UPDATE: Ignite Princeton 2 – Not on October 14 – pushed to early 2011

After the great success of the first Ignite Princeton during Global Ignite Week last March, we were looking to hold our second one in the Fall on Thursday October 14th. That will not be the case. Scheduling became too much to manage and now that we are running into the last quarter of the year it has been decided to postpone the next Ignite Princeton to early 2011. More information to follow shortly.

Like the first Ignite the next will be in the evening from 6:30 – 10:30 pm and the location will, most likely, be the Nassau Inn on Palmer Square once again after their great support for our first event.

If you are interested in presenting now you have even more time to prepare!

Ignite Princeton is focused on sharing your burning ideas – the things that keep you up late at night. the stuff you’d do for free, even if it wasn’t your job. Your obsession. It’s *NOT* the place to be all self promotional or spammy. Presentation ideas that seem too spammy will be rejected, in favor of those that show more passion, interesting-ness, and spark. So be sparky, be irreverent, be fired-up, but please do not be spammy!

Here are some examples of presentation subjects proposed for other Ignite events:

Relationship Tips for Nerds Over 35

Experimenting with Guerrilla Marketing

How To Make Money In Comics

Einstein’s Princeton

How to become a Spokesperson in 3 easy steps

Back of a Napkin Project Management

The Gatekeeper Phenomenon

Rethinking the Resume

Will the Real Quantum Please Stand Up!

How to Write Sketch Comedy

Philanthropic approaches of technology companies

Not Created Equal: The history and discernment of plastics in product design

Can you survive on $40 a day?

Strine: A Language, a Lifestyle, a Philosophy from Down Under

If you are interested in presenting, please send an email to igniteprinceton[at]gmail[dot]com with your name, contact number, title of your presentation and no more than 100 words on what you want to present. We have room for up to 15 presenters on the night.

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Stick a fork in us, we’re done! – Ignite Princeton

And man are we tired.

We had a small but enthusiastic turn out for the first Princeton Ignite. With 60 registrations we ended up with 20 no-shows (?! – we think the price point of $0 might be to blame) and over 10 walk-ins.

We started out with a variant on a Make: – build a product out of used business cards and try to sell it inside the room for money. (It was our nod to a crap economy. We decided to create our own.) The winner was an eco-friendly mousetrap which someone paid $5 for! (See photo) Other products offered included: a set of business card holders made from…business cards, an Ignite Innovation card game, and a very large smart phone / business card holder that attaches to your belt. A great way to break the ice and get people in the mood for sharing and fun. (Photos to be posted shortly.)

We had a small slate of presenters this time around, only 8, but we made up for it with the variety of subjects from Healthcare Innovation, to Cocktail Napkin Project Management, and a view of Einstein’s Princeton among them. We also included two rounds of Ignite Karaoke (with a huge debt of gratitude to Alistair Croll forpassing along the karaoke slide decks) which was a genius inclusion demanding audience participation. People were clamoring for more – so we finished out the evening with one of those, too.

The venue was excellent (we used a hotel in the heart of Princeton – the Nassau Inn). The staff were great, easy to work with, and I’d use the venue again.

By the time all was said and done, people were hanging out for another 45 minutes after the event ended still talking (always a good sign). And as they leaving nearly everyone asked when the next one was going to be.

We hope to have some photos and videos posted soon. Thanks to all who came out – we might have to do this again!

The Countdown to Ignite Princeton!

Ignite Princeton, our first ever Ignite event, has a great slate of presenters. We have over 60 registrants. And a whole evening of networking, sharing, and fun. For those coming tonight. Registration opens at 7:00 pm and the Make:Princeton activities start at 7:30 pm. The Google Maps location is below.

Thanks to the following people for their invaluable assistance in preparing tonight’s festivities:
Vijay Aluwalia, Dipali Desai, David Drew, Christoph Goldenstern, Uday Jain, Jo Johnson, David Kossoff, Kerri Mullen, and last, but by no means least, Mike Smith.

Thanks especially to our presenters for being brave and jumping in with both feet to a new concept:
Mark Birch, Janet Burns, David Drew, Barbara Figge Fox, Paulo Machado, Mike Smith, Andrew Wilkinson. (I’m your host, primary local sponsor, and I’ll be presenting too – Drew Marshall).

Thanks to the Nassau Inn for their venue support. Particularly Marianne Bilsksi and Sean Donoghue

Thanks to our parent sponsor organization O’Reilly and the other big ticket sponsors like Eventbrite, Facebook, Mashable, and some little outfit called Sticker Giant and Force2Be.

Don’t forget to look at igniteshow.com for Ignite Presentation recordings in the near future.

Looking forward to meeting those coming tonight. Prepare to be enlightened, bet we’ll make it quick!

Only 3 Days Until Ignite Princeton

Hello! We have got a great registration rate for our evening of fast-paced enlightenment. If you are thinking of coming to Ignite Princeton there are still a few tickets remaining but we are hard-capped at 75 attendees due to the limits of the space.

We have had some excellent coverage from local media supporters, most recently being featured by Princeton Scoop here.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Nassau Inn this coming Tuesday, March 2nd, at 7:00 pm.

Only 1 Week to go until Ignite Princeton

The planning for the inaugural Ignite event in Princeton is well and truly underway.

The Nassau Inn is hosting our first event; this is very fitting given that it is in the heart of Princeton.

This free event is a multi-purpose networking, information-sharing, entertainment, geek-fest. The range of speakers are a testament to the diversity of thinking in our community. And it should be fun, too.

Doors open at 7:00 pm. Don’t forget to register (did we mention it’s free!?) here: http://igniteprinceton/eventbrite.com and there will be light food and beverages on hand.

Looking forward to seeing you and making new connections.