at the event there are always two cash only bars open, selling drinks and light snacks, but they can get crowded at times.

Upscale Dinner

  • Outlier– Just a 6 minute walk away at 4th avenue, near the library, this southern-style restaurant and bar has a great happy hour 4-8pm.
  • Cortina – An Ethan Stowe (famous local chef) Italian restaurant.  5 minute walk from Town Hall, and you can walk through the iconic Freeway park.
  • Capital Grille – Fancy steakhouse in a historic building, a good choice if you’re celebrating tonight.
  • Purple cafe and wine bar – good choice all around, with a spectacular 30-foot tower of wine behind the bar makes for a  memorable and dramatic experience.

Something simple or fast

  • A Pizza Mart – directly across the street from Town Hall, this reliable, straightforward pizza place with a full bar is the most convenient meal you’ll find. It does get busy and service can be slow so get there early if it’s your plan.
  • Pho  Saigon – Decent pho and Vietnamese fare.  3 blocks away.
  • Han’s deli – If you hope to just grab a candy bar or a bag of chips, this is just a block away.
  • 206 Burger Company – Good burgers a 4 minute walk from our venue.
  • Town Hall does sell some light snacks at the bar.

Bars and drinks

  • The Hideout – just three blocks away from Town Hall, this speakeasy style art bar has fine cocktails, simple snacks, and fantastic art (including an art vending machine). Open late, but it’s a small place and can get crowded at peak hours.
  • The Diller Room – a ten-minute walk from Town Hall, this historic,  colorful, divey pub has lots of character and charm. Their small food menu includes fresh pizzas from next door.
  • A short walk across I-5 lets you pick from various hotel bars (which tend to be expensive). Check out the Olympic bar at the Fairmont.
  • Sadly our favorite spot Quarter Lounge has closed. and Vitos is currently recovering from a catastrophic fire, but hopes to reopen soon.
  • Town Hall does sell beer, drinks and light snacks at the bar. Lines can get long so preshow if you want your fix early.

See you soon!

[updated March 4th 2023]

Speakers for 10th Anniversary Ignite Seattle (#31)

Our 31st Ignite event, and our OFFICIAL 10th ANNIVERSARY,  is Thursday, November 17th, 7pm/8pm at Town Hall Seattle. Tickets $5 at the door or in advance (we frequently sell out – buy tickets early. Or NOW. Really).

This will be a very special night (10 years is a long time – 496 Ignite talks, or 2400 minutes of people on stage speaking, to be exact). If you haven’t been to ignite in awhile, don’t miss this one.

Doors open at 7pm, with a cash bar and a fun (optional) social interactive game (you don’t have to play, and since there is a bar you can stand and drink and make fun of the people who do, but we suspect you’re more likely to play than you think).

Talks start at 8pm, with an nicely sized intermission halfway through for you to do various acts of biology and sociology, including getting more drinks.

We received more than 80 talk submissions – more than ever before. Many were excellent. But since we are restricted by the laws of physics we had to pick just 16 speakers for this event.

Here is the glorious list of amazing speakers:

  • Happiness through Calculus, Jordan Couch
  • Building Solid Teams with Silly Games, Shannon Mead
  • Nope! Really! Africa is Not A Country. Kevin Obbayi (alumni)
  • Hello, My Friend. Madi Williamson
  • After the Psych Ward, Jeffrey Hicks (alumni)
  • The Streets Where You Live, Amy Cash
  • So You Think You Can’t Dance, Sandi Olson
  • Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones, Andrew McGee
  • Breaking Bread, Breaking Boundaries. Phillip Deng
  • The Irish Goodbye, Kelly Kanary
  • Our Brain’s Next Firmware Update, Laura Lantz
  • Not Everything Is A Collaboration, Eric Holdeman (alumni)
  • Eat Your Ice Cream: How To Live Like You’re Dying, Robin Tarter
  • Appy Bride: How I Infuriated the Wedding Industry & Got My Dream Wedding, Sarah Schacht (alumni)
  • Guaranteed Successful Design, Noah Iliinsky (alumni)
  • Definitely Not Nordstrom, Kristin Leong (alumni)
  • (Speaking order TBD so don’t presume this is it)

Looks like a great night, yes? Get your tickets here.