We’re happy to announce that with the support of our excellent sponsors, we’ve been able to arrange for our own transit to the event, and will have a shuttle making stops in Waterloo and Kitchener.

On June 15th we’ll have our own GRT shuttle bus running out to Whistle Bear and back at the end of the evening. The bus will display “Charter” and have Ignite signs. Please note that the shuttle will not be making any individually requested stops.

The pick up/drop off schedule will work as follows:

Going to the Event

5:30pm: Shuttle departs from University of Waterloo at the Davis Centre Library (facing south: DC on the map).

5:45pm (approximately): Shuttle arrives at at the Clock Tower entrance to Victoria Park at Joseph and Gaukel Streets in Kitchener (facing south).

6:00pm: Shuttle departs from the Joseph Street stop to head to Whistle Bear.

6:30pm (approximately): Shuttle arrives at Whistle Bear.

Coming Home from the Event

10:30pm: Bus will be ready to depart. (Bus will wait if event runs long, and depart asap afterward once riders have boarded.)

11:00pm (approximately): Stop at the Clock Tower entrance to Victoria Park on Joseph St. in Kitchener.

11:15pm (approximately): Stop at University of Waterloo at the Davis Centre Library.

For our first five events we’ve enjoyed some wonderful spaces: The Museum, The Conrad Centre, and the event space at the Tannery. We may well have outgrown their capacity, though. Where in Waterloo Region should we hold our next event?

Here’s what we think we need in an ideal event venue, in order of priority:

• Seating for all attendees
• Space for socializing/mingling for all attendees
• Clear sight lines to the speaker, and to screens showing the visuals that accompany a talk
• Room for our Ignite Contest
• Comfortable access to food and drinks
• Easily accessible via public transit
• Capacity for 300–400 attendees

If you’ve been to any of our events, these requirements shouldn’t be a surprise. Note that the capacity is the lowest priority requirement in the list above. That is, we need to address the other issues, and if we can’t do so in a  larger venue then we’ll need to somehow manage with a smaller venue.

Please let us know about any venues that you think we should be considering. You can let us know by contacting us via Twitter, or by sending an email to info@ignitewaterloo.ca, or by commenting on this post. Those of you who know any of the organizers can, of course, approach us directly.

So what have we learned from you?

We confirmed the obvious, that people attend to hear the talks, and to meet and converse with friends old and new about interesting topics old and new. Here are a few comments to help give the flavour of what you told us:

• “I come for the talks. I want to see people doing interesting things and sharing interesting ideas and telling great stories.”
• “Its everything. Its entertaining, interesting, amusing, provides great perspective about our community dynamics. Its great networking and one of the best things about it is that it is very inclusive for all age groups – the cross section of attendees is amazing. I have loved every event I have attended.”
• “I love hearing about the variety of things people are passionate about. I’ve learned about a lot of different things going on in and around Waterloo because of the people who present at Ignite.”
• “I like the idea of having a large variety of talks on different subjects all in one place. There’s plenty of events that have great speakers on a particular topic, but it’s quite a bit more rare to have an event which gathers together many different disciplines in one place at one time.”
• “The talks, the cool venue, something different to do, and the friendly, busy atmosphere. Also, I like that I don’t choose the topics so I’m not self-filtering for what interests me; I’ll learn something I didn’t know before.”

You also told us what you think we can do to make Ignite Waterloo events even better. While there were a great variety of suggestions on how to do that, there are a few main themes that emerged.

1. You want the talks to be less obviously “pitchy” than some that you saw at the fifth event.
2. You want a space that isn’t too crowded and that supports the kind of socializing and conversations that make Ignite Waterloo events such a valuable experience for you.
3. You want us to ensure that there are seats for everyone who attends.

We’re already working on ways to address these issues for our next event. You’ll see more about our progress in the coming weeks and months. In fact, as we move forward we’ll be coming back to our community with some specific requests for help with making Ignite Waterloo better.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our request for feedback, and thanks to everyone for your continued support of Ignite Waterloo.

We haven’t really had a focus on food before, and we think catering is a great addition to a new season for Ignite and a new venue at the Conrad Centre. Check out the Little Mushroom menu or say hello on Twitter!

We’ve almost completed finalizing our speaker list, too, and organizer Erica came up with a fabulous idea for our contest this time around. You’ve already gotten your ticket, right?