Author: Tyler Menezes

Parking and Afterparty Details for Ignite Seattle #43

We’re excited to see you tomorrow night for Ignite Seattle #43 at the beautiful Town Hall Seattle, located at 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101!

This event will not be livestreamed; if you want to catch it, please join us live!

Parking: There is no on-site parking, but Town Hall is located near several parking garages. Discounted $5.75 parking is available nearby at LAZ Parking (Hilton Hotel) by following the instructions at the bottom of this page.

Afterparty: We hope you can join our speakers for drinks after the event @ W Hotel Seattle Living Room Bar, entrance on 4th & Seneca. It’s a short walk down Seneca St. from Town Hall. (There is a parking garage but it’s expensive.)

Join us for Ignite Seattle 43— March 16 at 7:30 pm!

Want to learn what frisbees can tell us about patents, pizza can tell us about life, or horses can tell us about holiday traditions? Of course you do—and what better way to do it than attend Ignite Seattle’s first-of-2023 event at Town Hall: Thursday, March 16th at 7:30 pm! Sign up for your ticket here. 

Our speaker lineup (in no particular order):

  • You Don’t Just Need A Friend, You Need A Community! by Christiana Birkeland
  • Start a Sexual Revolution But Don’t Tell Your Mom by Alisa Eddy
  • Surviving the Swimmer’s Cemetery by Kate Curtis 
  • Cut My Life Into Pizzas by Tricia Aung
  • How To Understand Patents – Using Frisbees by Adam Phillipp
  • Protein polymers and yeast farts: a scientist becomes a baker by Sam Blackman
  • How Masculinity Culture is Killing Men by Annie Kuo
  • Online Dating for Men Who Are Not Quite Dead by Eric Holdeman
  • The Holiday Card Dies with the Horse. by Nancy Hostert-Ruiz
  • Deal’n Drugs & Save’n Lives in the ER by Fay Hosseini

What to expect at the show:

  • Doors open at 6:30pm. Get there early for a pre-show activity!
  • Show starts at 7:30pm
  • Show will end around 9pm

Excited? Early bird tickets are $10 so you’d better get yours now. If you would rather watch from home, that’s cool too! Sign up for our newsletter to receive a link to our livestream as the event gets closer.

See you soon!

Yours,
The Ignite team

We need your help to bring Ignite Seattle back!

Hi Ignite Superfan! Let’s start with the bad news: we’ve had to cancel our planned Ignite in October. Through the pandemic our team has shrunk, and we no longer have enough folks to make this event happen. (If you’re new to Ignite, this explains what our events are like).

Here’s where you come in: we need your help to bring Ignite back. Ignite Seattle is run by an fun, energetic, and enthusiastic all-volunteer team. We’re a group of former attendees who raised their hands and said “I want to help.” Now it’s your turn!

We’re hosting a volunteer info-session on Thursday, October 27, 7:30pm @ The Lab at Ada’s Technical Books, 425 15th Ave E Seattle WA 98112.

Not sure what volunteering for Ignite looks like? Below are a few ways volunteers help make the event possible. (But no experience is necessary, we’ll work with you to learn the job!)

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Marketing:

We have a growing email list and follower count, but we have no one to tell them what’s happening. If you’re new to marketing, we have a playbook detailing what sorts of posts we usually make when, but you can also implement your own opinions or crazy ideas. You also get to press a red button that instantly emails thousands of fans of Ignite Seattle!

Speaker/Slide Wrangler:

Ignite gives anyone 5 minutes, live on stage, to share their project or passion with Seattle and the world. Many are first-time speakers, and the speaker/slide wrangler coordinates the training sessions and makes sure everyone has their slides ready for the stage. (You don’t need to have public speaking experience for this role, though.)

Speaker Coach:
Former Ignite Seattle speaker? This is your chance to give back by giving coaching to help our speakers share their stories with clarity and charisma.

Production Team:

Love bringing people together? We need your help to coordinate things like our pre-show activity, intermission, live-stream, and more. No experience necessary, but this job is a good fit for anyone who loves being organized. (Bonus points if you like spreadsheets.)

Rethink the event, and bring crazy ideas to life:
Did you know Ignite Seattle never did a survey until 2018!? When we did, we learned the audience wanted a shorter show that started earlier. (It only took us 12 years to find out…)What if you were in charge of the 3 Rs: help us research, recommend, and realize crazy new ideas? Research could include surveys, observations, and plain old talking to people. Yes that is still a thing.

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These ideas (or your own ideas for Ignite) won’t happen without you. Are you ready to help? Sign up for our volunteer info session below or visit our volunteer page if you can’t make it.

Ignite Seattle Volunteer Info Session

Thursday, October 27, 7:30pm @ The Lab at Ada’s Technical Books, 425 15th Ave E Seattle WA 98112.

RSVP Here

RSVP for Info-Session

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(Thanks to our many volunteers who left the team over the pandemic for various life reasons, including: Nicole Steinbok, Sumit Basu, Jenny Bambara, Kent Whipple, Emily Martin, and Daniel Baird)

Event recap and videos for Ignite Seattle #41

Thank you for being part of another great event at Seattle Town Hall. Your support helps us continue to use storytelling to build community and bring people together. 

Below you’ll find a full recap of Ignite 41 with links to videos of every talk and a few amazing photos from the night.

Special thanks to our sponsors Punch Drunk, Mindhatch and 4Culture. Kudos also to Reel Grrrls for producing our live-stream.

Our next event, Ignite #42, is on Thursday, June 4 2020 and submissions are open. 

Tickets are on sale NOW at our early bird price ($10). We’ve sold out 9 of our last 10 shows – so get your tickets now. 

Videos from Ignite Seattle #41

Please share your favorites on social media – we want these people to have their stories heard by as many people as we can.

Ignite #41 Photos 

Buy Tickets for IS#42

Ignite Seattle #41 is SOLD OUT, but we still hope you’ll join us!

Exciting news, Ignite Seattle fans, our show on February 27, 2020 is now SOLD OUT! No tickets will be available at the door.

Didn’t get your ticket, and still want to see the talks? Don’t worry! We’re providing a free livestream of the night. Tune in to get:

  • A professionally produced livestream from our friends at Punch Drunk.
  • The best seat in the virtual house to catch 12 funny, inspiring, and otherwise amazing five-minute talks.
  • A Livesteam-exclusive look into Ignite Seattle before the show and during intermission, produced by Reel Grrls.
Register for Livestream

Mary Purdy – Saving the Planet with your Fork (Ignite Seattle #40)

You’re probably not going to be surprised to hear this: we need to cut back our carbon emissions. Here’s something that may surprise you: 1/4 of our carbon emissions come from our food system!

Ignite Seattle speaker Mary Purdy is well-aware of the potential to cut carbon emissions by eating better, and this Thursday October 3rd, she’s taking to the stage to share a few ways our audience can make a difference with their forks.

From food waste to plant proteins, there are many ways to cut your carbon emissions (no, you don’t have to become a vegan!), and while not everyone is in the position to make a change in the way they eat, most of us are.

Join us on October 3 to hear Mary and 11 other funny, wonderful, and amazing speakers. Tickets are on sale now.

Simon Okelo – Turning Orphanages Into Creative Hubs (Ignite Seattle 40)

In terms of dollars spent on foreign aid, the US is one of the most generous nations in the world. But in terms of damage done to overseas communities? We’re pretty high up there too.

Coming from Kenya, Ignite speaker Simon Okelo knows this well! When we think “how can we help,” we spend our money on what we think they need. So communities end up with an orphanage, when what they really needed was a place to bring their community together.

Join us on October 3 to hear about how Simon has made it his mission to turn disused buildings into creative hubs across Kenya. Tickets are on sale now!

Understanding Israel – Urban Wildlife Gardening (Ignite Seattle #40)

This Thursday, October 3, Ignite speaker Understanding Israel invites us all to learn more about what Seattle’s maritime climate grows best: a cult!

Understanding spent 26 years in an “alternative urban/rural community” in Queen Anne, in what she at-the-time called a commune. (“Like: ‘Far out and pass the bong.'”)

She’s taking the stage at Ignite this Thursday to share her experience through photos, stories, and a special surprise midway through. As Understanding tells us, “You will feel better about your life after listening to how I screwed up mine”.

Get your tickets for Ignite Seattle today! Thursday, October 3 is only a few days away!

Angela Barrus – Confessions of an International Smuggler (Ignite Seattle #40)

Ignite Seattle speaker Angela Barrus was probably expecting a little hassle when returning to the US from her visit to Canada. (Who wouldn’t expect a little hassle at the border?)

She wasn’t expecting alarms, drawn guns, whiplash, concussion, threats of a $15,000 fine, and finally leaving with bloody hands. Then again, she didn’t realize she had unwittingly become an international smuggler!

What was Angela smuggling, and how did she end up in such a crazy situation? (In her own words: “If it hadn’t happened to me, quite frankly, I’d question the sanity of the storyteller.”)

Join us at Ignite Seattle #40 this Thursday, October 3, to find out!

Nadine Khoury – I Like Your Shoes, Wanna Be Friends? (Ignite Seattle #40)

It’s no surprise that adults struggle to make new friends. According to Ignite speaker Nadine Khoury, the average American made their last new friend five years ago.

Nadine moved to Seattle as an adult, so she knows the difficulties of trying to make new friends well. But (unlike many of us!) she tried anyway, and she’s joining us as Ignite Seattle #40 to share some tips about how we can all make more friends.

Along the way, she’ll share some of her own experiences. Want to know what happens when you ask someone “I like your shoes, wanna be friends?”

Join us this Thursday, October 3, at Town Hall Seattle and find out!