The first monthly Ignite Workshop

Our first Ignite Workshop was a great success today. We had several “igniters” sharing fantastic ideas for presentations, ideas that included “The science of Karaoke”, “Be the Bee”, and “Building Birdhouses”. One participant shared his great passion for singing with the Kitsap Barbershop quartet, and another her passion for communities and co-housing.

One of the benefits of the workshop is getting feedback from the group, and today was no exception. We’re reminded of how important it is to make a story personal, and make it about something you’re passionate about. We’re also reminded to think about the one thing we want the audience to take away from the presentation at the end of that 5 minutes.

We all came away energized and inspired, and with an assignment: to create the first draft of our 5 minute presentation to share with the group at the next Ignite Workshop on March 14 (join us at OfficeXpats at 1pm if you want to test out your own ideas!).

Here are a few more Ignite talks from past Ignites around the world to inspire you. One of my favorites is Seattlite Scott Berkun’s “Why and How to Give an Ignite Talk”, which is a great intro to Ignite, if you’ve never heard of it before. I love this talk about “How to Jump off a Cliff” by Steph Davis. She makes me want to go jump off a cliff! Here’s a great one that illustrates how humor can make a great talk even better, “Make Art not Content” by Scotto Moore. Alex Berger’s presentation on The Art of Wayfaring is inspiring and makes me want to go on adventures.

As you can see from these presentations (and the ideas for presentations we heard at our workshop today), there is no shortage of possibilities for creating a great Ignite talk. We’d love to hear your ideas, so join us at our next workshop meeting and/or submit a presentation idea. All we ask is that you use your presentation to inspire and educate, so don’t pitch your business. Pitch your passion, instead.

Cheers!