Hot Topics To Get Fired Up!

We’re half way there. Over 300 people have registered to attend Ignite Raleigh 2 in the last week! We’re well on the way to blowing the roof off Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh North Carolina on March 3rd. Raleigh is on fire, exploding with so much energy and creative ideas that cannot be extinguished. The voting for Ignite talks has been ferocious. We have exceeded the volume of votes for Ignite Raleigh 1 with the current batch of presentation ideas. We’ve had 2192 votes over the last three weeks on 36 talk proposals compared with 1195 total votes on the top 10 talks from Ignite Raleigh 1. And the topics and votes keep streaming in. It’s been incredible to see some of the ranking ideas burn up the charts and into the top ten after being introduced only a week ago. Clearly Raleigh is excited about sharing ideas. And how.

The team and I want to share a bit more about the selection process. We have provided the community voting platform for the last 20 odd days – which is set to close on February 17th. From all of the talk proposals submitted, the top 10 voted on by you will be given the opportunity to speak at Ignite night. The organizing team will also select a handful of additional speakers (current thought is 4) that we think are also great ideas. We do this to provide an opportunity to speakers with great ideas but perhaps not the largest social network. Lastly, we will have three featured speakers to share cool experiences and unique perspectives. We want to cram as much into two hours as you can possibly absorb.

We encourage you to come out and bring your friends to the Lincoln Theatre on March 3rd 2010. Enjoy a cold beverage, listen to passionate people share their ideas in 5 minutes and meet some cool people. See you there.

There are a few things you can do this week.

1. Mark your calendars, March 3rd 2010. If you are able to attend, consider reserving your seat today. This is a hot ticket. And did we mention it’s free! If you can’t attend, please leave your ticket for someone else. Ignite Raleigh 3 will be here before you know it.
2. Be sure to vote! Help your favorite speaker and the great topics, whether Hot, New or otherwise awesome. Let your voice be heard.
3. Show your support for local education through a deserving charity project with Donors Choose. It’s a great way to help our schools with the challenges that are most urgent right now. We will tell you more about this effort in another blog post this week. Stay tuned.

Get fired up Raleigh! Global Ignite Week is coming in March!

Global Ignite Week is both an in-person and online phenomenon. Local Ignites will stream live video during the event, and those videos will be archived on the new Ignite video site that is being launched in conjunction with the event. At least 500 five-minute session videos will be available on the new site when it debuts.

Tim O’Reilly shares his thoughts on the rapid-fire format of Ignite and it’s influence on conferences.