As some of you may already know, Ignite Waterloo 3 is set for July 7, 2010. Several people have already expressed interest in presenting an Ignite Talk, but we’d like to hear from anyone else who is interested in doing so as well.

Are you interested? Take some time to learn more about us and the Ignite format. Have a look at the videos of presentations from the first two Ignite Waterloo events. That should give you a good idea of what our events have been like. Also, take a look at an Ignite talk by Scott Berkun on how to do an Ignite Talk. Finally, we’re planning an Ignite Waterloo workshop to help prospective speakers prepare for their talk. It’s tentatively set for April 20, with details to come. If you hope to present an Ignite talk, keep the workshop in mind!

If all that sounds interesting to you, then please fill out an Ignite Waterloo speaker application. Do it soon though, as planning is already underway!

Update June 15, 2010: Speaker Applications for Ignite Waterloo 3.0 on July 7, 2010 are now closed. Please watch www.ignitewaterloo.ca for upcoming speaker requests for Ignite Waterloo 4.0, date TBA.

The second Ignite Waterloo event was last night and it was a blast. It was also a part of Global Ignite Week, which makes us all very proud. As with the first event last November, we had great speakers, great attendees, and a perfect venue. Thanks to everyone who attended, milled about, talked with people, and otherwise made the evening such a success.

We’ll follow up shortly with links to photos, tweets, and other digital remnants of the festivities. Meanwhile, here’s our official record of last night’s evening of fun.

Ignite Waterloo Event #2 (March 3, 2010)

6:30pm Doors open

7:15pm The Lego building contest begins

8:00pm Ignite talks (round 1, 8 speakers)

• Angela Pause: The Evolution of Sex
• Vince Jelenic: Community, Cliques and Scenes
• Renjie Butalid: Myth-conceptions of Dubai & Abu Dhabi
  
• Lisa Farlow: Staying Sincere Online
• Alex Matan: How to Solve an Accordion in 45 Seconds
• Erica Waugh: In a Roundabout Way
• Jeff Henry: How to Change a Politician’s Mind
• Kyle Mackie: Conferences Suck

8:45pm Intermission (chat, get refreshed, etc.)

9:00pm Ignite talks (round 2, 8 speakers)

• Tom Skazinski: Zoom Out and Emerge
• Hilary Abel: Something About Blogging(!)
• Sunshine Chen: Stories on Storytelling
• Peter Huang: Geek Music
• Ramy Nassar: A Reverse History of Pranks
• Schien Dong: Advertiser’s Dilemma
• Brendan Lowther: Geocaching
• Kareem Shehata: Lessons Learned from Flying

10:00pm Announce that the Lego decorating contest winning entry was the world’s smallest foosball table, and wrap up

11:00pm No, really! We’re done now! Time to go home!

Apparently the after-party was good fun as well.

Finally, here’s a big thanks to our sponsors Communitech, The Children’s Museum, The Event Firm, Modevation Media, Philip Bast, Schlueter Cheverolet Hummer, and Toy Building Zone.  We couldn’t have done it without you! As well, thanks to those folks who actually paid to attend; your contributions made the event a better one than it would have been.

The next Ignite Waterloo event is this coming Wednesday, and the details are falling into place nicely. Here’s a finalized list of speakers:

• Hilary Abel – Blogging
  
• Renjie Butalid – Myth-conceptions of Dubai and Abu Dhabi
  
• Sunshine Chen – Fort Mac and The ‘Loo… A Tale of Two Cities
  
• Lisa Farlow – Personal Blogging
  
• Jeff Henry – How to Convince a Politician to Change His or Her Mind
  
• Peter Huang – Geek Music
  
• Vince Jelenic – Talk: Community, Cliques & Scenes
  
• Brendan Lowther – Geocaching
  
• Kyle Mackie – making conferences suck less
  
• Alex Matan – The illiterate peasant’s guide to playing the accordion
  
• Carey Miller – Project Management – Leadership vs Paperwork
  
• Ramy Nassar – It’s Not About The Camera
  
• Angela Pause – The Evolution of Sex
  
• Tom Skazinski – Computing project that advocates a paradigm shift in social change.
  
• Jenn Wagner – Adult fans of LEGO
  
• Erica Waugh – In a Roundabout Way

And here’s the agenda for the evening. Note that the doors open a little later than they did for our first event.

• 6:30pm — Doors open
• 7:15pm — The Lego contest begins
• 8:00pm — Ignite talks (round 1, 8 speakers)
• 8:45pm — Intermission (chat, get refreshed, etc.)
• 9:00pm — Ignite talks (round 2, 8 speakers)
• 10:00pm — Announce Lego contest winner and wrap up
• 11:00pm — No, really! We’re done now! Time to go home!

Plans are progressing nicely for our first event of 2010. As previously announced, it’s on Wednesday March 3 at the Children’s Museum in Kitchener. We’re close to finalizing the list of speakers and topics for their talks. Just to whet your appetites, here’s an initial list of 8 out of 16 speakers. More details to come!

• Renjie Butalid — Myth-conceptions of Dubai and Abu Dhabi
• Sunshine Chen — Fort Mac and The ‘Loo… A Tale of Two Cities
• Peter Huang — Geek Music
• Vince Jelenic — Community, Cliques & Scenes
• Angela Pause — The Evolution of Sex
• Cahill Puil — Micro-Finance
• Tom Skazinski — Computing project that advocates a paradigm shift in social change.
• Erica Waugh — In a Roundabout Way

Registration is now open. Sign up and join the fun.

Update: While the exact times are still being determined, the schedule will be similar to our first event.

Artifacts from the first Ignite Waterloo event are starting to appear around the web. This one is our official record of last Wednesday’s evening of fun.

Ignite Waterloo Event #1 (November 25, 2009)

6:00pm Doors open

6:45pm The cupcake decorating contest begins

8:00pm Ignite talks (round 1, 8 speakers)

• Jesse Rodgers: How to run an ‘unconference’
• Jayne Thompson: Flood Forecasting and Climate Change
• Aden Seaman: How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube in 90 seconds
• Brent Curry: Nudging people onto bikes in the age of the automobile
• David Swart: What do you do with visible spheres?
• Darin White: Meta-Making: A hacker space in 17 easy steps
• Jaclyn Konzelmann: Teaching hasn’t changed. Is it still effective?
• Kevin Thaler: Policing in 2009: Five minutes on twenty years of change

8:45pm Intermission (chat, get refreshed, etc.)

9:00pm Ignite talks (round 2, 8 speakers)

• David Estil: Here Comes the Sun: Solar Energy as development home and abroad
• Simon Clark: Hacking the Hood
• Jason Shim: ‘Til Disconnection Do We Part: A Second Life Wedding
• Levi McCulloch: A Real Fraternity Road Trip
• Mark Connolly: Are you sure that’s an album? Metaphor in product design
• Dr. Matt Renaud: High Altitude Medicine
• Nick Oddson: How Theatre Helped My Career: Improvisational guidelines for work and life
• John Fishbein: Meet the Real Africa

10:00pm Announce cupcake decorating contest winner (Kevin, for his superb trompe l’oile hamburger), and wrap up

11:00pm No, really! We’re done now! Time to go home!

Update (2009-11-29): I was quite remiss in not again thanking our sponsors for supporting this first event. Here’s a big thanks to Schlueter Cheverolet Hummer, who came on board first; Philip Bast; and Communitech.

Planning is well underway for the first Ignite Waterloo event on November 25. Here’s an overview of how things might unfold. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress.

• 6:00pm Doors open
• 6:45pm Ignite contest begins (I’m reliably informed that it involves the decoration of  cupcakes)
• 8:00pm Ignite talks (round 1, 8 speakers)
• 8:45pm Intermission (chat, get refreshed, etc.)
• 9:00pm Ignite talks (round 2, 8 speakers)
• 10:00pm Announce contest winners, wrap up
• 11:00pm No, really! We’re done now!

Here is a sneak-peak at the speaker lineup for our November 25th event. We’ll have 16 speakers that night; we’ll reveal more soon.

A Virtual Wedding
Jason Shim

ChangeCamp: How the Social Web is restoring community
Mark Kuznicki

Nothing’s impossible when you’re creating it: How theatre helped my career
Nicholas Oddson

Meta-Making: creating a hacker space in 17 easy steps
Darin White

Metaphor in product design: are you sure that’s an album?
Mark Connolly

Solving a Rubik’s Cube in 90 seconds
Aden Seaman

You can keep track of our planning progress on the Our Next Event page.