April 19, 2010 6:30 PM - 182 attended
IgniteATL 2!!!
Visit www.ignite-atlanta.com for event details, speakers list and videos.
Hello Igniters! The first gathering of IgniteATL 2010 is here!
Put April 19th @ 6:30pm on your calendar and prepare for a fun and informative evening at the Georgia Aquarium's Oceans Ballroom!
The focus of this email (other than convincing you to roll out and bring your friends) is to help us find some stellar storytellers! We don't care if it's about the 'Joint Strike Fighter' program (we'll have that) or the future of distributed corporate brainstorming (we'll have that) or even how to escape from a wet paper bag (hopefully we won't be desperate enough to have that). Competence isn't a prerequisite - just passion! (Bear in mind this is a dictatorship and if you're only passionate about escaping from wet paper bags you'll likely be vetoed.) 
Remember, the presentations will consist of 20 slides which will scroll automatically every 15 seconds. Each speaker will have 5 minutes to present his or her story. Click this link to get a feel for an Ignite event.
Spread the word! It's going to be an exciting evening with a fantastic opportunity to learn from and network with some of Atlanta's brightest. (We're allowed to make this audacious claim since by virtue of signing up for IgniteATL we either already consider ourselves enlightened or else we wish to be - either way, who is going to argue with us?!) 
Your options are threefold: 1) Do the brilliant thing and choose to attend 2) Potentially irreparably harm your currently fragile and uninspired mental state by choosing to decline or 3) Ignore this email altogether and prepare yourself for a spamming frenzy the likes of which hasn't been seen since the release of the little blue pill.
The GA Aquarium's Oceans Ballroom will provide an excellent atmosphere to enjoy light snacks and drinks (drinks and parking will be paid for out of your pocket, not ours). The event entry fee will be $5.00 per person.
If you'd like to volunteer please drop us a line and we'll try to find a way to use your talents/skills! Immediate needs? We need a webdesigner to give the IgniteATL website a Heidi-Montag-caliber overhaul! We also need a powerpoint/design guru to coordinate our presentations and give our event some continuity and flare. Let us know if you have some mad skills you're willing to contribute!
We're also seeking sponsors! If your organization would like to get your brand in front of hundreds of knowledge-hungry world-changers-in-the-making drop us a line and we'll pass along our 'Sponsorship Opportunity' document for your consideration. We'll be recording the entire event so your sponsorship investment will continue to produce well into the future via embedded logos shown on Youtube, Ignite WorldWide, Meetup, etc.
We'll be sending out regular updates leading up to the event! Get ready to Ignite!!!
Patrick Nickles
IgniteATL
Co-organizers:
Kellie Peotter
Pete Baljet
Creighton Holt
Damon Borozny
Enlighten us, but make it quick
-
-
-
-
-
Robert Wojciechowski
Will the "ranking" site (via WiFi) use Adobe Flash? Yes, I'm an iPad user...
Posted April 19, 2010 at 4:50 PM -
Stephen
Did nobody review the slides? Did nobody enforce O'Reilly standards? Most of the presentations were not knowledge transfers, but pitches.
Posted April 19, 2010 at 10:53 PM -
Clarence Risher
I didn't know it was an official O'Reilly event, thought they were just a sponsor. Anyway, one thing I noticed was that a lot of the slides were not very damning, it was the verbal bit that made them a pitch. The septic tank one had the most obvious sales pitch *slide* with the product pic, but I would say it wasn't even in the top half for actual pitch content. Which is to say, I don't think that reviewing the slides is a valid method to analyze the presentations.
Posted April 19, 2010 at 11:09 PM
-
-
-
Kive+1 guestSorry folks, I got extremely turned off of IgniteATL with the Spring 2010 edition (did not see #1), as did every single person that I knew there. I felt like I was at an extremely weak startup pitch session -- nothing at all resembling what Ignite is all about, and not at all as IgniteATL is described. I love Ignite, TED, etc... but I seriously doubt I'll be repeating, especially as I haven't seen any feedback to see that the organizers acknowledge this as an issue. DO GO if you are looking for a place to tell other folks starting up ventures or projects about your own. DO NOT GO if you are expecting anything approaching open, unbiased, or informative. A few folks tried to really fit into the spirit of this, and I applaud them. The others that used this as pure self-promotion
-- for shame.
My own two cents. Go look at the twitter feeds from the time period -- if it's your thing, go enjoy yourself. Just don't be confused by the flag that it flies -- totally misleading. :(
-
Stephen "Salesologist" Cadley
+1 guestThought it was alot of fun and very informative. Really liked most of the presenters. And while I know there were alot of concerns about the presentations, in some cases, being "Pitchy" I am not sure is was more "Pitchy" than when it was held at GTech center. Think the venue, as great as the aquarium was, contributed to the stayed nature of this IgniteATL. I think moving it from GTech, a more academic higher energy environment may have contributed to it feeling alot more "pitchy" than it actually may have been. But will have to noodle on this a bit more to see what else comes up.
Otherwise it was a great time.
-
Jarrette BurckhalterI felt like some of the presentations were very dynamic and interesting. Others were????? For instance - what was the presentation about putting MacOS10 on a PC about???? He was funny but it seemed like a waste of time... A table with take-aways from the presenters would be VERY useful - maybe even 15 to 20 minutes at the end to personally meet them in a "controlled" setting. I also wondered if it would be more effective if there was a theme to the presentations.
The room and set-up is not conducive to professional networking. It would be much better with rounds - 8 or 10 ppl per table and the incorporation of some good interactive stuff like "Who here owns a tech firm?" or "Who here has recently launched a start-up?" etc.... You could foster this in both pre and post-event communications to build and keep the momentum going (I own a marketing & communications firm so I generally think of these types of things).
Overall I thought is was good and I'll come to the next one.
-
Adaora OkwoThe presentations were good, the venue was great.. the food and drinks were good but the time between sessions was TOO LONG. 15 minutes is not necessary, 5 maybe 7 minutes is sufficient. I would have liked to stay for the entire event, but it started late and the intermissions were too long.
-
-
Michael Schwartz+1 guestToo many pitches. But enjoyed the variety of other presenters. Breaks should be shorter - No more than 10 minutes. I don't think Patrick introduced himself at the beginning of the program. Appreciate all the effort that went into this event. I definitely want to attend, and perhaps participate in the next one!!
-
Tim FarleyThe facility was great and the event ran smoothly. However, one major beef and one minor beef with event #2 on April 19. The minor beef: whoever was running the slides kept having to intervene in the flow of the slides, pulling up the menu to pause them & move back. It was very distracting. Talk to the folks who run Pecha Kucha in Atlanta, I believe they have a piece of software that absolutely automates this. The major beef was some of the folks presenting at #2 were clearly doing modified version of their standard "pitch" presentation for their startup or product. That is NOT what Ignite (or Pecha Kucha for that matter) is supposed to be about. Ignite is supposed to be about ideas and knowledge transfer regarding topics people are passionate about. That can certainly be related to someone's startup, but it should not seem like they are trying to get us to invest. This can be avoided by previewing the presentations and being willing to refuse some.
-
ChristineGreat fun presenting... Plus, with baby Jax we'll need the ShamWow! Would like a screen in front of me next time (even a laptop or mirror) to see the slides instead of having to shoulder check. Over all, the evening felt a bit pitchy; sometimes passionate, sometimes, just like a commercial. Thank goodness for BackNoise or this would have been painful at times. Hopefully a wider range of speakers will volunteer/be recruited for next time. $5 for munchies and what not seems fair, but the venue parking of $10 with no suggested/easy alternatives made it quite pricey for a meet-up filled mostly by sales pitches.
-
StephenIgnite is not supposed to be a pitching event. O'Reilly should disallow any future use of the Ignite name if the conference remains the same. 3/4 of the presentations were specific pitches and not knowledge or howto transfers as the conference is designed. If slides were screened, they were screened poorly. Even the Child Trafficking slide had trademarked names in it, when it could have been a great awareness presentation. If this conference chose to be sponsored by the pitchers (ie Rank'em) that would have been fine, but these pitches as presentations were unacceptable. Atlanta already has pitching events for local angels and similar to this format, called StartupRiot.
-
Keith DuncanFairly good speakers. The BackNoise log says a lot. Too many pitches for their companies rather than being of service to the audience. Maybe should have better instructions going out to the potential presenters.
-
Amy Baxter+3 guestsI need to know the site to rate things! Put it up during all the breaks or something! Good times!
-
Jenny Smith+1 guestbetween 3-4 stars. Awful lot of sales pitches, but I would go again---provided there was a guarantee of fewer sales pitches!!!
-
VThere where so entertaining presentations, and some great ideas. However, I think I paided $5 to watch commercials for 3.5hrs straight. Not so cool.
-
Jonathan ThompsonThe venue, bar and food were great and well thought out. However, the majority of the speakers were not. I felt like I was being pitched to purchase products and services almost all night. I would hope that speakers presentations would be screened in person to prevent this in the future. If individuals with products and services are to present, they should present about the entrepreneurial experience instead of doing their extended elevator pitch. Maybe my expectations were set to high, but I was very disappointed.
-
Jason VeatchThe description of the first meetup said "We want people from many different communities to join us." The business community was over-represented tonight. I'm not necessarily opposed to people promoting stuff they've been working on, but some of the presenters seemed more interested in self-promotion than in "[spanning] the gaps between communities."
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Your organizer's refund policy for IgniteATL 2!!!
Refunds are not offered for this Meetup.
Offer a perk for our members and get exposure.
Offer a perk →
Other nearbyMeetups
The Meetup Groups shown here are topically similar to IgniteATL.
Groups are more likely to be displayed here if they:
- have a Meetup scheduled
- have a high rating
- have a group photo
- are "public" and not "private"
- have shown they are likely to stick around (older than 30 days)
-
-
217 Social Philanthropists
Next Meetup:
Sunday, Feb 26 -
155 Interracial Minglers
-
-
-
near Atlanta
How much is parking?