Ignite Wellington

Reminder: Ignite is this Tuesday!

2011-11-07T07:39:00.001+13:00

A wee reminder that Ignite Wellington #4 is this Tuesday! Ignite is free, but please do register here because tickets are flying out the door.

Every Ignite, we collect donations for charity. This time we're collecting for the Child Cancer Foundation, so please remember to bring some loose change on the night. We'll have a couple of volunteers who will be collecting on their behalf.

The timetable for the evening is:
6.00pm - Doors open
6.15pm - Ignite Contest in foyer
7.15pm - Contest judging
7.30pm - Ignite talks start
8.30pm - Intermission
8.45pm - More talks

You'll be able to purchase drinks or snacks from the Paramount bar, but you might want to grab dinner before the 7.30pm start time from one of the fine establishments along Courtenay Place. If you don't want to participate in the Ignite Contest, it's ok to come for the 7.30pm speeches.

Once again, Ignite would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, so we’d like you to give our three gold sponsors a huge round of applause on the night: SilverStripe, Provoke & Stephenson Thorner Ltd.

We're looking forward to a night of inspiration and fun. See you there!

Strike a pose - WeDo is in the house!

2011-11-06T19:20:00.000+13:00

Our roving photographer for the evening is Jason from WeDo Photography & Design, who has previously captured the wonderful Ignite photographs that you can see here and here.

Jason will also set up the WeDo Photobooth, and this time we thought it would be fun to photograph all of the teams and the ‘projects’ they make in the Make Contest. If you do take part in the contest, please step into the photobooth with your finished ‘creations’!

Not sure what the WeDo Photobooth is? Check out the photo below for one smoking hot example! Photobooth is best described as:

One button. Four different photos. Four seconds apart. One photosheet ejected from the booth only moments later. From the privacy of our Photobooth who knows what your guests will get up to! The Photobooth perfectly and easily accommodates groups of 2-4 people, but we’ve had as many as 8 in the booth at any one time!

We will post a selection of Jason's photos on our FB page, and online, so keep an eye out for them afterwards.

Jeramiah Ross - Life out on the waves.

2011-11-03T12:43:00.004+13:00

Tales from Audio Sound Designer/Composer Jeramiah Ross

Jeramiah Ross vibrates air particles to cause emotional reactions and various responses in human beings for a living. He designs music and sound for interactive media content and user interface experiences (AKA video games) and other mediums. He has had a great response to his work picking up several awards along with maintaing a independent music career as Module and setting up digital record labels, producing various projects along with working in film.

Jeramiah will be coming ashore to give an overview of what life is like living out on the sound waves.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Arohanui to our sponsors

2011-11-01T19:42:00.001+13:00

Ignite Wellington is brought to you by our awesome sponsors. They ignite our world, and make it possible to showcase our speakers, so we wanted to give them a shout out and let them know how much we love them!

We’re fortunate to have three Gold sponsors for Ignite #4. We say a huge ‘thank you’, shout out 'ka pai!' and give a big, warm Ignitewelli bear hug to: CMS superstars Silverstripe, who have supported us since our first event; Provoke, perhaps Asia-Pacific's most awesome online experience consultancy; and we’re delighted to welcome Stephenson Thorner Ltd on board too.

Please make sure you give our three sponsors a warm round of applause on the night, as we simply couldn’t pull Ignite together without them.

You can support us too by coming along to the Paramount on Nov 8th - we look forward to seeing you!

P.S. Make sure you register to secure your seat! For regular updates follow us on Twitter at @ignitewelli, and become a fan on Facebook.

Keep your eyes on the prize

2011-10-29T20:21:00.000+13:00

“Kia ora - what's this Ignite contest about then eh?", we hear you ask. “And why do people keep talking about marshmallows?”

Our Ignite evenings always start with a contest (start time: 6.15pm), where you team up and compete against each other in a challenge revealed on the night.

George Bernard Shaw reportedly observed “we don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”, and we believe that the Ignite contest is a great way to warm up before the main event, and unleash some serious creative energy!

Our previous contests have seen teams build towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows, construct the ultimate paper airplane, and piece together stories from newspapers.

This time, we’ve taking the contest to a whole new level. The game is simple, the rules are few, and it will be a contest of pure creativity and engineering prowess. Oh, and you’ll need to unleash your inner child. Or borrow someone else’s.

You can also win seriously cool prizes for your creative efforts, and for Ignitewelli #4, we’re thankful to Mojo Coffee, Whittakers Chocolate, Fishhead Magazine and O'Reilly for generously donating the excellent prizes we have up for grabs.

Don’t worry if you’re not taking part in the Ignite Contest - everyone who registers will go into the draw for some of these prizes too.

We would also appreciate it if you could bring along any spare change to donate to our chosen charity: the Child Cancer Foundation. They rely on the generosity of big-hearted New Zealanders to help them do their excellent work, so please remember to bring a donation - it would mean a lot to us.

Mike Eager - Poems from a long walk for freedom : Vietnam

2011-10-21T11:59:00.014+13:00

Mike Eager is a Wellington poet. His books are Warning:Poems (with Alex Staines) and Living First Class in a Third World Country. A short film, The Firewood Tree, was based on and includes a sequence of his poems.

Mike has set himself the challenge of a series of walks and writing a poem from each day of the journey. The five poems in this talk are from the two Vietnam sections, walking from Ha Long Bay to Sa Pa in the mountains and down to the border with China at Lao Cai. A series of cards is in production with proceeds to go to anti-slavery charities.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Samantha Hannah - Why do Wellingtonians have a fascination with black?

2011-10-20T11:08:00.001+13:00

Samantha is a well-known Wellington style consultant and fashion stylist. As well as being the director of two businesses, and writing for Next and FishHead Magazines, she is Mum to two girls, who have taught her a new level of communication.

In her 5 minutes on the Ignite stage, Samantha will consider the unique style of Wellingtonians, and how we measure up.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Edward Murrell - Chasing merino: a year of New Zealand made

2011-10-20T08:58:00.004+13:00

Edward Murrell is a programmer who spends far more time in clothing shops than his fellow geeks think is healthy. A bit over a year ago, after becoming incensed that all his merino clothing was manufactured offshore, he committed to a year of only buying New Zealand made clothes. He blames this on beer, but has forgiven it since.

Edward has interests in economics, the environment, and rock climbing, as well as allegedly being able to dance. He is adamant that he is not a hippy.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

John Robson - Being Reasonable

2011-10-19T17:11:00.006+13:00

JR (only his mother calls him John, and only when he’s naughty) works for a rather lovely software company called Provoke Solutions and is also known as Mr Reasonable. This is a title he’s had for some time, and his two daughters are constantly challenging its appropriateness.

JR worked for 11 years for Merrill Lynch in London, and has a background in economics; this means he struggles to give a straight answer to many questions, yet has an opinion on everything. He is also the current Chairman of the Child Cancer Foundation, a charity that has the sole aim of helping children and their families on their journey with childhood cancer.

He turned to making cartoons with his eldest daughter a few years ago as he wanted a way to remember conversations and moments, and photos just didn’t cut it. He is going to spend his 5 minutes talking about being reasonable, and the various conversations with his kids that lead to the creation of his cartoons.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Brenda Wallace - Oversharing geeks on wheels

2011-10-18T15:23:00.003+13:00

Brenda is an open source hacker from Whakamaru, who enjoys malted beers, grilled haloumi, bluetooth, utf8, and the oxford comma. She contributes to drupal, debian, statusnet, OLPC, cpan, and several more obscure open source projects.

In the past Brenda has organised Super happy dev house in Wellington, many hackfests, girl geek dinners, and a minor role in bringing linux.conf.au to Wellington. Today she works 8 to 7 in order to pay a nanny. In her 5 minutes onstage, she'll talk about gadgets for measuring and motivating geeks to get moving away from the keyboard.

I bet you have no idea where Whakamaru is.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Christine Brooks - Improv and other drugs

2011-10-18T11:09:00.004+13:00

Christine is in love with the magic of improvised theatre and has travelled the world chasing the improv dragon. She had her first taste of improv crack young and has slowly upped her intake ever since, culminating in her lifestyle choice of today. Up until recently, Christine worked in a government job where managing risk was one of her key deliverables. One day she realised that she actually quite liked risk and was sick of managing it. She now spends her days creating improvised theatre and delivering training in a variety of areas using the principles of improv theatre.

Improv theatre is a highly collaborative and innovative art form that relies on building a strong team grounded in positivity and trust, inspiring your other players, saying yes and being present. Christine is a member of the Applied Improvisation Network and attended the Annual Applied Improv Network Conference held in Baltimore in July 2011. Christine lives in a bush enclosed enclave in Eastbourne from which she schemes, dreams and gazes down upon her future empire. Her Official Internet Website can be found here.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Volkert "Oakley" Jürgens - Catching up with the family

2011-10-18T08:59:00.005+13:00

Originally from Germany, I emigrated to New Zealand in 2003. The generous NZ government funded my PhD in Computer Science in Christchurch, and now I'm a software developer in Wellington.

About a year ago I became obsessed with my ancestors. Yes, I knew we could easily trace the family back a few hundred years. But who were these people? How did they live? What did they do? What did they feel? And what influence did these people that I never met have on my life?

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Drew Broadley - SPCA Special

2011-10-15T19:10:00.009+13:00

Drew has loved animals since childhood, with everything from his Nana's Budgie to his wife's horses. Often forming bonds with animals, people often comment about never seeing their pet behave like that with anyone before (often they would pee in excitement). Once settled after purchasing his first house, he could finally get a pet of his own and a dog was first-choice. Drew's wife had a family who often adopted animals from shelters, and had told me of the great bond you have with an animal who has previously been mal-treated. This was a great idea, what could possibly go wrong?

Outside of juggling time with wife, dog and baby, Drew keeps busy with a few ideas and hopes to be able to come back next time to talk about the trials, errors and resistance of unleashing paperless receipts on the world.

Neil Plimmer - Energise our Cityscape

2011-10-12T20:54:00.006+13:00

Neil Plimmer represented New Zealand abroad in Washington, Rome and Canberra before heading up the Government’s tourism agency for many years.

In later life his love of the arts has come to the fore; he is Chair of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Owen Evans - We're not in Guatemala now Dr Ropata: Get over your 1st world problems

2011-10-12T19:37:00.011+13:00

Owen Evans is a software developer currently employed by Xero to be a Chief Architect, according to his wife and 19month old daughter that means he goes 'type type type'.

Hailing from the UK or more specifically a small place called Wales, he has always held the belief that no matter what happens there are always people worse off and won't complain about anything (because POMs don't whinge)

He's in envy of his father who has always done great things for people, and in his 5 minutes he'll try and tell you all about them.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Mike Riversdale - Paul Henry wants me to be your Governor-General

2011-10-12T19:15:00.011+13:00

You are not alone.

There are those amongst you that are not from here.
Not "those", they're obvious, with their funny ways and they are definitely not even trying to be a Kiwi. No, it's not them that you should look at, it's the sneaky buggers that have managed to slip in past your hard working Border Guards to go on to take your jobs, women and the seat at the Stadium.

I will be calling out one particularly furtive joker for your entertainment.

In my spare time I enjoy the smiles that comes from introducing Google Apps to companies of all sizes around New Zealand from the finest of Wellington's suburbs, Miramar.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Jon Brown - In The Long Run We Are All Dead Creative

2011-10-12T18:30:00.002+13:00

Jon Brown is a game designer, and has been doing his best to make children, and adults, part with their pocket money for over 15 years. It isn't all fast cars, jet-setting and sleepless nights, but they're the parts that makes for the best stories.

'Tenacity', 'determination' and 'a-memory-like-a-spiteful-elephant' are key words in Jon's work ethic - the back burner is where many of the best, most rounded ideas are being formed. In this talk he will use one of his more scientifically complicated (improbable) inventions as an illustration of the process he likes to call 'In the long run we are all dead creative'.

Video:

You can view this video on YouTube to watch in Hi-Def.

Ignite Wellington #4

2011-09-24T12:05:00.018+12:00

It's time for another inspirational Ignite night! The fourth Ignite Wellington will be held on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at the Paramount Theatre.

Come along to this free event to be inspired, amused, educated and amazed by an array of Wellington speakers -- and have fun at the Ignite Contest where you can let your creative juices flow. We might run out of seats so register today for your free ticket and to go into spot prize draw on the night.

Tickets are free but do bring along some coinage to make a donation to our selected charity - the Child Cancer Foundation.

What: Ignite Wellington #4
When: Tuesday 8 November, 2011
Time: Arrive from 6pm for the Ignite Contest, speakers at 7:30 pm until approx 9:30 pm
Where: Paramount Theatre, 25 Courtenay Place, Wellington

Free registration!

We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Amie, Catherine, Kirk and Siobhan

Speakers

Brenda Wallace - Oversharing geeks on wheels
Christine Brooks - Improv and other drugs
Drew Broadley - SPCA Special
Edward Murrell - Chasing merino: a year of New Zealand made
Jeramiah Ross - Life out on the Waves
John Robson - Being Reasonable
Jon Brown - In The Long Run We Are All Dead Creative
Mike Eager - Poems from a long walk for freedom
Mike Riversdale - Paul Henry wants me to be your Governor-General
Neil Plimmer - Energise our Cityscape
Owen Evans - We're not in Guatemala now Dr Ropata: Get over your 1st world problems
Samantha Hannah - *Why* do Wellingtonians have a fascination with black?
Volkert "Oakley" Jürgens - Catching up with the family

Ignite #4 November 2011 Sponsors

Gold Sponsors:

Silver Sponsors:

Contact us to have your logo here!

Photography Sponsor:

Video Sponsor:
Hoccus Foccus

Ignite Wellington #3 - photos and videos

2011-02-11T15:25:00.019+13:00

Thank you to everyone who came along to Ignite Wellington #3. We hope you all had a great night, and enjoyed the diverse topics from our wonderful speakers.

Veli from @HoccusFoccus has worked his magic and has uploaded all of the videos from the evening. You can view them by clicking on each speaker's talk title, as listed below. Thanks Veli!

There are also some awesome photos taken by Jason Naylor from We Do Photography & Design for you to check out. You can view the hilarious photos from the Photobooth here and see photos taken during the course of the evening here.

We managed to raise $338 in donations for the SPCA, so thanks for your generosity, we really appreciate it!

Speakers' videos

Tom Beard – The unbeatable geekiness of writing: text, technique and technology

Greer McDonald – Burger she wrote: food porn for the nomnivore

Emma Harrison – Confessions of a roller derby addict

John Hart – Local food, an endangered species?

Nick White – The power of speech

Richard Aindow – My life with mayonnaise

Jennifer Dickinson – From La Calisto to Victor Victoria

Leigh Strange – Where’s yer teatowels?

Mark Cross – Storytelling as a gourmet art

Geoff Simmons – Saying goodbye to Nana

Reuben Metcalfe – Businesses without bosses

If you would like to speak at Ignite Wellington #4, or nominate someone to speak, please drop us a line at speakers@ignitewellington.co.nz. Remember, it’s not the CV that counts – it’s all about great topics, passion and aroha! If you're a sponsor hoping to help Ignite Wellington be super-successful, contact us at ignite@ignitewellington.co.nz

See you all in another 6 months, at Ignite Wellington #4!

Reminder: Ignite is this Tuesday!

2011-02-06T19:29:00.010+13:00

A wee reminder that Ignite Wellington #3 is this Tuesday! We hope you've registered here, because tickets are flying out the door! You will need to check in before taking your seat too, so make sure to say hi to the volunteers on the door downstairs.

Please remember to bring some loose change to donate to the wonderful SPCA. We'll have a couple of volunteers who will be collecting on their behalf. We love the SPCA, so please show them how much you care too.

The run sheet is as follows:

6:30 - 7:30 'Maker' contest in the Paramount foyer
7:45 - Prizegiving in the Paramount Theatre
8:00 - Ignite speeches
8:45 - Intermission
9:00 - More speeches
9:45 - Drinks at St Johns Bar

We will provide scissors and sellotape for the Contest, but it would be great if you brought along your own scissors too. And in the event that there aren’t quite enough pairs to go round all the teams please remember that sharing is caring!

Once again, Ignite would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, so we’d like you to give them a huge round of applause on the night: SilverStripe (gold sponsor), Catalyst90, Provoke, and St Johns Bar (silver sponsors).

We look forward to a night of inspiration, fun and frivolity. See you there!

You got to be in to win!

2011-02-05T19:36:00.010+13:00

You could win stuff at Ignite! Every Ignite evening starts with a Contest, where you team up and compete against each other in a challenge revealed on the night. It is fun and a great way to warm up before the main event! And because a contest is not complete without prizes we are grateful to the businesses who have generously donated cool stuff. We have coffee tins & coffee beans, chocolate, snapper cards, tweet4yourtee vouchers and 2 tickets to Wordcamp to give away on the night! Everyone who registers will go into the draw for some of these prizes.

A huge thanks goes out to Mojo Coffee, Whittakers, Snapper, Tweet4yourtee & Wordcamp for helping to support Ignite. And thanks to Ollie the dog for modelling a tweet4yourtee shirt.

Also we would love it if you could bring along any spare change to donate to our chosen charity - Wellington SPCA.

Wellington SPCA cares for around 5,000 animals each year at its animal centres located in Newtown and Waikanae. They never turn away an animal in need of help. They rescue, rehabilitate and rehome abused, neglected and unwanted animals and where appropriate take prosecutions under the Animal Welfare Act.

Sponsor Aroha

2011-02-01T14:45:00.007+13:00

It goes without saying that Ignite Wellington would simply not be possible without the support of our ka rawe sponsors. By supporting our event, Silverstripe (gold sponsor), Catalyst90, Provoke, and St Johns Bar (silver sponsors) are helping to Ignite Wellington in an evening of inspiration.

We’d like everyone to paki paki and cheer these four companies for their awesomeness. Tēnā rāwā atu koe!

You can support us too by coming along to the Paramount on Feb 8th. Once the talks are over and while you are still buzzing with enthusiasm and inspiration, please join us all for a drink at St Johns Bar. Meet some of our speakers and sponsors, hang out with the Ignite team, share your favourite moments from the talks, and even ask about being a part of the next Ignite.

We look forward to seeing you all next Tuesday at Ignite Wellington and afterward at St Johns Bar. Ka kite!

* aroha = love
* ka rawe = awesome/choice
* paki paki = clap
* Tēnā rāwā atu koe = thank you!
* Ka kite = see you later

P.S. Make sure you register to secure your seat! For regular updates follow us on Twitter at @ignitewelli, or become a fan on Facebook.

Mark Cross - Storytelling as a gourmet art

2011-01-27T15:03:00.006+13:00

Mark is an experienced telecommunications engineer with a passion for biochemistry and food. In his 5 minutes of fame on the Ignite stage, he will talk about 'Storytelling as a gourmet art'.

Video:

Reuben Metcalfe - Business without Bosses

2011-01-26T15:31:00.006+13:00

Reuben is a serial-start-upper, music geek and life-hacker who writes his own bio's.

He's partnered businesses, written albums, lived under bridges, brokered utilities, translated Japanese-Paint-Specification-Documents, and often comes across as a caricature of every salesman you've ever met.

He also has a passing interest in the future.

For those clever enough to attend Ignite, he intends to dazzle them with a veritable splurge of information related to what's happening currently in the world of collaborative and democratic business models, and how it's becoming easier and easier to do business without a boss.

Video:

Richard Aindow – My life with Mayonnaise

2011-01-26T08:26:00.004+13:00

Richard Aindow is many things to not as many people. A sort of writer, kind of broadcaster, not really sportsman. But, as an ex-Englishman, Richard can't help being eccentric: he has collections of metal toast racks, Tower scales, View-Masters, CDs in alphabetical order, and Mexicans (amongst other things) and appreciates the finer things in life, like bread. He also enjoys examining what some of his favourite things say about him. For Ignite, Richard explores his relationship with mayonnaise.

Richard is also the General Manager of Wellington's Magazine, FishHead. He is lying about his collection of Mexicans.

Video: