ignite talks

Traditional speakers at professional conferences talk for an extended period of time, either as a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, or panelist.

A few years ago a new trend emerged in the world of sharing ideas.  TED and other conferences made shorter talks popular.  These were kind of like the intellectual version of "speed dating."  At one conference where I presented, there was a series of "ignite talks"-- these were designed to be high-energy, exciting introductions to ideas that would get the audience thinking and hungry for more.  They were also required to be no longer than five minutes.  (You can see one I did at the 14:00 mark HERE.

On Cake Wednesday the week after Spring Break (May 1) every single member of our learning community will give an ignite talk.  There will be no passes, no "I forgot"s, no exceptions.

How will we manage this?

Our ignite talks will be no more than one minute long.

"Impossible!" you say.  Nonsense.  You can see links to previous speakers and topics HERE, HERE, and HERE.


Here is what each ignite talk will include:

• Your big question/ masterpiece topic (1-2 sentences)
• One thing you did over the break to explore your question/topic (1 sentence)
• One thing you learned by exploring over the break (1 sentence)
• One connection you see between this course or something we read and your question/topic (1 sentence)
• What you're doing next (1 sentence)

Since we will not have time for audience questions on the day we give our ignite talks, please also create a post for your blog (title: IGNITE TALK) in which you write out these 5-6 sentences and invite commenters to contribute ideas or questions.  If you have any questions or technical challenges please email or comment to this post.

Looking forward to learning from you!