Thanks for a great event, Boise! By most (all?) accounts IB|01 was a smashing success. But there’s always room for improvement. If you have ideas on how we can make IB|02 even better, please comment – we want your feedback.
What worked? What didn’t? What would you do differently? Please share.
I think it went extremely well, the only part I have trouble with was trying to write down the contact information from a 15 second slide
A program or list of presenters and their contact information would be great. I would also encourage the presenters to include their contact information (if they choose to) on each slide.
Thanks for a great event … Scott
Have a handout or something with the contact info of the speakers. It all went by quickly and there’s not always an easy way to grab people afterward. Maybe just publish their twitter names on this website?
Otherwise, fabulous job! Hats off to all of you!
The biggest draw back for me was the night. I would have much rather of had it on a Friday or Saturday night so I could have hung around longer. I really wanted to continue with the awesome conversations that were being had afterwords.
mainstream the topics you choose. I did not end up going because the topics were too irrelevant to my life and did not appear to be “englightening” to business thinking. Perhaps that wasn’t your point. If it wasn’t, future igniteBoise events won’t be for me either, and I respect your choices, but the topics were off the wall and seemed a waste of my time. I did not want to hear about guy’s poor hitlines or coworkers who send poor emails among other topics.
Fifteen seconds per slide is great, so don’t change that. I enjoyed to some degree the speakers trying to get it figured out too; Sometimes successfully and sometimes train wrecking. However I think if you had a tool for the speakers and perhaps the audience too, which showed a countdown it would improve synchronization substantially. Think of the lights used for the debates that go from green to yellow to red. Or preferably a row of 15 high intensity RGB LEDs that turn off one by one and shift from green to red as time runs out. This enables the speaker to easily know how much time is left with just their peripheral vision or a very quick glance.
Great event. Looking forward to the next one.
1. I was not aware the presos and titles weren’t available in a “program” to attendees. Definitely something to include next time.
2. The venue was great. In all the years I’ve lived here I never thought I’d stand on the stage of the Egyptian. It’s a bit like Boise’s Carnegie Hall (well, maybe not, but the thought is there).
3. Keep the format and variety of the subject matter. If this was a “Hey, look at my business” type of presentation event I would not attend or likely want to present (again). Boise is better than that and we can get our fill of that stuff at Tweet-ups, Kickstand, Leads groups and a hundred other places. This format was fun, informative and entertaining. It makes for a great evening out. Keep it fun and interesting.
4. Related to Justin’s comment, I saw one of the other Ignite presentations (Reno?) had a countdown bar on the screen visible to both speaker and audience. However, it could be distracting as the audience might pay more attention to the countdown than to the presentation – hoping for that “train wreck”.
5. Watch where you place banners, some were blocking the projected images on the stage. Or, make the maximum slide dimensions smaller. Or make some design recommendations in the instructions. Some presenter’s slides were hard to see the entire slide because they were blocked by stage banners and because they used the entire dimensions – border to border.
6. Don’t announce presenters early (before the published deadline). I think I know why you did it this time, but it might discourage those waiting for the deadline or who haven’t yet submitted yet.
Minor stuff. Everyone did a great job, the organization seemed to go very well. Definitely looking forward to #2 and beyond. I think it can just get better.
I was very impressed with how smoothly the event went for the first one! I enjoyed the variety of speakers.
Sometimes the speakers seemed unaware of the slide changing. If there is a way for them to face the audience and see the slide that is behind them, that may be helpful.
My companion, a non-twitterer, felt there was a lot of self-congratulation-ing regarding the use of twitter.
Enjoyed it! Planning to go to the next one.
I liked the energy which means I liked that it wasn’t perfectly smooth. It was just right, in my opinion, in that regard. Keeps the attention. Too smooth means predictable means cliche means boring.
Agreeing with scott prock and cece that contact info for presenters (maybe as a 1/3 sheet handout at door or lobby as leaving? on back of tickets?) would’ve been a plus but I was able to find by googling so no huge deal.
Respectfully disagreeing with Eric as I think a FR or SAT would’ve been a lot more crowded and I really really loved the venue. Thanks for choosing the Egyptian. Think local. Think unique.
Really disagreeing (respectfully) with Chris Keller (see note above on predictable and boring). I want to be challenged, I want creativity. There are a zillion ‘grow your biz’ presos. I want different.
RE Justin — I like (and not in a masochistic way) that the slides progressed automatically and not always in line with presenters’ speaking. This made it human and I connected. Everyone (presenters) were good natured about it. Keep it a little raw like that.
All in all—-beautiful. Looking forward to #IB2.
Sorry for not re-reading before I hit submit.
inre – FR or SAT night: I meant crowded — outside. Though I didn’t follow, I understood a crowd went over to Grainey’s afterward.
inre – masochistic. I should have said — sadistic (since I wasn’t a presenter). Perhaps I could wiggle out by saying it was such a wonderfully participatory experience that I felt I was up there on stage with them…..?
Thx.
Loved it! Thought it was an amazing, energy-filled supportive and inspiring event.
I agree with the above suggestions for a program of sorts – very basic, nothing fancy at all – just a page with copy on both sides with the presenter order, 1-line summary of the topic, contact information.
Also – from a presenter standpoint – would have loved to get to know my fellow presenters in some fashion prior to the event. Maybe a day before run-thru/meet & greet or a day of 2 hour before something. Amazing folks that I didn’t get to spend much time meeting.
But really – this was a well-run fun & spontaneous event and the organizers and volunteers deserve a ton of kudos! Proud to be a member of IB1!
1. Most of the topics were amazing! It’s been a long time since I’ve walked away from a presentation of any kind feeling that inspired. I think that’s the best reason to keep away from any organized topics – there really was something for everyone at IB1!
2. I’ll jump on with everyone else – definitely would like bios and contact info on the speakers. Gives good opps for advertisers/sponsors to be noticed too.
3. I liked the wrench the slide speed threw at the presenters. It added to the enjoyment of each presentation.
4. Perfect evening and location – I wouldn’t have gone to a Friday/Saturday venue.
Overall, I felt it was a fantastic event. Perfect location. You guys did an exceptional job especially for the first one. Were there small issues and problems? Yes. That’s expected though in your first attempt at putting on an Ignite event.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please keep the business type marketing presos out of future events. We can get that crap elsewhere. I know it’s tough telling people(sponsors) that they can’t sell their product or business at the event, but it would be appreciated if that could be kept at a minimum. The balance was good, and if that’s as much as we will get in future events, it’s not going to keep me from going. I just feel the more organic and genuine you can make the event, the better.
“Off the Wall” is what we need more of. The Zig Zigler, Tony Robbins, and 7 habits presos we have all seen and heard before. If that is what you are looking for, you can find it online in thousands of locations. Boise needs highly creative people and non-traditional thinkers to spark the future events. I don’t need some suit preaching to me about how to “Think Outside the Box”
Thursday night is perfect. Plus, it’s a good way to get people out in Restaurants/Venues on a non-weekend night to boost downtown business.
Eric Hildreth has a great point-holding the event on a day/at a time that would allow more interaction afterward would be very useful.
I was tremendously impressed and look forward to the next. I strongly agree with keeping the subjects eclectic…and not business/marketing. Thurs night is great. Some sort of countdown things for the presenters has been mentioned. My main observation, though, is get a headset microphone. Presenters should be able to talk with their hands and/or more comfortably hold notes.
Really nice job, everyone.
Track web traffic on the IgniteBoise site! I don’t think Google Analytics or any other traffic monitoring code was added to the site (please correct me if I’m wrong!).
We need to know what online sources are generating the most traffic, how people search for and fin the site organically in search engines, how the site’s buzz scales and builds as the event nears, and how the performance from year to year compares.
All this data would allow us/you to do an even better job of promoting the event!
Congratulations to the organizers and presenters. And many thanks to the volunteers and sponsors.
The venue was great. The format and flow of the evening was terrific. Passing around the food samples from the local grocers, while conceptually OK, distracted from the subsequent presenters. In a 5-minute presentation one misses a lot of slides in a 30 second food exchange.
Ignite Boise was fun, thought provoking and I applaud each speaker. I will attend again and continue to encourage others to support future Ignite Boise events.
i thought that the rough bits, like Cheryl said earlier, were a part of the charm and contributed to it being an exciting event. I was surprised to be chosen and am proud to have been a part of the first event.
I think you should try not to make it “perfect” by trying to satisfy what everyone else wants. Keep with your vision and move forward.
My only question is this: Pecha Kucha is trademarked, right? So is that why this one is Ignite? I guess I don’t understand the details. I also find it hard to believe that you can trademark an style of slide presentation.
i had a great time, and can’t wait to invite more friends to ignite 2. i really liked the fast pace, and my only suggestion would be to try and continue that fast pace with the presenters etc. the rhythm of the presenters was great, but it seemed interrupted by the sponsors and other misc. announcements. don’t get rid of those other things, just look into keeping up with the quick pace so it’s not disjointed. great diversity in topics too, keep that up. i think this could be a great place to hear about the amazing things people here in boise are up to.
thanks for putting this together. i’m sure a LOT of work went into it, and you all did a fantastic job.