Speaker List for Ignite Seattle 18

Tickets for Ignite Seattle 18 are on sale now! Here is the speaker roster for the November 8th event at Town Hall (in no particular order). We are still finalizing a few more talks, so check back at this blog for further announcements.

Lee LeFever (@leelefever) The Long Lost Art of Explanation
I’m on a bit of a mission. I want to help the audience (everyone, really) to become more effective explainers. I think it’s a lost art, something we take for granted and never think about. But the potential for improvement is tremendous.

My ignite talk will discuss the basics of explanation and how to take a complex idea and explain it with context, connections and stories. My hope is that everyone will leave with ideas for how they can be better explainers.

Dawn Hemminger (@dawnhemminger) How to Grow a Park
My story began with a great idea to create a beautiful, safe and sustainable green space in my 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.

Alex Alviar The Secret Superpowers of Being Deaf
Sure, being born deaf means you can’t hear as well as others. But even long after a cochlear implant has balanced the scales to make me appear anything but deaf, it lingers in how I think differently, how I engage the world, and how people react in surprising and unexpected ways. 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.

Lois Wang Know Your China with Lois Wang
Wanna create a killer product and make 1.3 billion people tell you to shut up and take their money? Yes, let’s do that. I will help you understand how Chinese people think. Once you find out that, you can sell them anything.

In 5 minutes, I will present you with things Chinese people do (facts), explain to you why they do that (insights), and how you use that consumer psychology to design your product (leverage). I’m sure you will be excited about the product we’re going to design together and ready to sell it to the world’s largest population.

Josh Maher (@joshmaher) The Definition of Running
Do you remember what it felt like when you were four years old and would run through the grass barefoot? Why now do you avoid running or at least barefoot running at all costs? Join me on a journey exploring what running is and how adults have morphed the toddlers idea of running into something nearly unrecognizable.

Shauna Causey (@ShaunaCausey) YES for One Year: Confronting A Fear

What scares you more than anything? Now think about spending one full year diving head-first into the uncomfortable abyss of your fear. My phobia of public speaking started when I was in high school and got worse throughout college. However, as part of some volunteer work, I started getting requests to share knowledge in larger groups and knew I was not only going to confront this fear, I was going to turn it upside down, shake it up, and own it. This is a short overview of my journey and the serendipity that can come from confronting a fear.

Larry Swanson (@officefitness) Save Your Life: Build Your Own Standing Desk
You’ve seen the stories about the research on sedentary behaviors and have heard the scary conclusion: no matter how fit you are and no matter how active you are outside of work, sitting all day is killing you. You have a desk job and typically sit at your desk 6 or more hours a day, so you are justifiably worried. You can buy a standing desk, if you’re lucky enough to have a budget and can find exactly what you want. Or you can make your own. This talk (a condensed version of one I delivered at the Seattle Maker Faire) demonstrates a variety of DIY standing desk paradigms.

Colin Henry (@jchenry) The Petty Officer School of Management
When I took a management position in a startup not too long ago, I needed to find my way as a manager while having to both working as an engineer and leading the team from a people perspective. My (anti-)role models of engineering leadership were micro-managers who didn’t offer much guidance on building and leading a great team. In this talk I’ll describe the events leading up to and the thinking behind what I call “The Petty Officer School of Management.” This will include general principles adopted by the Non-Commsisioned officer corps in the US military and how they can apply to a business setting.

Shelly Farnham (@shellyshelly) Why I Hate Facebook
We’ve all experienced it. Your professional colleague commenting on a picture a friend posted of you drunk in a bar. Your mother saying “i wish I was there” to a party only your friends were invite to. We are all continually traumatized by the way Facebook exposes our various aspects of our lives to each other.

Join me in my protest — Facebook needs to acknowledge that we as human beings have multiple, legitimate identities that need to be completely separate from each other for the sake of our personal well being. There should be no policy of one account per person.

Amy Harris Relating to a Loved One with Dementia
I want to share my passion about the connections that I make with people that I know who have dementia, these connections bring magic into my life. I work as a Recreation Therapist with elderly folks and I’ve learned some great easy techniques on how to negotiate conflict and foster connection with them. As part of this talk I would like to give some simple, easy to remember tips for engaging in activities, decreasing anxiety and redirecting difficult moments. Its important that I share these ideas with others. I want people to understand that there is hope to experience joy and still connect with their loved ones who are dealing with this difficult condition.

Matt Lawrence (@mj_lawrence) Forgiveness in Three Easy Steps
It’s super easy to hold onto anger and resentment for a very long time – even a lifetime. But why? Especially when forgiveness feels so damned good.

Good like *crazy* good. Like being kissed behind the back of your knee, or the first time someone used the head massager thing on you. Forgiveness makes you feel melty, and at peace with the world.

I’ve done it three times in my life so far. I stand behind it 100%, totally recommend it – even in the most outlandish of circumstances. And I’m not alone. Religions want you to forgive, and so does science! Big nasty diseases like cancer have been linked to resentment and anger, and some of the first steps patients have to make in chemotherapy is forgiveness.

I’ve made a simple 3 step process (with an optional 4th step) so that anyone who can lie on their backs can get some forgiveness happening, because we all have to share the sidewalk together.

Kristina Anderson(@KoshAnderson) 5 Years Since the Virginia Tech Tragedy

What is the one experience that you will never forget? When I was a sophomore studying at Virginia Tech, a fellow student entered my French classroom and tragically took the lives of twelve people directly around me. I was shot three times during the shooting, and while I’ve been fortunate to make a full recovery – this event has changed the focus on my work, my outlook on life, and it has even impacted what I eat. The shooting lasted just under twelve minutes. In five, I’m going to share with you the experience that changed my life, and how I’ve come to realize that in the end – we are all survivors.