Basic Guidelines

Open and Community Based

Anyone who wants to can participate. No cost to present or attend. As long as you have something interesting, and stick to the format (20 slides for 15 seconds each), you’re good. if you don’t like something about the way Ignite works, and want to change it, let us know. We’ll listen to you, but can’t promise to accommodate every request. We realize this format just may not work for everyone, and that’s fine.

Make it Interesting!

We’re not targeting a specific “theme” or “feel” for events, and prefer to let that form from the types of submissions received. We, the organizers, don’t pretend to know what “most people” would find interesting, and we don’t think the presenters should worry about that either. If your idea fits the format, and is interesting to at least one person (e.g., you), you’re in. If we get more people who want to present than we can handle, well, we’ll figure out a fair way to deal with that problem.

No Keynotes

All presentations will be given equal standing/billing. Let them differentiate themselves on their own merit and interestingness. We don’t want to have “featured” presenters, keynotes, or special slots for presenters. Is there someone/some company that you really want to see present at Ignite Columbus? Great! Get them to present. Nothing in your way.

Sponsors

We’re trying to do everything cheap (as in “free”) to see how it goes. In the future we may accept sponsors to help pay for necessary expenses (like a venue), or things like food, badges and prizes. We will always make it free to both presenters and attendees.

Bias/Pitches/Spam

We want Ignite to be about promoting and sharing burning ideas. If those ideas happen to take the form of the company you work for, the startup you’re trying to get funded, or any other self-serving commercial interest, then so be it. We’re fine with it, really. But whatever you present had better be interesting, because that’s what you want people to walk away with and chatter about in the end.

The Rest of the Rules

I guess there have to be some “real” rules in here, somewhere. So, here they are. Don’t do anything that’s going to get you or us in trouble. Nothing blatantly illegal (I’m not talking about “how to rip a DVD”, I’m talking about “how to make meth in your kitchen” or “how to make a car bomb”). In short, I guess the only “real” rule is “Don’t Be Stupid”. That seems to cover pretty much everything, doesn’t it?

Don't be Intimidated

Love thy self.  Don't be intimidated by over analyzing things.  Just about everyone presenting may or not have ever presented before, so don't think you can't because you've never presented before.  Share your mind with us. Reveal a trend you see, tell us a story, you have 5 minutes, own it, it's your skinny.

Engage & Ignite

We encourage everyone to engage in discussions in and around the presentation sessions.  Nothing feels greater than when someone walks up to you says "nice job" after a presentation.  You could play a very simple part in unlocking a big idea in someone and realizing their efforts and just giving them simple feedback can be rush for you and them.  Engage, participate, enjoy, ignite! -special thanks to Ignite Phoenix for some initial guidelines that I reworked for Ignite Columbus