Comments on: Some Ignite Phoenix whyfors and wherebys http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/ For those things that should go here. Thu, 17 May 2012 12:15:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jeff Moriarty http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-217 Jeff Moriarty Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:48:01 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-217 Thanks for the comments! @Brandon - Putting the tix on sale is going to lower a lot of people's blood pressure - including mine! @Chuck - It makes all the difference seeing what goes on behind the scenes. I forget sometimes that what's clear to me about Ignite looks like random weirdness to people who aren't as involved. @Al - I'm glad you did, and hope you come back for more! :) @Alan - Double that on the volunteers. They step up every time to make the event rock! @Jana - We are very luck to have such great businesses locally that will pitch in to make an event like Ignite happen. It's really amazing! Thanks for the comments!

@Brandon – Putting the tix on sale is going to lower a lot of people’s blood pressure – including mine!

@Chuck – It makes all the difference seeing what goes on behind the scenes. I forget sometimes that what’s clear to me about Ignite looks like random weirdness to people who aren’t as involved.

@Al – I’m glad you did, and hope you come back for more! :)

@Alan – Double that on the volunteers. They step up every time to make the event rock!

@Jana – We are very luck to have such great businesses locally that will pitch in to make an event like Ignite happen. It’s really amazing!

]]> By: Jana Knapp http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-216 Jana Knapp Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:11:49 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-216 Jeff - great post. And Alan had great additions. The other thing I want to mention is the importance of our sponsors. We can't emphasize enough that charging for tickets doesn't really pay for anything other than the venue to handle the tickets. Ignite happens because we have amazing support from the local business community. Because people believe that Ignite has value. That is both thrilling and humbling. And I can't say thank you enough. Jeff – great post. And Alan had great additions.

The other thing I want to mention is the importance of our sponsors. We can’t emphasize enough that charging for tickets doesn’t really pay for anything other than the venue to handle the tickets.

Ignite happens because we have amazing support from the local business community. Because people believe that Ignite has value. That is both thrilling and humbling. And I can’t say thank you enough.

]]> By: Alan Dayley http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-213 Alan Dayley Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:37:14 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-213 Size: I agree with Jeff here. I'm a big fan of small. Big events with 1,000+ people can be amazing. A great band, a sports team or something like that can project their presence into a huge audience. That can transmit energy, re-enforced by the crowd. But such events rarely result in learning and making personal connections. Small groups of good people can produce great things. Ignite events, in my opinion, are not more valuable if they are too big. Maybe I'm wrong and it would be interesting to test that someday. Format: The Ignite format is powerful. The focus it forces on the presenter focuses power of the message to the audience. Props, teams, videos and other stuff pose a high risk to this focus. It's very scary to stand there and present without a crutch, just slides that don't adjust. But that is what makes the topic so compelling! Voting: I have voted several times for the Ignite events. It is a grand learning process about myself and about humility. Every time I have voted, I've had at least one of my top picks make it to the presentations. And every time several I really wanted did not make it. The voting has been very balanced and resulted in a great mix of topics. We need to keep doing that! One final comment on the voting: The way the voting is conducted prevents gaming or artificial inflation of specific presentations. The submission description either connects with the judges or doesn't. This is VERY valuable to the event. The people submitting can rest assured that there is no playing of favorites. And if your idea is not selected, that is not a condemnation. Mostly it's the difficult line in the crowded middle imposed by the limited number of presentation slots. Location: The question I have heard over and over again is "Why isn't Ignite Phoenix in Phoenix?" The answer is very simple: We have not yet found a suitable venue willing to work with us to make the event happen in Phoenix. It's not for lack of looking, contacting and asking around. The biggest killers seem to be cost and policies. The non-profit and volunteer nature of the event requires that the venue help to make things affordable and workable. Most venues cannot or will not bend. That's fine with me. To me this event is about building community. The venue needs to be willing to support this goal to be worthy of hosting. Venues (and entities that control them) that don't want to contribute, self-select as not part of the energy. If you know a place and the people willing to work with us, let us know. We will run it down! Volunteers: A-W-E-S-O-M-E! The ushers? A-W-E-S-O-M-E-S-T! Tickets: I could write a book full of intrigue, surprise, boredom and details you never knew you never knew. It is soo important to me that the event be as close to no-cost as possible. I worked with the other volunteers to make it happen at no-cost. And we succeeded! But the volunteer and community cost is too high to do it that way as soon as tickets are required. A low price ticket really is needed, not to fund the event but to pay for the ticket services. The weight off the volunteers when we don't have to worry about distributing tickets is huge. Thank you to the community for paying that fee in support of the volunteers, because that is really what the price supports. Mini-Ignites: Do them! No, really, if you have any desire at all to do a themed or special or smaller or whatever Ignite, tell us. We will help. We want the the power of this format to spread and trigger more and more creativity in all fields. Drop us a line and we'll work it together! Thanks, Jeff, for pushing and pulling the community to new heights! Size:
I agree with Jeff here. I’m a big fan of small. Big events with 1,000+ people can be amazing. A great band, a sports team or something like that can project their presence into a huge audience. That can transmit energy, re-enforced by the crowd. But such events rarely result in learning and making personal connections. Small groups of good people can produce great things. Ignite events, in my opinion, are not more valuable if they are too big. Maybe I’m wrong and it would be interesting to test that someday.

Format:
The Ignite format is powerful. The focus it forces on the presenter focuses power of the message to the audience. Props, teams, videos and other stuff pose a high risk to this focus. It’s very scary to stand there and present without a crutch, just slides that don’t adjust. But that is what makes the topic so compelling!

Voting:
I have voted several times for the Ignite events. It is a grand learning process about myself and about humility. Every time I have voted, I’ve had at least one of my top picks make it to the presentations. And every time several I really wanted did not make it. The voting has been very balanced and resulted in a great mix of topics. We need to keep doing that!

One final comment on the voting: The way the voting is conducted prevents gaming or artificial inflation of specific presentations. The submission description either connects with the judges or doesn’t. This is VERY valuable to the event. The people submitting can rest assured that there is no playing of favorites. And if your idea is not selected, that is not a condemnation. Mostly it’s the difficult line in the crowded middle imposed by the limited number of presentation slots.

Location:
The question I have heard over and over again is “Why isn’t Ignite Phoenix in Phoenix?” The answer is very simple: We have not yet found a suitable venue willing to work with us to make the event happen in Phoenix. It’s not for lack of looking, contacting and asking around. The biggest killers seem to be cost and policies. The non-profit and volunteer nature of the event requires that the venue help to make things affordable and workable. Most venues cannot or will not bend.

That’s fine with me. To me this event is about building community. The venue needs to be willing to support this goal to be worthy of hosting. Venues (and entities that control them) that don’t want to contribute, self-select as not part of the energy. If you know a place and the people willing to work with us, let us know. We will run it down!

Volunteers:
A-W-E-S-O-M-E! The ushers? A-W-E-S-O-M-E-S-T!

Tickets:
I could write a book full of intrigue, surprise, boredom and details you never knew you never knew. It is soo important to me that the event be as close to no-cost as possible. I worked with the other volunteers to make it happen at no-cost. And we succeeded! But the volunteer and community cost is too high to do it that way as soon as tickets are required. A low price ticket really is needed, not to fund the event but to pay for the ticket services. The weight off the volunteers when we don’t have to worry about distributing tickets is huge. Thank you to the community for paying that fee in support of the volunteers, because that is really what the price supports.

Mini-Ignites:
Do them! No, really, if you have any desire at all to do a themed or special or smaller or whatever Ignite, tell us. We will help. We want the the power of this format to spread and trigger more and more creativity in all fields. Drop us a line and we’ll work it together!

Thanks, Jeff, for pushing and pulling the community to new heights!

]]> By: Al Putman http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-212 Al Putman Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:13:51 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-212 #5 was my first Ignite. I knew that it was sold out but drove up after work anyway and scored a free ticket. Lucky me. #5 was my first Ignite. I knew that it was sold out but drove up after work anyway and scored a free ticket. Lucky me.

]]> By: Chuck Reynolds http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-211 Chuck Reynolds Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:28:14 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-211 Nice writeup... nothing much I didn't know from being involved early on and talking to you since and nothing really to add but it's good to see you write it all out so everybody can get a grasp on the genesis of the event and the growing pains it goes through. Putting on an event is one of the hardest all-around tasks to handle and from the outside looking in, people just don't understand as they can't see the whole picture. Nice writeup… nothing much I didn’t know from being involved early on and talking to you since and nothing really to add but it’s good to see you write it all out so everybody can get a grasp on the genesis of the event and the growing pains it goes through. Putting on an event is one of the hardest all-around tasks to handle and from the outside looking in, people just don’t understand as they can’t see the whole picture.

]]> By: Brandon Franklin http://moriartys.net/2009/12/some-ignite-phoenix-whyfors-and-wherebys/comment-page-1/#comment-210 Brandon Franklin Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:05:58 +0000 http://www.moriartys.net/?p=210#comment-210 I don't have a lot to add here. I just want to chime in and say that I'm VERY glad we're going to put ALL the tickets on sale next time. Big thumbs up to that idea. I don’t have a lot to add here. I just want to chime in and say that I’m VERY glad we’re going to put ALL the tickets on sale next time. Big thumbs up to that idea.

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