Ignite Seattle

We Want You… To Submit a Talk Idea

We are optimistically planning an in-person Ignite Seattle #42 for Thursday Feb 17, 2022 at Town Hall Seattle! If we need to adjust due to COVID we will. For now, we are focused on lining up amazing speakers. We hope that’s you or someone you know!

Submit your talk idea by Jan 14

5 reasons why YOU should submit a talk idea
1. Share your story, idea, or passion live with the best audience in Seattle
2. Shake up your routine by doing something new
3. Change the way people think about a particular subject matter
4. Connect with other Ignite storytellers and alum
5. Build up your public speaking skills

You will attend a storytelling working and get feedback from the expert who wrote the book on it, Scott Berkun. You will also be assigned a mentor and get a lot of support. Then, after a rehearsal, you will share your story with the best audience in Seattle. Everyone will rock it, including you!

Why encourage a friend to submit a talk idea?
It is a great way to tell someone amazing you believe in them. Forward them this link with a note along the lines of: You are one of the most interesting people I know. I’d love to hear you share a story for a larger audience to enjoy! Submit your idea here: igniteseattle.com/submit

Now: Submit a talk (due Jan 14)
Now: Get Tickets
Feb 17 – Attend Ignite Seattle

15 years ago today…

On December 7, 2006 the very first Ignite Seattle was held at the Capitol Hill Art Center (CHAC) in Seattle. I wasn’t one of the organizers, but I was there for that magical night 15 years ago. There were over 350 folks packed into a tiny space meant for about half that many. It was crowded, it was hot, and it was chaotic but it was obvious to me that I was experiencing something special.

The conceit was simple – give a 5 minute talk with 20 slides, but the slides would auto-advance every 15 seconds and while a lot has changed in 15 years we remain true to our format.

The talk topics of the first Ignite Seattle were pretty tech industry focused, but it was clear that everyone who spoke that night was passionate about their subject matter (another requirement for a great Ignite talk). We experienced many delightful talks including:

Bre Pettis showing off some Make Project Disasters
Arlo Speedwagon discussing Mortality and User Experience
Jordan Schwartz teaching us how to make our own SMS service
Shelly Farnum showing off Dorkbot Seattle
Beth Kolko talking about how Info Tech in the Developing World
and roughly 20 more talks that night (including our very own Scott Berkun talking about innovation) and a popsicle stick bridge building contest.

I left that night intellectually overstimulated and exhausted (in the best possible way), but I also left wanting to be a part of the event in some capacity. I started working on Ignite just prior to the 4th event the very next year.

Bre Pettis and Brady Forrest – Ignite Seattle’s Progenitors

All photos from this event appear courtesy of Laughing Squid and you can see more on his Flickr feed here.

Submit Your Talk

It’s been a fun ride working on Ignite and Ignite has survived and flourished while living through an economic downturn, moving to 4 different venues (5 if you count the beautifully remodeled Town Hall) and now a global pandemic. And that’s why we need YOU to submit a talk to our next (in person, at Town Hall) event planned for February 17th, 2022. We’re thrilled to be in a place where so many are vaccinated, boosted and craving some social interaction and entertainment.

If you’ve ever thought about standing on the Ignite Seattle stage, now is the time to submit your talk and help bring us back to Town Hall, Seattle and the world!

Submit your Ignite talk today

While a lot has changed since way back then, the magic of Ignite Seattle hasn’t faded for me and I know a lot of you feel the same. I’m overjoyed to be planning our next event and I can’t wait to see all of you there.

Ignite Seattle is Back!

We are thrilled to announce that we are back in person… Ignite Seattle #42 is happening Thursday Feb 17, 2022 at Town Hall Seattle! We have missed you and your stories so much.

The details, but make it quick:
Now:Get Tickets. Join our organizing team. Sign up to volunteer.
Jan 14: Submit a talk
Feb 17 – Attend Ignite Seattle
Interested? Good! Keep reading to learn more:

Volunteer
We need volunteers. The possibilities range from a few hours during the event to joining our fantastic and fun organizing team. If you are interested in a volunteering a few hours during the event fill out our volunteer form. If you want to join our amazing organizing team check out the details here.

Speak
We need amazing people with something to say. Do you have a story, a project or a passion you would like to share with the best audience in Seattle? Submit a talk idea! Do you know someone we NEED to hear from? Encourage them to share it! Submit talk ideas now until January 14, 2022. Nervous about public speaking or creating a slide deck? We have a helpful team who will coach, mentor and assist you!

Attend
Ignite Seattle needs an audience to cheer on our amazing speakers! Get your tickets now for early bird pricing ($10). Why buy tickets now? It helps us plan, make a budget, etc. If you buy now and something comes up later we will process refund requests until two weeks before the event.

What about COVID-19? Town Hall Seattle has been successfully hosting in person events. We will follow the Town Hall Seattle Building Policies. Currently the audience must BOTH 1) be fully vaccinated or show a negative PCR test result from the last 48 hours, and 2) be masked. If you’d rather watch Ignite Seattle #42 from home, we will be providing a livestream option.

To recap:
Submit a talk idea by Jan 14
Sign up to volunteer
Join our organizing team
Buy tickets: Thursday Feb 17, 2022 7:30pm at Town Hall Seattle (or online) Other questions? Email us.

We can’t wait to see you and hear your stories,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

Help Wanted: two new positions

We are ramping up for our fist live event in over a year. Ignite Seattle #42 will take place at Town Hall on Thursday, Feburary 17, 2022.

At Ignite Seattle, our city’s largest open platform for citizen storytelling, it’s just a small team of volunteer organizers that make our sold-out shows happen. And we’re looking to grow that team.

If you’re not familiar with what our events are like, this short video explains it well.

1. Role: Event Marketing Lead

This may be the most fun marketing job in the universe. You get to plan, design and execute on engaging with our active community of fans and supporters. Tell our story on our blog, social media and partner channels. Come up with and deliver on creative and fun ideas to raise interest and attention. Primary goals include recruiting talk submissions, raising brand awareness and ensuring high attendance (safely) at our signature events. You need to be a self-starter who enjoys freedom, bias towards action and enjoys independence and a lot of creative control. You’ll collaborate with our friendly leadership team, but one of our principles is if you’re doing the work, you have wide discresion on how it gets done.

2. Role: You tell us!

Our small team is always in need of more good, reliable people. You could be a programmer, a project manager, a writer, a videographer – whatever skill you have we can probably find a way to use it. Your commitment can be small (help move things on the day of the event) or larger (contribute a few hours each of the 6 weeks before our big events).

Rewards: You’ll be part of a fun, smart and loyal team of volunteer organizers, well connected in the Seattle tech and arts community. You will meet many interesting and amazing people, work with a great team, and share in thrills at each live event. You’ll get to use skills you already have to do good in the arts community in Seattle. Ignite Seattle will likely be one of the most rewarding things you contribute to regularly.

How we work: We are mostly virtual (Slack), with monthly in-person meetings (when safe), and more as needed or when we get closer to the next event. We are all volunteers and happily wear many hats.

How To Apply:

Give us a brief rundown on your past experience (link to resume or LinkedIn is fine)
Tell us what you love about Ignite Seattle, and/or why you want to join the team?
Email the above to pr@scottberkun.com

October Inspirations from the Ignite Seattle Team

Seasons greetings from everyone at Ignite Seattle. We’ve missed you and the energy and community you bring to all of the events we do.

The team got most of us together in-person for the first time in far too long. We met for beers and snacks at Redhook on Capitol Hill and talked about our plans for the future and the possibility of our return to Town Hall early in 2022.

May be an image of 7 people, including Sumit Flux, Zachary Cohn, Randy Stewart and Scott Berkun — Volunteer organizers Marice Sy, Sumit Basu, Nicole Steinbok, Zac Cohn, Randy Stewart, Tyler Menezes and Scott Berkun, at Redhook (The rest of our team, including Jenny, Emily and Leigh were missed!)

We’ve missed all of you. And the energy you bring to all of the events we do. We wanted to share some energy back to you with some updates from our speakers.

Inspiring things our alumni have done:

Keisha Garrison, who spoke about inspiring courage from her daughter at an Ignite Seattle open night, left her corporate job to pursue being an emcee and storyteller full time.

Melissa Reaves, who talked about her family’s experience with OCD, started her own thriving storytelling coaching business, Storyfruition.

Science journalist Sally James, who gave a talk about better communication, won with her team at Matters of Gravity, a science game show.

Multi-talk alumni Sarah Schacht, who has talked about the wedding industry, the Me Too movement and her work on Seattle’s restaurant food safety posters, worked with the CDC and National Environmental Health Association, including new pool inspection standards being used across the U.S. this fall.

Colin Henry, who spoke about what he learned from the Navy and how it applies to managing engineers, announced the birth of his first child, a baby girl. And Bonnie Toland, who talked about the conflict built into the design of everyday life, was 3 months pregnant when she spoke, and her daughter is now 21 months old.
Kent Godfrey, who gave a fascinating talk about using animation and music to teach autistic children (and maybe everyone), is launching a podcast that explores how humans experience tone, rhythm and melody.

Linnea Westerlind, who gave a talk about her experience visiting every park in Seattle, started Outdoor Childhood Puget Sound, a group that promotes getting kids to spend more time outside.
Sixta Morel, who gave a talk about overcoming the Seattle Freeze, now works as an emcce, speaker and voice actor. She also hosts her own podcast of real life stories in Spanish.

Ginger Chien, who talked about a transgender band playing in rural WA, has had her talk used in virtual courses and as part of the D&I masterclass at universities.
Nancy McSharry Jensen, who talked about diversity and the reality of workplaces, published a book on finding your confidence after a career pause.
Marie Bolla, who presented about how to court women of color, is doing a writer’s residency to work on a book and a one person show.
Danielle Fague, who spoke about why you should love origami, visited this origami inspired sculpture by Hacer recently in NYC.

We’re so proud of these and all of our former speakers!

REQUEST: We’re looking for more inspiration: What have YOU been up to that you’re proud of or excited about since our Ignite #41 in March of 2020? It’s been a rough ride, but what has been something positive for you?

We need to know! Share it with us: leave a comment. It just takes a minute. Thanks.

Recap & Talk Videos: Charity Champions Event

A big THANK YOU to all who participated in last week’s Charity Champions edition of Ignite Seattle, especially our brave and talented speakers.

With your help, Ignite Seattle was able to donate over $5,000 to five amazing local non-profits and thanks to all who attended for helping us decide. This week donations will be made to the following organizations:

–Urban League Seattle: $800
–Seattle Latino Film Festival: $1332.26
–Northwest USO: $800
–Dress for Success Seattle: $1332.26
–Seattle Human Society: $800

If you want to (re)watch the talks, you can check out all the videos here.

While we don’t know when our next event will be, we hope to continue to find ways to help you share your stories. In the meantime, check out our website or find us on social media for more info.

Stay safe, do good, tell stories,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

Ignite Seattle Returns: Thurs. April 29th 7:30pm

We’re hosting a special online storytelling event and we’re calling it Charity Champions. This has been a rough year for our city and here at Ignite Seattle we want to help those who have done so much to help our citizens. Our virtual stage will showcase personal stories about local non-profits.

It will be an evening of great stories and you can help us help those in need in Seattle.

Each story will feature a story about a local organization and they will receive grants totaling $4,000 + ticket proceeds. People who attend will help determine how the grants are allocated.

Charity Champion Speakers and Their Non-Profits:

Lorena Ware – My lucky suit (Dress for Success Seattle)
Craig Plain – Charity from your village (Northwest United Services Organizations)
Nari Weaver – I confess, I’m a gap addict! (Seattle Latino Film Festival)
Ginger Chien – Life turns: I decide which way to look (Seattle Humane Society)
The LuvLee Leroy – I see Yoda: The ‘Force’ is with me (Urban League – Seattle)

Tickets are FREE or you can donate money to add to what we will give to them. ALL ticket proceeds will go to the non-profits featured. Let’s support these speakers and their charities!

Get your tickets now.

A huge thank you to everyone who submitted stories. It was amazing to read about all the charity champions in our Ignite Seattle community. We appreciate you!

Stay safe, do good, tell stories,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

Next Ignite Seattle: Thurs. April 29th, 7:30pm (Charity Champions)

Ignite Seattle is back. We’re hosting a special online event focused on great storytelling and giving back to the Seattle community.

$3,000+ giveaway to local non-profits. Many local groups are doing so much to help the people of Seattle and we’re going to help them. We will put on our virtual stage the best personal stories about local charities and non-profits. The organizations showcased the night of our live online event will receive grants totaling $3,000 or more!

When: Thursday, April 29th, 7:30pm
Talk Submissions: Open until March 22 (see below)
Tickets: Required, but it’s free or donate to the cause ($15-50)

Tell your story about a local organization
Submit YOUR story related to a charity by March 22. Has a local non-profit helped you? Or have you observed how they’ve supported a community? Tell us the story. If selected, you’ll be assigned a mentor who will help you with your talk. This is your chance to show up for a nonprofit that’s been meaningful to you! We can’t wait to hear about it.

Free online storytelling workshop
To help you develop your story idea and sharpen your presentation skills, we are hosting a FREE Online Storytelling Workshop on Monday, March 15 at 7:30pm. Scott Berkun, professional speaker coach, former Ignite MC and long-time Ignite Seattle co-organizer, will be your teacher. This online workshop will give you his time-tested advice on short-form (remote) public speaking, and some students will get live feedback. Scott rocks. He will help you rock. Register now.

Join the live online event
Hosted by the dynamic duo of Marice Sy and Sumit Basu. By attending YOU will help determine how the grants are allocated to the organizations showcased. Tickets are “donate what you can” ($0-$50), all ticket proceeds will be added to the Charity Champion grants.

Spread the word
Submissions are open to anyone in the greater Seattle area and the more people who attend the event means more money will go to good causes. Help us get the word out? Thanks.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW.

Stay safe, do good, tell stories,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

We’re still here and we miss you: 2021 update

Greetings from the Ignite Seattle team and welcome to our latest year as a civilization on this planet. It’s been a rough ride for sure but we are happy you are here.

We’ve been staying safe, wise and patient, waiting until it’s safe to do live events again (which we know will happen). But we miss you and hope you miss us, and we wanted to give you a warm hello as we roll into 2021.

Watch: Re-Ignite Seattle 2020

Last fall we did a new style of event, of particular interest if you want to learn more about storytelling craft and the behind the scenes view of how Ignite Seattle works.

Hosted by organizers Sumit Basu and Zac Cohn, watch some great talks and listen to our hosts’ expert commentary. You can also see the chat room in (recorded) real-time, with many alumni and organizers joining in with comments.

You can watch it here.

Get your live storytelling fix

We’re wisely waiting the pandemic out for our next major event – but many other local groups have been charging ahead. If you miss live local storytelling, check these events out:

Fresh Ground Stories: stories of people who had your back, Thurs Jan. 21 7pm PST – This longstanding Seattle event does monthly open-mic style short form storytelling on a theme, live with no slides. Free and open to all.
Unexpected Productions – One of the oldest improv groups in Seattle, they offer a mix of live performances and classes weekly. They’re a great organization and can use your support this year. And improv is a fun way to improve your speaking skills (approved by former emcees and improv students Scott Berkun and Nicole Steinbok).
Under the Rainbow: Storytelling for LGBTQ+ – Mon January 11th, 6pm PST. this bi-monthly event for teens and adults is open-mic. LGBTQIA+ tellers are prioritized; allies are welcome in the audience. No one is obligated to tell a story.
Class: Creating Stageworthy Stories Workshop, taught by Kent Whipple (of Unexpected Productions, an Ignite friend and one of our speaker coaches). This 6 class online workshop is a fantastic way to get direct coaching from one of the best coaches you will find – a great way to grow your storytelling skills. $200 for 6 classes, starting Sunday, Jan. 10th 3-5pm PST (and weekly thereafter).

Favorite talks that will make you smile

We asked the team for a fun talk to recommend to you and here’s our list from Tyler, Zac and Nicole:

Confessions of An International Smuggler, Angela Barrus
Lessons From a Billboard, Willie Weir
A Transgender Band Walks Into A Rural Olympic Peninsula Bar, Ginger Chen
Commutapult, Mark Selander

That should give you a solid boost of fun, creative and inspiring storytelling to get you through the week.

Stay well and stay safe,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

P.S. we don’t know when the next in-person Ignite Seattle event will be held however you can submit an idea whenever inspiration sparks.

P.S.S If you have an idea for something we should do before live events return, get in touch.

Re-Ignite Seattle: Sept 24th @ 7:30pm PST

We miss you. And while we can’t return to Town Hall any time soon, we have something different in mind. We are going to Re-Ignite Seattle on Thursday Sept 24 at 7:30pm and we would love for you to join us from wherever you are.

What is Re-Ignite Seattle? It’s an experimental online event where we will revisit 3 past talks from our wondrous library. Our hosts, who are Ignite Seattle alumni as well as organizers, have picked 3 of their favorite talks. They will re-watch them with you and chat about what makes each of these talks great.

Re-Ignite Seattle will be hosted by:

Sumit Basu – Sumit did a fantastic job hosting our most recent Ignite Seattle event. He is a scientist, an artist and an Instant Pot expert. He is insightful, funny and kind.
Zachary Cohn – Zachary is a long time Ignite Seattle organizer. He wrangles cables, speakers, slides and anything else that has needed wrangling. He is smart, witty and thoughtful.

When: Thursday Sept 24 at 7:30pm PST.
Where: Anywhere on any device with internet access.
Tickets: Tickets are free. Register here to receive the event link.

Talks to be Re-Ignited:

Saving the Planet With Your Fork – Mary Purdy
So, You’re Black in Tech – Rovina Broomfield
How My Life Changed Over the Skies of South Korea – Craig Plain

Whether these talks are new for you or you saw them live, our hosts will help you have a great time and appreciate the work of these fantastic storytellers.

See you online soon,
The Ignite Seattle Organizing Team

P.S. we don’t know when the next in-person Ignite Seattle event will be held however you can submit an idea whenever inspiration sparks.