Ignite Fort Collins talks don’t just have to be geeky. In fact, they can be on anything you want – you just can’t promote your business from stage.

Some of Fort Collins most ingenious minds have taken the stage at Ignite. Here are five of my favorites:

I’m so excited to see Sam Shada’s “Time in the Eyes of Sand Crab Sam” and Allie Wickam’s “Peek Inside the Teenage Mind“ and especially Kevin Houchin’s “Reclaiming Creativity” at the next Ignite Fort Collins (click to get your tickets!), but until then here’s a list of my five most recent favorite brilliant talks:

First, I’ve always been a fan of Jochen Wolters, and his talk “Don’t Believe the Esoteric Hype” from Ignite Fort Collins 10 was pure awesome:

Then there was Chad Shavor from Ignite Fort Collins 13 with “Why you should beet, squash, and kale you lawn“:

Amazingly brave Claire Boyles came on stage at Ignite Fort Collins 13 to tell us how she talked to her kids about sex in “When Prudes Talk About Sex“:

Vi Wickam is a brilliant fiddler and brought it to stage at Ignite Fort Collins 5 with “The Difference Between a Violin and a Fiddle“:

Finally, Bill Tucker’s brain is probably the blueprint for Skynet. He presented at Ignite Fort Collins 8 on “How You Are Wrong“:

If these five didn’t convince you to not miss out on the next Ignite Fort Collins (click to get your tickets!), you need to get your head examined. Hope to see you there!

The post Five of the Most Brilliant Ignite Fort Collins Talks to Date appeared first on Ignite Fort Collins.

I’m so excited to see Zach Comm’s “The Phenomenon of Cartoon Horses” and Paul Berry’s “Doctor Who, Bacon and Bad Luck Brian” and especially Jana Knapp’s “Women with Swords (or Blasters or Stakes)” at the next Ignite Fort Collins (click to get your tickets!), but until then here’s a list of my five most recent favorites.

There was Josh Awtry’s, “How the Geek have inherited the Earth” at Ignite Fort Collins 12:

Jennifer Iole’s “Strategy Board Games Saved My Life” from Ignite Fort Collins 13:

Josh “Rex” Herrick’s “Cardboard and Duct Tape” from Ignite Fort Collins 10:

Nathan Scott’s “Surefire Signs Your Spouse May Be a Zombie from Ignite Fort Collins 8:

… and …

“Esperanto is “like Klingon” and Other Myths” by Simmon Keith Barney at Ignite Fort Collins 11:

I liked it even though Simmon’s mother has a smooth forehead (if said to a Klingon, this could get you killed). What are some of your favorites?

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Ignite Fort Collins #14 Speakers:

1. Time in the eyes of Sand Crab Sam — Sam Shada
2. Wet, Hot, and Lathered: Reclaiming Shaving — Dan Herrick
3. Doctor Who, Bacon and Bad Luck Brian: How not to waste your time on social media — Paul Berry
4. A Peek Inside the Teenage Mind — Allie Wickam
5. Women with Swords (or Blasters or Stakes) — Jana Knapp
6. Tesla History - Leif Olsen
7. The Phenomenon of Cartoon Horses — Zach Comm
8. You don’t have to be a badass to ride a motorcycle — Miranda Arens
9. The Coffee Ritual: A moment of reflection, a moment of enlightenment, a moment of conversation, i.e. Your moment — James Lopez
10. FAQ for a G.O.U.S. — Math Stein
11. Data Backups are the BOMB! — Jochen Wolters
12. Free Expression: Reclaiming the creativity you misplaced on the path to success — Kevin Houchin
13. The world’s best and oldest toy — Kate Kosakowski
14. I’ll run when I’m chased (and there better be zombies) — Jewels Hall

Chosen by Popular Vote  — Chosen by Ignite Fort Collins Committee

We’re really excited for our lineup, how about you? Snag your tickets now!

The post Check Out the Ignite Fort Collins #14 Lineup! appeared first on Ignite Fort Collins.

May 9th is the last day to Submit a Talk for Ignite Fort Collins 14!

Voting for your favorite Ignite talks is still easy (just click on the link below). This time though, voting happens after all the talks are submitted, and only for seven days. One of the fun things about working with this group is that we like to try new things to give our speakers and attendees the best Ignite experience we can.

The important stuff: Voting is open from May 10th – May 16th ONLY. 

One thing won’t change: The top six vote-getters on our submissions page, plus eight more picked by the organizing committee get to present their talks to a friendly and receptive audience at the Lincoln Center. Did you hear we are in the main theater of the Lincoln Center this time? It’s going to be great.

Get ready to vote starting Friday, May 10!

Also – welcome to new Ignite Fort Collins sponsor, Waterpik!

The post May 9th is the last day to Submit a Talk for Ignite Fort Collins 14! appeared first on Ignite Fort Collins.

Big thank you to Chillico Studios for all their hard work on our videos! We couldn’t have done it without you!

Want it to be YOU up on that stage next time? Pitch a spark!

The post Did you Miss Ignite Fort Collins #13? Here are the videos! appeared first on Ignite Fort Collins.

Photography by: Yann Ropars and Nick Armstrong

A night of great presentations, plenty of laughs, free t-shirts, beer, cookies, wonderful music, and smiles wrapped up with style!

Just a reminder – we’d love to see you speak at the next Ignite Fort Collins!

The videos are coming soon, but for now we’d like to thank all our volunteers:

• Nick Armstrong
• Dee Bundy
• Kevin Buecher
• Larry Chapman
• Tam Frager
• Jana Knapp
• Linda Kothera
• Laurie Macomber
• Scott Sledgister
• Kathy Thompson
• Kevin Udy
• Ron Zasadzinski

And most of all, we’d like to thank our awesome sponsors, without their help – Ignite Fort Collins simply wouldn’t be as awesome (you can click on their logos below to go straight to their website)!

The post Ignite Fort Collins 13 is In The Bag! appeared first on Ignite Fort Collins.

• Cassie Rosch – “Were you on House Hunters?”
• Kevin Ummel – The Making of a FoCo LoCo BoBo
• Steve Aronson – Don’t Throw Tater Tots at the Lunch Ladies!
• Chad Shavor – Why you should beet, squash, and kale your lawn
• Rev. Barbara Bue – God for the rest of us… or “May the Force Be With You”
• John Patterson – The Little Johnny Hemp Seed Story
• Ashok Amaran – Why You Should Smile – A Simple Act to Change Lives
• Tam – Warning! Not watching TV can hurt you.
• Claire Boyles – When Prudes Talk About Sex
• Charles Buckley – Replicators in your garage – 3D printing is coming to a garage near you
• Linda Kothera – You and your Microbiome
• Niight Wind – Accidentally Anorexic
• Jennifer Iole – How strategy board games saved my life
• Gordon Nuttall – Crowd-courage. The power of many for public safety

It was extraordinarily difficult to pick just 14 from the 30+ submissions we received. The Ignite team had to vote 3 times before we finally had our consensus!

You can get your tickets now – don’t wait, we always sell out!

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