Kristy Hoover's Blog

I recently attended the first Ignite Dallas event, which was 1 of 50 + events participating in the Ignite Global experience across the world. Ignite Dallas is a unique event in which 16 speakers present on a topic they are passionate about. The presenters get 5 minutes each, with 20 slides which auto-advance every 15 seconds. The Ignite motto is: “Enlighten us, but make it quick.” The variety of speakers included entrepreneurs, techies, and creative professionals, including:

• Shyam Patel (Twitter @shyampatel) was the first presenter to take stage. His high energy speech addressed the overload of Internet content with The Next Epidemic – Mind Obesity.
• Jasmin Brand (Twitter @brandpointe ) entertained the crowd by discussing What Social Media and Ike Turner Have in Common.
• Mike Orren (Twitter @mikeorren) persuaded us to take an Improv class with his speech Stop Thinking and say, “Yes, and…”: Why Everyone Should Take an Improv Class.
• Laura Vatalaro (Twitter @lvgraphics) promoted eco-friendly practices and sustainability in print, design and marketing in her speech Go Green Graphic Design.
• My friend Mike Merrill (Twitter @mikedmerrill) loves bacon. He really loves bacon. He closed the show by visually tantalizing us with his presentation For the Love of Bacon – American’s Cult Meme.

It was a different yet interesting kind of event. It really got me thinking, if I had the stage for just 5 minutes, what would I present?

What are you passionate about? What would you present if you only had 5 minutes?