Ignite Tampa Bay 2016: This Thursday at the Cuban Club!

If you’re looking for something interesting to do in Tampa this Thursday, may I suggest attending Ignite Tampa Bay? You’ll see interesting presentations given in a very interesting way.

The Ignite format’s motto is “Enlighten us, but make it quick!” It takes your standard speaker-and-audience formula and adds some interesting constraints:

• Each speaker is limited to exactly 5 minutes for his or her presentation.
• Each presentation is accompanies by 20 slides, no more, no less.
• The speaker has no control over when the slides advance; they automatically advance every 15 seconds.

The five minute limit forces speakers to whittle their presentations down to the essential points they’re trying to make, and the auto-advancing slides make it necessary to practice, practice, practice.

Want to see an example of an Ignite presentation? How about mine from last year’s event, in which I explain in five minutes why the existence of Florida Man and Florida Woman is a good thing:

This year’s speakers and presentations are:

• Rich Castellano: The Power of Smile
• Aria Mia Loberti: How to Gain Superpowers
• Niel J. Guilarte: Connecting the Podcast Community via a Documentary.
• Jacob Redding: Next Wave of Open Source
• Marc Ensign: One thing that Matters
• Lisa Kirchner: Community Makers Make Change
• Steve Lazaridis: Bread
• Joran Oppelt: The Future of Religion
• Sean Davis: How You Can Learn to Crush That Little Voice Inside Your Head Saying…
• Todd Allen Joseph: A (Very) Brief Introduction to Cognitive Science
• Sandra Scott: How 3 Letters Changed Our Life
• Carl Vervisch: The Millennial Problem
• Ramesh Sambasivan: How Coworking in a Library is Like a Silent Disco
• Kyle Matthews: How We’re Beating Childhood Cancer with Computers
• Brian Willis: Back to the Future – Tampa’s Streetcar Neighborhoods Can Save Us
• Sven Boemeester: Tampa Bay the Next Dubai of the Americas
• John Foster: Bee Sting
• Jason Fraley: Trust – the main ingredient for flight
• Bill Carlson: Cuba
• Dr. Sean Stringer: Healing with Nutrition and Natural Therapies

The remaining tickets for Ignite Tampa Bay are general admission tickets, which set you back $19.50 a person ($17.50 plus a $2.00 processing fee). They’re available online here.

The details

• The event: Ignite Tampa Bay 2016
• When: Thursday, June 30th, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
• Where: The Cuban Club, 2010 North Avenida Republica de Cuba (East Palm Avenue and North 14th Street), Ybor City
• How much: $19.50 per person, tickets available online
• Food and drink: They typically have beer, wine, and soft drinks