My “Go Busk Yourself” Presentation from Ignite Toronto 4

Back in September 2010, I was the 17th out of 17 speakers at Ignite Toronto 4, where I did an Ignite presentation titled Go Busk Yourself. Here’s the abstract of my talk:

You may think of busking – performing on the street – as the sort of thing that unsigned musicians, the mentally unbalanced and the perennially unemployable would take up. I’m here to convince you that busking is the key to real unlimited power. “Shaft” plays on the street, and so should you!

If you’re not familiar with the Ignite format, it’s a presentation with these constraints:

• The presentation must be five minutes long.
• The presentation is accompanied with 20 slides that advance automatically every 15 seconds.

I get my jollies from public speaking, so I find the Ignite format an irresistible challenge. Knowing this, and knowing that I’d throw in some accordion, Ignite Toronto 4 organizer Michele Perras put me on last. That meant I went on sometime around midnight, and after several drinks. That just meant I got to release my inner Tony Stark, and I’m rather pleased with how it turned out.

I found out only yesterday that the video for my presentation was posted online, and that’s why I’m sharing it with you today. Enjoy!

Content warning: I drop the f-bomb a couple of times in the presentation (but hey, we’re in a bar!), which means it may not be appropriate for your stuffy workplace.