Life In Pixels » Relight our fire

Enlighten us – but make it quick!

A few years ago now (blimey, that makes me sound old baring in mind I remember it all so well!) I was introduced to an awesome event called “Ignite”. I had just moved to Cardiff, and was working for pretty cool company who actively encouraged participation in these kinds of events. The event was being run by the awesome Claire Scantlebury and Neil Cocker. Somehow (I don’t know how, I don’t remember ever saying yes…!) I got roped in to doing a talk at this event, not really knowing what it was all about, how many people would be there, and more importantly, whether I would get booed off stage in a sea of rotten eggs and tomatoes.

I spent about 8 weeks planning my speech, which was on “Cardiff Twitter Trends”. Despite nerves and being slightly intoxicated, I think it went well. The adrenaline rush from standing up in front of about 120 people was epic, I loved it.

Ignite Cardiff 2 from Mark Stevenson on Vimeo.

So much so that come Ignite 3, I offered to do another talk. This time I was asked to a “karaoke” style talk. No singing, don’t panic. The “karaoke” concept involved a set of slides being created by the event organisers then given to the presenters with about 48 hours to prepare a relevant speech to match the slides. A bit of a challenge!

Ignite Cardiff 3 “Karaoke”

Why are you blogging about this you idiot?

Well, when I moved back to Norwich, I started to organise “Ignite Norwich“, but then work took over and I haven’t had a minute to revisit it. So this is my time, a chance to bring Ignite to Norwich and get people talking about it. And hence, this blog, to kick things off.

If you’ve got a passion, a love, something you want to share with the world, then why not get involved in Ignite Norwich? Leave a comment on this post to introduce yourself, and I’ll be in touch. Whether it’s talking, organising, sponsoring (hello ) or just getting involved somehow, then please get in touch.