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Ignite Raleigh Top 10

29 comments Written on March 4th, 2010 by Brian McDonald
Categories: Events, Social Media
Tags: ignite, media, networking, Raleigh Social Media

Last night was the second Ignite Raleigh held at the Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh. Ignite is a unique event in that it is an idea exchange where presenters have 5 minutes and 20 slides to communicate their message. I thought last night was better than last year’s event in many ways and have compiled my top 10 list from the event.

10. New faces: I think it was great that all the presenters were new and there were no repeat presenters from the first Ignite. Fresh ideas, new perspectives and personalities really made the event fun. Also I met several new people last night and made some real life connections of people that I’ve had many virtual conversations. I also was able to meet family members and friends of friends, thanks for the introductions.

9. MC: Zach Ward (@zachward) did a great job last night. He came up with jokes on the fly and wearing the red tights and tutus and getting in the Phonebooth was hysterical. Zack was even better than last year and he did a great job last year too!

8. Social responsibility: Several presentations had a real message for all of us. From energy conservation to health and fitness to social responsibility on a global scale, several presenters opened people’s eyes and ears to how they have an impact.

7. Sponsors: Was glad to see Bandwidth.com (@bandwidth) and Phonebooth.com (@phonebooth) sponsoring the event. A local company like this being involved in the community really demonstrates a new commitment beyond the traditional approach. The other sponsors are also great to be a part of the event.

6. Education: I learned a lot last night. From George Smart’s (@georgesmartTMH) great presentation Mayberry Modernism – Why the Triangle is America’s Hotspot for Way Cool Houses to Jess Commins’ (@renewabelle), presentation on How to save $100+ with a DIY energy audit there was some great information and learning.

5. Fun: Anytime you get 700+ people together you have to make them laugh. I think the presenters did that very well and several even laughed at themselves when making jokes or waiting on slides.

4. Sex sells: I was very interested to see Charlotte Goodman-Smith & Christine Fawley (@LearnPleasure), 20 Little-Known Facts about Sex & Pleasure presentation and have to admit it was well done. Also Natasha Crawford (@natashacrawford), coming out and saying forget about your single friends, they’re hos was awesome!

3. Pride: I know several of the presenters well and was really proud of the job they did. It’s not easy getting up on a stage and presenting in front of a large audience. Much less if you have a time limit and have to be spot on. The two presenters I’ve known the longest did a great job: Chris Moody (@cnmoody), Everyone Needs a Dumb Guy and Janet Kennedy (@jkennedy93), 5 Bucks is Change you both were great.

2. Community: I’ve lived in Raleigh most of my life and have a huge amount of pride in this community. I have gotten grief over the years when travelling or working in other parts of the country when saying I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina. I do my best to educate others that hey we are not dumb hicks acting like southern stereotypes that have been perpetuated in the media for many years. Last night showed the spirit, talent and creativity of our community. Thanks to Jay Cuthrell (@qthrul), his Redneck Guide to Silicon Valley reminded us how to laugh at ourselves and shows how stereotypes can go both ways!

1. The ladies rocked it! From Lisa Creech Bledsoe (@glowbird) giving her 13 Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing to Charlotte Moore (@cavaticat), Nerd Girls Unite! Fact: Women Don’t Have to Be Lame, the ladies really showed up and took the stage last night!

Thanks to Our Hashtag (@ourhashtag) for once again putting on the premier event and doing a great job organizing sponsors, volunteers, speakers and all the elements that go into the event. If you’ve ever done event planning, trust me it’s tough. As much as you prepare there are always unforeseen challenges leading up to and during the event. Congratulations to Wayne (@waynesutton), Jeff (@jeffreylcohen), and Ryan (@theRab) for all your hard work!

Also thanks to all the presenters for taking their time to prepare, practice and courage to get on stage and speak.

Click here for my Flickr gallery. Thanks to everyone who posed!

Tagsignite, media, networking, Raleigh Social Media
Posted in Events, Social Media

Practice, Preparation and Speaking Tips from Ignite Raleigh

1 Comment » Written on August 6th, 2009 by Brian McDonald
Categories: Events
Tags: challenge, ignite, lessons learned

Last night I had the opportunity to have five minutes to pitch an idea on creating a grassroots network for Downtown Raleigh Wi-Fi at Ignite Raleigh. This was the first time for the event in Raleigh and it was a great success. Good speakers, variety of topics, lots of socializing and great planning by Our Hashtag made it the event of Triangle Tech Week.

I have to admit that I was extremely nervous going up on stage. I had not given a speech on a stage to that many people since I was in college. The difference was that I did not have a set time limit, no slides and I had a podium to use for my notes. If you have not spoken in front of a large crowd and on a stage before, or it’s been awhile, it’s tough! The last time I was that nervous was the days leading up to my kids being born.

To prepare I did about a half dozen practices using my slides as a timer and recording my audio to review. I should have practiced in front of some actual people to get more feedback as doing the rehearsal by myself while viewing the slides. This was not the best strategy as I was comfortable sitting at my desk and telling my story.

I asked Wayne Sutton how he prepared because he killed it in my and many other attendees’ opinions. Wayne said that he watched several of the Ignite presenters on the web from other cities. I viewed only one or two of the videos but should have spent some more time seeing what Ignite presenters of the past had done. Check out Wayne’s presentation here on 30 Threads.

Another challenge of this format is that the timing and pace is crucial. I spoke faster than I should have and when practicing I had trouble breathing. I was a bit nervous leading up to my five minutes. Most people when getting ready to speak in public will have their heart rate jump due to nerves and I tried the three deep breaths trick that I learned in college but my blood was racing when I started. Thanks also to other presenters that I had a chance to speak with and sharing your thoughts and experiences of how it went.

Overall I give myself a B minus as I wanted to do better and with a little more practice and experience I would have been more pleased with my pitch. Also I needed more inflection in my voice as it tends to go flat. Maybe that’s part of the reason that I do my best work sitting at a keyboard and creating communication. Thanks to everyone that gave me feedback afterwards and enjoyed meeting some great people. I hope this posts helps future Ignite Raleigh presenters with their five minutes and 20 slides.

Click here to view video of my Ignite presentation.

Creating a Grassroots Network in Downtown Raleigh

View more presentations from Brian Mcdonald.

Tagschallenge, ignite, lessons learned
Posted in Events

Twenty Slides in Five Minutes-Ignite Raleigh!

1 Comment » Written on August 4th, 2009 by Brian McDonald
Categories: Events, Marketing
Tags: challenge, ignite, lessons learned

I am busy preparing for my five minutes at Ignite Raleigh on Wednesday night at the Lincoln Theatre. The format is that each presenter gets five minutes to present their idea and their 20 slides will advance every 15 seconds. I finished my presentation yesterday and sent to the organizers after rehearsing my slides, timing and fine tuning my message.

I think this format should be adopted for every corporate presentation. We’ve all heard about never have more than ten slides. But how many times have you been in a presentation of ten slides that lasted over 30 minutes? Much worse is the person with 20 slides that last an hour or more! I get sleep creep just thinking about it!

The challenge of getting your message across in five minutes is one we should all adhere to. Ideally if you have more to explain you should have an executive summary or a detailed document for your audience to dig into on their own. The new rule should be you have exactly five minutes to present with ten minutes for question and answer session.

Another lesson I learned from preparing this presentation was that it’s not critical to explain every bullet point. Some items are self explanatory and do not need to be repeated. Also if there is time for questions and answers this can be accomplished then. My biggest challenge when presenting is staying focused, on topic and communicating clearly. Interruptions during presentations tend to get us off track and possibly turn the conversation away from the main topic, delving into specifics.

I want to thank the organizers of Ignite Raleigh for a fantastic job of getting over 500 people signed up and excited about this event. If you’re attending tomorrow night say thank you to the sponsors and organizers who have volunteered their time to make it happen (Wayne Sutton @waynesutton; Kipp Bodnar @kbodnar32; Jeff Cohen @dgtlpapercuts; Ryan Boyles @therab). You can find more information at http://igniteraleigh.com/.