We’re excited to announce the lineup for Ignite Seattle 20 on May 16th. Join us at Town Hall, talks start promptly at 8pm. Get your tickets here.

Madeline Puckette – 7 Things You Never Knew About the Most Expensive Wines of the World
Wine is no longer just a drink, it has become a commodity like stock. Learn seven of the more interesting facts about the most expensive wines in the world and what ties them together. Never drink wine the same again.

Diana Vergis Vinh – My Life of Poo
Learning kale recipes that don’t make my family gag, thinking my goat was pregnant when she was just plain fat and being surrounded by endless piles of poo – who knew that backyard urban farming could be so darned engaging? Hear from a long time urban farmer the ups and the downs of this manic pursuit.

Jeffrey Hicks – Welcome to the Psych Ward
This is a talk about what it actually feels like to lose your mind. It is an insiders look into madness and recovery.

Nathan Kaiser – From Bits to Booze and Not Quite Back Again
What I learned going from bits to booze and what I hope to bring back with me.

Nicole Steinbok – Everyday Pitches
Learn how to get people to like and trust you, give you time, do boring shit, reply to an email, provide great feedback, buy into plans, hire you and much more!

Sally James – Small words
Why keeping it short, even using shorter words, may help people understand you.

Theresa Harris – I want to teach your child to fail
Kids become less creative as they grow and Theresa Harris, founder of Thrive Art School, says this is due to how they experience failure. She’s on a mission to teach kids to fail enthusiastically.

Dave Zucker – Sir Mix-a-Bot, the Robot Bartender
In October of 2002, I picked up a surplus PUMA robot arm from a local university. I was sad to discover it didn’t work, and have spent the past 10 years bringing it back to life and transforming it into a robot bartender, dubbed Sir Mix-a-Bot.

Whitney Mongé – Busking in Pike Place Market
My talk will be about the basic know how’s of street performing in Pike Place Market. It will also be a short but detailed outline of how to be successful at busking virtually anywhere.

Jack Bennetto – The Moral Clarity of Killing Ivy
In a world of ambiguity and complexity, we can find moral clarity in killing English ivy and other invasive plants. Jack Bennetto outlines his journey as an anti-invasivist and explains how you can achieve peace and happiness through wanton destruction leading to restoration and rebirth.

Nancy White – S#*!, is it time to think about a legacy?
What happens when you wake up and realize you are a certain age,a grandparent, your husband is retiring and people start calling you an “elder” in your field? When you can’t even DESCRIBE your field? Come peer with me over this deliciously scary edge of considering my future. Regardless of our ages, is it time to think about our legacies?

Joe Ludwig – The second coming of Virtual Reality
Back in the early nineties everybody thought that virtual reality would be the next big thing. Now, twenty years later, that might actually be true.

Frank Rogan – How Are You Not Dead?
Everyone has a superpower, and apparently mine is “not getting killed.” I’ve escaped embarrassing death and painful dismemberment several times. It all makes for a great story, and it’s your stories that make you human.

Randy Stewart – How to Pitch Ignite Seattle
After reading and voting on hundreds of Ignite proposals, I can tell you about the ins and outs of what will get you considered before anyone else. I reveal the inner most workings of the secret machinations of the Ignite selection committee.

Carmen Hudson – I Stalk Strangers Online
Software engineers and other highly sought-after talent: you can run, but you can’t hide. Employers will go to great lengths to find in-demand talent; that’s where I come in. Armed with a few search engine commands, tenacity and a telephone, I can find anyone. People like me — known as “sourcers” — use the internet to find contact information, hobbies and interests, and other personal data in order to silver tongue our way into the lives of top talent. I’ll show you how we do it.

Gina Phillips – The Ultimate Mistake
Gina has competed at the highest levels of ultimate frisbee, including US Nationals 7 times. In a talk that has turned into a very different talk than the one she set out to give, she shares a look at identity, shame, and self-worth.

Our good friend from Ignite Denver, John Wilker, is bringing the 360|intersect gathering to Seattle’s Triple door on Saturday April 27th and Sunday April 28th.

360|intersect is focused on the intersection of creativity and technology. Speakers are technologists from around the world, talking about the things they do away from the keyboard, that make them awesome at the things they do at the keyboard.

You can see the schedule and great topics at http://360intersect.com/schedule

John’s given us a special 20% off discount code for anyone who’d like to attend – Just use the code “SeattleLocals” for a 20% discount.

Ignite Seattle 20 is another double feature at Town Hall Seattle – Your $5 admission gets you into Ignite and a reading by psychotherapist and author Gary Greenberg.

Gary will kick off Town Hall’s May 16 double feature at 6 pm (one $5 ticket gets you into see him and Ignite!) with an entertaining expose of the new, fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — the DSM — the American Psychiatric Association’s compendium of mental illnesses “Bible.”

Since its debut in 1952, the DSM has been frequently revised and, with each revision, so has the “official” view on which psychological problems constitute mental illness. Homosexuality, for instance, was classified as a mental illness until 1973, and Asperger’s gained recognition in 1994 only to see its status challenged nearly 20 years later.

Each revision created controversy, but the DSM-5, the newest iteration, has shaken psychiatry to its foundations. The APA has taken fire from all corners — and now from Greenberg — for extending the reach of psychiatry into daily life by encouraging doctors to diagnose more illnesses and prescribe more therapies — often medications whose efficacy is unknown and whose side effects are severe.

Get tickets over on the Town Hall Seattle event page.

Ignite Seattle 20 is Thursday May 16th at Town Hall Seattle, and we want YOU to speak!

The submission deadline is this Friday, April 5th, and all you need to do is fill out this handy dandy ‘Submit Talk!’ form to throw your idea into the ring.

So what are you waiting for?

Enlighten us, but make it quick.

Here is the final lineup for tonight’s event at Town Hall. Speakers start at 8pm and we will be live streaming the event. If you’re tweeting, please use the hashtag #IS19, you can also watch that tag and our Twitter feed for live tweeting throughout the event.

1. Tae Phoenix - How to Write a Song
2. Jonathon - Colman Surviving as an Introvert in an Extroverted World
3. Wendy Hinman - We’re Gonna Die!
4. Lindsay Sharma -What do Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and the United States have in common?
5. Sara Kiesler - How to Give Up Cheese
6. Bruce Ryan - Nothing is Impossible
7. Adam Philipp - NETWORKING, the RPG

Intermission

1. Jessika Satori - So you want to make an indie movie!
2. Forest Gibson - How to make a viral video (and why it’s not easy)
3. Kate Bergstrom - Online Dating Tips I Have Learned After Meeting Over 100 Men
4. Andrew Dumont - Projects: From Idea to Launch and Beyond
5. Sara McNally - How the downturn made me a small business owner (and why it was a good idea)
6. Hillel Cooperman - How I got seriously hurt at summer camp, and ended up meeting Donnie and Marie instead.
7. James Davenport - Mapping the United States of Starbucks
8. Geraldine DeRuiter - Sharing Personal News Online

Our friends at Seattle Town Hall have a nice doubleheader next week on Wed. January 9th.  If you buy tickets to either talk you get entry for the other.

at 6pm: William Janeway, an active venture-capitalist for decades leading the Warburg Pincus Technology Investment team (which sounds impressive but I’ve never heard of), will be talking about his new book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, an examination of the triad of government, finance and entrepreneurs. He thinks in triads and wears a bow-tie: what more could you want? Tickets here.

at 7:30pm: popular business writer Daniel Pink offers a fresh look at sales and persuasion, showing how economic forces have changed how people approach convincing each other to do things, in his new book To Sell Is Human, a title that either makes you cringe, or gleeful at the prospect of the sales that await in your friendships – Please go and tell me my cynicism is unfounded! Tickets here.

Also coming soon at Town Hall:

• Jan. 14, James Weatherall discusses The Physics of Wall Street (or: Predicting the Unpredictable). Apparently he also likes cats. Tickets.
• Jan 21, Oliver Burkeman: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking – advocates a “negative path” to happiness by embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity, and uncertainty, a perfectly timed talk for Seattle in January. Tickets.

Our friends at Town Hall have a special offer for the Ignite Community. Tickets are 50% off  for a great talk by one of the most controversal figures in intellectual circles today: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He’s in town promoting his new book AntiFragile. He’s the author of the bestsellers The Black Swan and Fooled By Randomness. If you’ve read his books, which I have, he is sure to entertain, as his sizable ego and intellect take no prisoners in his critiques of politicians, executives, enemies and our species at large.

When: Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm

To get your special Ignite discount, buy tickets and use the code: ignite on the checkout screen (4 tickets max at discount).

Here’s more about the lecture:

Called “the hottest thinker in the world” byThe Sunday Times of London, the always-provocative (and often-hilarious) Nassim Nicholas Taleb outlines the fragile world we live in—and how and why we should become more “antifragile.” What Taleb calls the antifragile actually benefits from shocks and stressors (just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension); this, he says, makes uncertainty not only desirable, but necessary. Posing a revolutionary message (“There is no stability without volatility, and what is not antifragile will perish.”), the author of The Black Swan and the new Antifragile explains how we can gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. Presented by Town Hall and University Book Store as part of The Seattle Science Lectures, sponsored by Microsoft. Series media sponsorship provided by KPLU.

Advance tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510 and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.

This Thursday (11/8) at 6:30pm is Ignite 18 – we’re thrilled to bring you another great show. If you’ve never been before, or have missed a few, this is a great one to come check out.

Here are ten amazing reasons to come to Ignite 18:

1. We are at Town Hall, an awesome new venue with a fantastic bar (cash)
2. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn will be a speaker (and yes, he’ll be in the Ignite format)
3. It will be livestreamed, so the back of your head might end up being broadcast around the world!
4. If you’re a healthy cheapskate, we’ll teach you how to build your own standing desk
5. CommonCraft founder Lee Leefver will teach you how to explain things
6. Dr. Shelly Farnham will share why you should hate Facebook
7. Alex Alviar will explain why being deaf is a SUPERPOWER
8. Learn about life from a SURVIVOR of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting
9. It’s our 18th ignite, a number cleanly divisible by 6, 3, or 9! WOOT!
10. Shauna Casey, VP of Decide, will confront her fear of public speaking LIVE
11. There will be 8 more amazing talks that will blow your mind
12. If you come early you will play an interactive game that will make you love your life
13. We’re so excited we forgot how to count
14. We promise not to say the words: election, ballot, pundit or poll

You will hate  yourself if you don’t come. Go here to buy tickets.

Doors open at 6:30pm. Talks start at 8:00pm.

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.

After a bit of a hiatus, we’re excited to announce our summer Ignite once again at the Fremont Outdoor Movies on August 19th. We’re opening submissions today and we’ll need your Ignite talk proposal by July 9th. More details forthcoming.

What are you waiting for? Enlighten us, but make it quick.

Wanted to let you all know that we’re postponing our next Ignite that was scheduled for March 1st with a new date TBD. We’ll post the new date as soon as we can. Apologies for any confusion.

As a purely volunteer organization, it’s sometimes harder than it looks to coordinate everything that goes into making a great Ignite. This go around work/family/life caught up to us and rather than do event 1/2-way, we thought it’d be better to postpone.

In the mean time, we’ve opened submissions back up for our next event in the mysterious future. If you have a talk idea, go submit now! NOTE: if you’ve already submitted, there is no need to submit again.

Ignite Seattle 17 will be March 1st at 7pm, and we want YOU to speak! The submission deadline is January 25th, but we encourage you to submit your Ignite talk early!

What are you waiting for? Enlighten us, but make it quick.

We’re super excited about our list of our lineup for the tonight’s Ignite Seattle. We’re back once again at the King Cat Theatre. The event starts at 7pm and speakers go on stage at 8:30.

And now, presented in no particular order, our speakers for Ignite Seattle 16.

Ignite Seattle 16 Speakers

Rich Lengsavath (bigstove) Lean Food Startups: Beyond Food Trucks
It has been said that the best way to make a small fortune in the food business is to start with a large one. Restaurant failure rates are downright depressing. Considering most food businesses start with zero clients and a massive loan payment, the results are not surprising.

Imagine a world where chefs could try their hand at creating amazing restaurant experiences without raising capital or spending their life savings. Imagine a world where test kitchens abound like concert venues, and chefs “play” at popup restaurants like rockstars at a concert.

Shannon Houghton (@MsHoughton) From Helicopters to Jetpacks: Using Your Geeky Powers for Good, Not Evil, at Your Kid’s School
You’ve procreated and now your spawn has entered the education system. How can you help support your kid reach their superhero potential without being the overbearing helicopter parent that teachers talk about in the staff room?

Elementary Gifted/Talented teacher Shannon Houghton will detail the top three actions you can take to help navigate the world of parent-educator relations. You’ll be ready to strap on your jetpack in no time.

Hillel Cooperman (@hillel) I give you permission to be a shitty parent.
I expose the secret world of parenting that nobody ever tells you about.

Brady Forrest (@brady) Art of Burning Man
Why do people spend all year making art for a temporary city? Why is it a good thing? And what can we do to bring that creativity back to the city?

Alyssa Royse The Math Of Love
How many times have you been baffled by your partners response to something that you did? Or had to deal with emotional phrases like “you just don’t seem to value me,” and had no idea where THAT came from. Good news, there’s a math for that.

I’ll take some common relationship “drama” and show you how you can use math to predict it, and fix it. Easy as pie. After all, a relationship is made up of the sum of its parts.

But be warned: the math is right, but that doesn’t mean you are.

Beth Kolko (@bkolko) Break All the Rules, Save the World
Hackers, Makers, DIYers, Tinkerers….these are the people who are inspiring innovation and creative breakthroughs. This is a talk about what happens when innovation and expertise clash, and when too much experience just gets in the way of the New.

Truly disruptive technologies – the game-changers that freak everyone out – increasingly come from the un-credentialed and the de-institutionalized. Get out of academia and industry research labs and look at what amazing things are being built by the folks who make their own gold stars. Get ready for Hackademia.

Pablos Holman (@pablos) 3D Printing Food

Nathaniel James (@james_nathaniel) Awesome Foundation: Micro-philanthropy for Macro-Impact
Awesome Foundation makes monthly micro-genius grants. Our Trustees donate $100 every month and collectively award a $1000 grant to the best project idea that comes through our very simple online application. Grants can go to individuals, non-profits or for-profit organizations. Awesome Foundation was founded in Boston in 2009 and has since spread to over 20 cities in North America, Europe and Australia. Seattle Awesome Foundation gave out its first grant last night (public announcement coming Monday).

Jen Waak (@jenwaak) How a Keyboard Athlete Climbed Kilimanjaro
Climbing one of the seven summits takes more brains than brawn.

Find out how this self-proclaimed Keyboard Athlete, non-camper, and non-hiker put her research and Energy Bank manipulation skills to work to out-think Kilimanjaro and make it to the summit with energy to spare.

Steven Stone (Sound_Spirits) Ignite Booze – The Creation of Sound Spirits Distillery
Head Distiller Steven Stone talks about the launch of Sound Spirits, Seattle’s First Craft Distillery since Prohibition

Matt May (mattmay) Extemporaneous Speaking: Enlightening people quickly, beyond Ignite
Extemporaneous speaking is one of the most valuable life skills you could have learned in high school. Extemp combines research, persuasion and presentation skills with a random subject and a 30-minute deadline.

Did you miss out? Learn how you can be an informed, effective advocate for your cause, on a tight schedule, with the right preparation.

To prove it can be done, the talk itself will be prepared on the evening of Ignite Seattle 16, in 30 minutes, from a blank slide deck.

Tiberio Simone (cheftiberio) Pleasure Activism 101
Chef Tiberio Simone – author of La Figa: Visions of Food and Form – lives a life devoted to bringing pleasure to others. His motto is “I love everybody – and you are next.” In this talk, you will learn how you too can become a Pleasure Activist.

Dominica DeGrandis (@dominicad) Kanban – wtf?
Kanban may well be the latest buzzword in software development and IT services, but what the hell is it? Kanban explained in 300 seconds by Dominica DeGrandis, member of the 1st US IT team to implement Kanban – ironically, at a local Seattle media company.

Maria Moses (@docksidecoop) Reefer Madness: Fact & Fable from the Medical Cannabis Industry.
A cannabis co-op owner provides the inside scoop on the true nature of the controversial and ever-changing world of medical marijuana.

Once again, we’ll be at the King Cat Theatre. Doors open at 7:00 pm, mixer is at 7:30 pm, and talks start at 8:30 pm. Let us know you are coming by visiting our event page on Facebook and leaving an RSVP.

Check out our speaker list, we’ve got a fantastic lineup for Ignite Seattle 16. Hope to see you there.

We’re super excited about our list of our lineup for the next Ignite Seattle on December 7th. We’ll be back once again at the King Cat Theatre. The doors open at 7:00 pm, mixer at 7:30 pm, and speakers go on stage at 8:30.

And now, presented in no particular order, our speakers for Ignite Seattle 16.

Ignite Seattle 16 Speakers

Rich Lengsavath (bigstove) Lean Food Startups: Beyond Food Trucks
It has been said that the best way to make a small fortune in the food business is to start with a large one. Restaurant failure rates are downright depressing. Considering most food businesses start with zero clients and a massive loan payment, the results are not surprising.

Imagine a world where chefs could try their hand at creating amazing restaurant experiences without raising capital or spending their life savings. Imagine a world where test kitchens abound like concert venues, and chefs “play” at popup restaurants like rockstars at a concert.

Shannon Houghton (@MsHoughton) From Helicopters to Jetpacks: Using Your Geeky Powers for Good, Not Evil, at Your Kid’s School
You’ve procreated and now your spawn has entered the education system. How can you help support your kid reach their superhero potential without being the overbearing helicopter parent that teachers talk about in the staff room?

Elementary Gifted/Talented teacher Shannon Houghton will detail the top three actions you can take to help navigate the world of parent-educator relations. You’ll be ready to strap on your jetpack in no time.

Hillel Cooperman (@hillel) I give you permission to be a shitty parent.
I expose the secret world of parenting that nobody ever tells you about.

Brady Forrest (@brady) Art of Burning Man
Why do people spend all year making art for a temporary city? Why is it a good thing? And what can we do to bring that creativity back to the city?

Alyssa Royse The Math Of Love
How many times have you been baffled by your partners response to something that you did? Or had to deal with emotional phrases like “you just don’t seem to value me,” and had no idea where THAT came from. Good news, there’s a math for that.

I’ll take some common relationship “drama” and show you how you can use math to predict it, and fix it. Easy as pie. After all, a relationship is made up of the sum of its parts.

But be warned: the math is right, but that doesn’t mean you are.

Beth Kolko (@bkolko) Break All the Rules, Save the World
Hackers, Makers, DIYers, Tinkerers….these are the people who are inspiring innovation and creative breakthroughs. This is a talk about what happens when innovation and expertise clash, and when too much experience just gets in the way of the New.

Truly disruptive technologies – the game-changers that freak everyone out – increasingly come from the un-credentialed and the de-institutionalized. Get out of academia and industry research labs and look at what amazing things are being built by the folks who make their own gold stars. Get ready for Hackademia.

Pablos Holman (@pablos) 3D Printing Food

Nathaniel James (@james_nathaniel) Awesome Foundation: Micro-philanthropy for Macro-Impact
Awesome Foundation makes monthly micro-genius grants. Our Trustees donate $100 every month and collectively award a $1000 grant to the best project idea that comes through our very simple online application. Grants can go to individuals, non-profits or for-profit organizations. Awesome Foundation was founded in Boston in 2009 and has since spread to over 20 cities in North America, Europe and Australia. Seattle Awesome Foundation gave out its first grant last night (public announcement coming Monday).

Jen Waak (@jenwaak) How a Keyboard Athlete Climbed Kilimanjaro
Climbing one of the seven summits takes more brains than brawn.

Find out how this self-proclaimed Keyboard Athlete, non-camper, and non-hiker put her research and Energy Bank manipulation skills to work to out-think Kilimanjaro and make it to the summit with energy to spare.

Steven Stone (Sound_Spirits) Ignite Booze – The Creation of Sound Spirits Distillery
Head Distiller Steven Stone talks about the launch of Sound Spirits, Seattle’s First Craft Distillery since Prohibition

Matt May (mattmay) Extemporaneous Speaking: Enlightening people quickly, beyond Ignite
Extemporaneous speaking is one of the most valuable life skills you could have learned in high school. Extemp combines research, persuasion and presentation skills with a random subject and a 30-minute deadline.

Did you miss out? Learn how you can be an informed, effective advocate for your cause, on a tight schedule, with the right preparation.

To prove it can be done, the talk itself will be prepared on the evening of Ignite Seattle 16, in 30 minutes, from a blank slide deck.

Tiberio Simone (cheftiberio) Pleasure Activism 101
Chef Tiberio Simone – author of La Figa: Visions of Food and Form – lives a life devoted to bringing pleasure to others. His motto is “I love everybody – and you are next.” In this talk, you will learn how you too can become a Pleasure Activist.

Dominica DeGrandis (@dominicad) Kanban – wtf?
Kanban may well be the latest buzzword in software development and IT services, but what the hell is it? Kanban explained in 300 seconds by Dominica DeGrandis, member of the 1st US IT team to implement Kanban – ironically, at a local Seattle media company.

Maria Moses (@docksidecoop) Reefer Madness: Fact & Fable from the Medical Cannabis Industry.
A cannabis co-op owner provides the inside scoop on the true nature of the controversial and ever-changing world of medical marijuana.

Ignite Seattle 16 is happening on December 7th and talk submissions are open. If you have a 5 minute talk that will inspire, teach or just make people think then throw your hat in the ring. We’ve extended the talk deadline to October 21st.

Submit your talk here.

If you need inspiration about “How and Why to Give an Ignite Talk,” Scott Berkun can help you out.

Ignite Seattle 16 will be December 7th at 7pm, and we want YOU to speak! The submission deadline is October 18th, but we encourage you to submit your Ignite talk early!

What are you waiting for? Enlighten us, but make it quick.

Our big summer event is tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th and here’s your clip and save cheat sheet. We hope to see you there! Note: One small change to the talks, at least one of them will be done suspended in air.

Details

Where: Fremont Outdoor Movies at N 35th and Phinney Ave
When: ThingOut starts at ~4:30pm. Ignite doors open at 7pm. Speakers are on at 8pm (or when the sun permits)
Cost: $5.00
Who can come?: All Ages Show
What to bring: blanket/sweater and a folding chair. Food and drink if you so desire (no alcohol, please).
More tips here

ThingOut Projects

Here are some of the groups and projects coming tomorrow.

• Jigsaw Renaissance
• ALTSpace
• Ada’s Technical Books
• Hand-powered Rail Car
• Tweeting Race Car
• Coil Gun
• Liquid Nitrogen Hovercraft for Squirrels

Ignite Speakers (actual order TBD)

George Dyson – Alan Turing: The first 100 years
Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954), conceived one hundred years ago, conceived the Universal Turing Machine in 1936: the common denominator that brings science and tech together.

Scott Berkun (berkun) Teaching Seattle How To Drive
From merging on I-5 to the snowpocalypse, we have proven, year after year, that our driving skills as a city are wanting. We are surprised by rain, confused by four way stops and baffled at how to turn two lanes into one. Here is a fun but ranty plan for teaching Seattle how to drive right.

Bryan Zug (bryanzug) How to be a Christian without being a Dick

Glenn Fleishman (glennf) Letterpress Revival
Letterpress printing was a dying art in the 1980s and nearly dead in the 1990s. Technology has revived it. You can now design on a computer, print out a plastic plate, and use 500-year-old technology that reconnects you to the mess and smell of ink, paper, binding, and industrial-age machines. Letterpress is messy, each print is unique, and it’s the antidote and complement to the perfection-with-abstraction of the Web, ebooks, and the rest. People crave real connection that the screen doesn’t provide. Letterpress puts you right up to the metal and pushes.

Jason Quick The Juggling Act of Life
As a professional one-armed juggler and inspirational speaker, I strive to make every show about an important aspect of being human in relationship with other humans. I am a juggling geek, a relationship geek, and a circus freak who loves to juxtapose the tragic with the comic in order to bring the audience to a new balance within the dialectics that define our lives: comfort and pain, self and community, task and maintenance, love and fear…I will make of these five minutes something you will never forget.

Bennett Haselton Circumventing Internet censorship around the world
My full-time job is working on software to help people in get around Internet censorship in countries like China and Iran, where the government filters what people can access on the Web. I can talk about the history of methods used by repressive government to censor the Web, and the parallel history of the tools for users to defeat that censorship. I will address some of the misconceptions that people have about the nature of circumvention software and the battle between the censors and the circumventors. And finally I will pose some of the (as-yet-unsolved) problems faced by the developers of circumvention software — problems that perhaps the geeks in the audience would enjoy taking home and thinking over.

Amber Straub (shadalicious) Unparenting – tips from a geeky mom.
Now that many of my geek friends are having children (I had mine in my early twenties, somewhat “early”) I want to share some shortcuts and musings that my partner and I have discovered on the way.

I will talk about some parenting rules that have been passed down that can reevaluated and rethought. Are bedtimes really necessary? Our daughter has never had an enforced bedtime, and yet she arrives to school on time every day. It’s ok to rethink and reevaluate how we raise children; it’s ok to try new things.

I will present some signs of being a crazy helicopter parent (not a good thing). Kids *can* be left alone. Kids *can* fly unaccompanied. Kids *can* walk to school alone.

I will point out how we are fostering curiosity and creativity, and how we are teaching personal responsibility, common sense, and early independence. How do we deal with consequences for actions, present rewards and handle necessary chores.

I will show some ways that she gets the attention and care that she does need and want, and how she is thriving with the freedoms afforded to her.

And for those who don’t have kids, I will ensure that the talk applies to those who have kids in their lives. Kids want to be related to as peers, not as “little snotty things that talk”.

Molly Nixon (thebeastieswee) mouse-o-nomics
Almost all of the medical advances we enjoy today were first tested in mice. Most what we know about human physiology was first studied in mice. However, the general public’s understanding of lab mice is usually limited to a few characteristics – they’re white, and they’re probably trying to take over the world.

In truth, all mice are not created equal (many of them aren’t even white!). Over the past century an entire industry has developed that is devoted entirely to the creation and production of lab mice. My talk will cover the factors that make some mice more useful than others, and the mouse-industrial complex that exists to meet the needs of modern science.

Beverly Sobelman (bev_sobelman) How to Run Away and Join the Circus
Mid-life career changes are all the rage these days. I went from software engineer to circus artist OVERNIGHT! Except.. I didn’t. I took a bunch of steps that happened to lead away from software and into a career as an aerialist. This talk will walk you through the steps that I took, in hopes that my story might inspire a few others to try something new and different – whether it leads to a new career or simply a great story to tell your grandkids.

Shawn Murphy (shawnmur) Naked Safety or How To Secure a Parade With Simple Psychology
Large events like parades, conventions, and conferences often require large private security forces to maintain order and security. In a post 9/11 world, we’re told that this is required for our safety. It’s possible to control large crowds, effectively and safely, by applying modern psychology instead of barricades.

The Fremont Solstice Parade draws tens of thousands of spectators, but the parade is secured with fewer than 25, unpaid, volunteers with no security background and less than 20 minutes of training.

Security is often a boring subject, but keeping the Fremont Solstice Parade secure, safe, and (barely) a good show are the essence of hacking and good geekery — it’s also surprisingly funny.

Gwen Rowe hacking parents and other authority figures
At the age of 9, Gwen is ready to share her favorite ways to beguile parents and others in charge. It is much easier to convince grandparents to do what you want. A simple please with a cute look goes a long ways But the real big challenge comes in when you need to convince parents or other adults not already enamored with you to do what you want. This talk is full of techniques explained by a kid that can be used to charm and convince nearly anyone.

Techniques including:

• it was your idea,
• its educational, I will learn from it
• one for you, one for me

I will take care of it

• oops (aka forgiveness v. permission)
• quoting
• the power of reasons – because I said so is not a reason
• Robots!

Pascal Schuback (schuback) Tech; Disasters and YOU! (Geek approved road trip!)
Crowd sourcing has always been around but with the current technologies, its capabilities have grown tremendously. This presentation will focus on the use of these tools in an environment vastly growing by the number catastrophic events around the world. The month of September is National Preparedness Month and with that CrisisCommons, a volunteer technical community that connects people and organizations who use open data and technology to innovate crisis management and global development, will be going on a road trip. (ROAD TRIP!!!)

Catherine Carr (mamatweeta) You Are Not Your SAT Score: A Crash Course in Multiple Intelligence Theory
As the head of Cranium’s editorial department for 8+ years, I got hooked on Dr. Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory, and I still find it to be a uniquely powerful tool for inspiration and general perspective-broadening. And in the current educational climate, when just about everything revolves around reading and math scores, I also think it’s incredibly important for the kids (and grown-ups!) in the crowd to hear these messages:

1. There are lots of ways (beyond just “reading” and “math”) to be smart!
2. We’re naturally inclined toward some of the intelligences, but we can improve and develop in any of them.
3. If something seems tedious or difficult to you, you can use the multiple intelligences to change your perspective.

Amanda Shumack (amandahoops) What is all the Hoopla?
We’re talking Hoop Dancing – a style of Advanced Hula Hooping that your parents NEVER did!

Amanda (aka Sirin) will talk of the hooping sub-culture and how this modern take on an old fitness craze has taken a very new and different look. It’s become such an addiction to some that they’ve built careers out of hooping, branched off the sub-culture into sub-sub-cultures such as fire hooping, hoop yoga, hoop aerobics and hoop dancing.

These silly circular kids toys are inspiration to people who are looking to get fit, have fun and it CANNOT be done without a smile!

Amanda will also do some LED hooping (yes, this hoop has LIGHTS, people!) and give all the details to anyone who is looking for more info on getting started or who just wants to see what crazy folks are coming up with to spend your free time.

WARNING: Hoop Addictions have started with less…

Jen Matson (nstop) Field Guide to Record Collectors
While everyone (of a certain age) remembers the first record they bought as a kid, only a small number of us end up loving the spinning slab of vinyl as much as the music itself.

Drawing on my own experience both as a longtime music geek and onetime used record store clerk, I’d like to present a High Fidelity-style Top Five List covering the most common habits and characteristics of that odd breed known as the record collector. Through a few profiles of collectors I have known and loved, I’ll cover such mysteries as:

- Why people own multiple copies of what appear to be the same record
- What is the proper record fair etiquette
- The sanctity of the first pressing

Even the most physical-format-shunning music fan should come away from my talk with a newfound understanding of (if not appreciation for) why we vinyl enthusiasts continue to lug our heavy boxes and crates of LPs and 45s around with us from place to place.

Deepak Singh (mndoci) #arseniclife
In a world of Twitter and blogs, scientific peer review takes on a new meaning. From press releases, to TV appearances, to controversy in the blogosphere, this talk will dive into the history of one of the more interesting hashtags that Twitter has seen. The #arseniclife controversy portends the future of peer review, and it continues to be great sideline viewing.

Josh and I are both very excited to be organizing ThingOut, which is the pre-Ignite entertainment tomorrow. We’ll open the doors for the DIY festival around 4:30. AND, if you’ve got something you want to show off, feel free to bring it down.

Here are some of the groups and projects coming tomorrow that I’m most looking forward to.

• Jigsaw Renaissance
• ALTSpace
• Ada’s Technical Books
• Hand-powered Rail Car
• Tweeting Race Car
• Coil Gun
• Liquid Nitrogen Hovercraft for Squirrels

Plus a bunch more! Hope to see you there.

Josh Kopel from Dorkbot (and a former Ignite Seattle organizer) made a handy flyer to promote the event. Click here or the image below to download a high quality version that you can print out and distribute at work, your favorite bar or coffee shop.