Ignite Taipei

Looking back at Ignite Taipei #4

It’s been 5 days since the last Ignite Taipei, slowly but surely starts to sink in, and get into the post-event mode. A very different event this time, with good and not so good aspects, and all-in-all averaging out to be “awesome”.

The Chinese language Ignite events we have I try to make it more experimental. Okay, that’s not the whole truth. For the Chinese language events I have to rely on my Taiwanese co-organizer, Tifi, and she is in many ways more adventureous, I have to give her more leeway and independence than I could normally do with my controlling attitude. Thus it’s more experimental because I can give away some of the control and learned much more about the “do and let’s see what happens” attitude. One advantage is that once that happens, I can contribute more ideas as well, that are testing her control about things, so it goes both ways. Which makes it just a really interesting and valuable experience.

The venue was a new one, just a big room compared to the previous coffee shop. More spacious, ready to be adapted, though we have to take care of more things ourselves - mostly the drinks and snacks for the audience.

This time our promotion was a bit late and low profile, but we basically had just enough people for the number of seats, about 60 guests.

The programme had 10 speakers, together with the starting introductory talk by our host, Irene (who as a speaker last time). Originally we had more but as usual people dropped out as we got closer to the event. We had one surprise speaker, who showed up and said he’d like to give a talk, and in the spirit of “winging it”, we took him in.

This time we had quite a few travel related talks, which always open one’s world. Others I’m not sure yet (will have to wait till our subtitle project catches up with the new videos we’ll post of this event).

And I gave a talk too - that’s proper scary for someone who does not speak Chinese, apparently I haven’t looked up from my notes for the whole 5 minutes, and the native speakers understood “about half” - and the Taiwanese are known to be overly polite. :) Well, anyway, it was fun to do, and there will be a video of that, along with all the other speakers to immoratalise my attempt. Though, I was really glad that the speaker following me was a great one, people have laughed a lot, and took off the pressure from me. :P

The catering was experimental as well: pay-as-you-like. Now that didn’t work very well, so next time surely go back to the previous model. It was worth a try, though.

(Click to see all the pictures in our Ignite Taipei #4 photo album.)

I really had a great time, and I hope the people who came did have too, thanks a lot for coming! Now getting on with Ignite Taipei #5, the next English language event, coming this June.

Can hardly wait. :)

^Greg

Ignite 背景小知識！

顧名思義，”Ignite”的英文意思為『點燃』，我們希望透過這個組織能讓各位觀眾點燃自己的靈感，而讓這個小小的啟發繼續蔓延進而改變自己的生活也帶給周遭的人更廣的視野。

Ignite 為世界性的演講機構而歷史也超過十年，最早的Ignite組織起源於西雅圖，由歐萊禮媒體公司贊助（歐萊禮公司是出版電腦資訊書籍聞名於世也為開放原始碼書籍的先驅之一）以及Make雜誌，形式有點類似日本的Pecha Kucha，由西雅圖開始之後，全球一共有超過五十個Ignite在各大城市落地生根。舉例而言，除了Ignite Taipei之外，在世界各地還存在著Ignite Vegas，Ignite Seattle，Ignite Singapore等各大城市的Ignite，而每個Ignite都有著自己的特色也可以使用自己的語言。以最原始的Ignite Seattle為例：他們於二零一一年十二月七日已舉辦了第十六次的活動，每次活動參與人數已超過三百五十人，透過贊助單位的宣傳，觀眾人數亦逐漸增加中。而Ignite Taipei的特色為英文版及中文版兼具，舉辦時間則各相隔三個月，主要是以台灣本地為主。

Ignite的宗旨為 “Enlighten us, but make it quick!” 意思是則為『迅速且有效率的激發你我的靈感！』Ignite 每個演講限時為五分鐘，由二十張投影片以十五秒的速度自動化呈現，而最特別的是，所有人都可以成為講者。

何謂所有人？所有人的意思是指只要民眾想與更多人分享自己的經驗及興趣都可以報名成為講者，不管是否為一個知名人物抑或是一個工程師、廚師、學生、油漆工人，只要民眾有意願想要與其他人分享自己感興趣或是自己的專業都可以報名成為講者。

-Tifi

我眼中的Ignite Taipei

其實一直想寫這篇卻一直忙的昏天轉地，

畢竟要我說出與我這麼親近的東西到底是什麼，著實有點困難。

Ignite Taipei是從去年的六月開始進入到我的生命，

從第一次的講者到第二次的主辦人，一次一次，在跟Greg溝通的過程中我真的學到很多。

說實話，我不敢相信在過去的幾次活動中會有這麼多觀眾這麼多人捧場，

每次在活動開始前我真的都很緊張，手掌不停冒汗，坐也不是站也不是，

隨著時間倒數，看著觀眾一個一個入場，我心裡的重擔也一點一滴的放下。

大家專注的眼神、講者揮灑的熱情、可愛豐富的中場遊戲（很高興得到很多好評！）

都是我們繼續下去的動力。

（也不好意思我一直在逼迫大家寫問卷，因為這樣才能知道我們哪裡還需要改進！）

三個月一次的時間真的不算充裕，甚至可以說是蠻趕的，

加上自己還有課業要顧、三個家教學生以及自己的工作室，有時候真的忙不太過來，

真的很感謝Greg真的負責了大部分的工作，還一直很怕麻煩我（我真的好羞愧噢！）

要是沒有他，Ignite Taipei絕對不可能走到今天。

（我自己一個人是絕對撐不起來這個組織的，連剛剛想說要不要換個網站版面都不知道該從哪裡改起，只好茫然的關掉好恐怖的HTML）

Ignite Taipei或許不像TED或是其他非常大型、非常正式、非常具有規模的非營利組織，但是這也是我喜歡它的地方。它有著自己的魅力，它給了所有人一個空間、一個場合、一個機會，好好的分享著自己的喜怒哀樂、生活體驗、人生經歷。即使每個演講真的都只有短短的五分鐘（我當初自己準備演講時也想說，天啊這未免也太短了吧！）

但是就是因為這個速度感，更增添了它的魅力。

其實對我來說，給一個三十分鐘甚至一小時的演講不難，但是要把內容完整的在五分鐘內表達卻是件很困難的事情。你必須去蕪存菁，將原本會存在的廢話全部刪除，留下那些最吸引人最美好的部份等著大家來欣賞。

在問卷裡，很多人說他們喜歡Ignite Taipei是因為它的氣氛。我想我也是。我好喜歡所有陌生人都坐在一起，你不知道你旁邊那位是誰，但是因為一個短短的共鳴，你們搭上了第一句話；你不知道你會聽到了什麼樣子的演講，但是因為這不確定性，反而促成了滿溢的期待。

Ignite Taipei 某種程度跟Lomography一樣，你不知道在那膠卷上呈現出來的影像到底是什麼，你只透過了一個玻璃框，一個不甚完美的塑膠相機，但是洗出來的美卻是無法預測的。

那種驚喜感，就像Ignite Taipei一樣。

謝謝你們的支持，也希望你們能讓這樣的Ignite Taipei繼續下去。

-Tifi

Speakers wanted, inquire within (yourself)

Every time when we are organizing an Ignite event, the most difficult part is to get speakers for it. Not because there are not enough people in Taiwan, but because most people think they don’t have anything interesting to say.

That’s of course an illusion. People are more likely to praise someone else’s storytelling ability, and it’s easier to listen to someone than to dig into yourself and find the things that would really worth sharing. It’s much more work to do that, and if done well, there’s no guarantee what what you’ll find will be even to your liking - but I’d argue it’s still one of the most important thing one can do.

This is Sascha, despite this look (sorry!), I don’t think he ever wondered “what can I say that interests people?” That’s always a wrong question to ask.

When we get people interested in becoming a speaker, one of the first thing to send to them is a link to Scott Berkun’s Why and How to Give an Ignite Talk? That talk has a lot of useful ideas, and makes people think more freely about what can be a topic: everything’s a topic. Everything that motivates you, everything you’ve ever done, everything you’ve ever failed to do, those are all good. The more personal, the more surprising, the closer it is to the person who you want to be (instead of the one you want to look like), the better it is. I’ve seen some amazing talks on Ignite’s YouTube channel, and in our previous events as well - the single best predictor whether a talk will touch the audience is the speaker’s motivation to give a talk, not their skill.

As an organizer, I have to take care of the speakers, have to make sure that they are happy and that the audience is happy as well, regardless of the difficulties. For example, there are always speakers who want to promote their group or activity, who just want to reiterate something that’s more fit for a TV ad - or for TED - then for us. Also there are speakers who want to go on stage, but don’t know what to say. In both cases there’s only one thing I can do: take a little responsibility, and suggest them more refinements, or even new talk ideas, based on what I know about them. And I do like to take up a challenge - if they ask me for a couple a suggestions, I give them a dozen. And then some more.

I believe in exercising the “idea muscle”, so even if it’s not my job to come up with those dozen ideas, I do want to make it mine - because if I can, they you can 10 times better, since you know yourself much more than I will ever be able to. And if I do, maybe you’ll see it’s not too bad.

On the other hand, I hope I can know you just a little bit better through hearing what you want to share. We have our speaker application form open 24/7, look inside you and and give it a try.

-Greg

The Tale of Two Presenters

I’m on the Ignite mailing list, always full of interesting information. The latest one was a comparison of a great and a not so great speaker, shared by Phil Ernhardt. I’ve suffered through plenty of bad speakers, and this might be useful for Ignite as well as other talks people might have to give, so I thought it’s really worth passing it on.

The year is 1997, this is the return of Steve Jobs to Apple, and during the MacWorld conference, there’s the CEO at the time, Gil Amelio and him giving two drastically different presentations.

First up is Gil, he stumbles, rumbles, been surprised by the slides, all around awkward. It can be like any old meeting where you are keep checking your watch when will it finish. Well, it’s about 7 minutes this time.

An then there’s the part where Steve Jobs is on stage. He tells a story. The slides are merely a backdrop, you could even take them down and you’d still know everything that’s going on. He engages with the audience and talks to you, he wants you too feel the fire, the inspiration, the enthusiasm that’s inside him.

There’s a lot of technical speak that you might not know. But the tones and attitudes are unmistakable.

So if you want to be a speaker, either at Ignite or anywhere else, be more like Steve, and not like Gil.

(And by the way there’s Ignite Taipei #4 coming up, in Chinese, you can apply to be a speaker there, or apply for the English language Ignite #5 in the summer).

-Greg

Subtitle project

After the success of the 3 Ignite events we had last year, I was thinking what more we could do to make Ignite Taipei into somewhat of a “model Ignite”, something that can even sversaet an example for other events around the world.

One thing kept coming back to me as very important thing to do to make it a real cross-cultural event, but haven’t had enough motivation until I heard Amberdine’s Ignite Intro talk at our last event, talking about how we really do reach out to both English and Chinese language audience by hosting events alternating in one or the other. There was however very little communication between those, because many Chinese speakers don’t understand the English language talks and (especially) vice versa. We needed subtitles to bridge the gap.

So we started transcribing and translating the 34 videos we have so far. It is a lengthy project, from my experience to transcribe and properly subtitle a 5 minute talk that was in English takes at least about 3 hours. Transcribing a Chinese language one is much longer because there’s no help from Google’s machine translation, unfortunately. So I can see it will take a while, but at least we have started. To date, there’s Tifi’s Ignite Intro from our event #2 both in Chinese and English, Amberdine’s Ignite Intro and Shanni B’s art activism talk from event #3 in English. Hopefully soon we’ll cover all of them and can update you about our progress.

To see the subtitles, just click on the CC icon on the video toolbar and select your language (especially when there will be more).

We also want to transcribe and translate some of the good global talks, and translate our talks into other languages beyond Chinese and English. If you feel you can help out anything, either fixing up our existing subtitles or with these future directions, just drop us a line at info@ignitetaipei.tw and we’ll surely appreciate it.

Last but not least, I’m really looking forward to the results as well - so finally I can know what happened at Ignite #2. I was running the slides but my Chinese is not good enough to even know the topics. Which is frankly speaking quite embarrassing. Time to fix that.

-Greg

A little bit of expanding

經歷過Ignite Taipei#1, #2和#3，我們也得到了一些回饋、一些支持、及一些意見。

從中我也知道了要如何讓一個活動更有規劃、更有組織、更有影響力。

非常感謝那些持續支持Ignite Taipei的朋友，也感謝那些聰明並充滿創意的講者，我們非常感謝他們的分享以及經驗。

Ignite Taipei似乎已經上了軌道，但事實上，我們需要更多的拓展、更多豐富的演講。或許我們的力量仍然不足，還需要更多努力才能將這些靈感推廣到更多人的耳裡。

Ignite Taipei#4已在籌劃中，我們決定保有Ignite Taipei的固有形式，並在同時規劃其他的活動，以讓Ignite Taipei有著更多創新的嘗試。

我們需要各位朋友的支持及持續的分享，我們更歡迎各位朋友報名成為講者，讓您的經驗及專業能讓更多人聽到。

我們或許還沒能力改變這個世界，不過我們正在往那個方向前進。

謝謝你們。

After Ignite Taipei#1, #2 and #3, I appreciate every suggestion, every encouragement and every feedback. I learn how to improve our event and make it more organized and more influential.

Thank you all my friend for supporting us so long, and thanks to those innovative and creative speakers to share their wonderful experience. 

Ignite Taipei seems to work well, yet, I still need more expanding and more great sharing. I know that my effort is not enough and I need to work harder to let those wonderful speeches get into people’s mind. 

Ignite Taipei#4 is in its way, and both of us organizers decided to keep I original way of the events. However, we are planing other activities to try different things. 

We need everyone’s support and sharing, and we welcome everyone to sign up to be a speaker (more than welcome!) .

Maybe we still don’t have enough power to change the world, but we are on the way of that. 

thank you all.

Tifi

Looking back at Ignite Taipei #3 

Finally it seems Ignite #3 can be wrapped up, the videos have been edited and posted online, the photos collected, feedback forms analyzed, and finally can take a breather and reflect on how was it.

Links to media:

Ignite Taipei #3 video playlist ((CC-BY) recorded and edited by Timothée Pineau):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3E836EE67746BCD

Video of Intermission (people sharing their “coolest story”) - webcam quality:
http://www.justin.tv/ignitetaipei/b/303959299 

Photos (by (CC-BY) Chia-Da Hsu):
https://picasaweb.google.com/105063034975793099674/IgniteTaipei3

And some more photos (by (C) Tobie Openshaw):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8265706@N05/sets/72157628696801731/ 

Some thoughts:

(These are just my musings, does not necessarily reflect the ideas of my co-organizers, who are fortunately all independent thinkers and I learn an awesome lot from! :) )

It was quite a different event than I expected and quite different from the last two Ignites we had. Not sure what makes that difference, maybe the audience was more mixed, coming from all different areas. It’s interesting to hear their feedback, most especially because the majority of that feedback goes directly opposite to where I would like to take Ignite. The more I think about it, the more I feel that I failed in one respect - giving a clear idea what Ignite is, what does it mean (to me at least). I do understand why people enjoyed the parts they did, and I do understand why everyone wants to transform it to the way it would fit their image of a good event.

On the other hand, I’m a firm believer that one should not always give the people what they say they want. Just as Henry Ford said that “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse’” - and not an automobile.

There’s a lot more ahead for Ignite, and I hope we can challenge the audience just as much as the speakers - and ourselves (when we are putting this event together). And maybe we have already started to do that?

Maybe many of the complaints and suggestions come because people were at the edge of their comfort zone, experienced something unusual - and they want to get back into there. Instead, why not push a bit more forward and see what’s outside that comfort zone and learn something new?

Happy New Year and Cheers! :)
- Greg 

2 days till Ignite

Almost there, less than 2 days left till the third (and last) Ignite Taipei event of 2011. I’m buzzing with too much excitement and too much organization is left to do to think clearly, but it is shaping up to be a really interesting event.

We’ll have altogether 11 speakers, 11 completely unique talks about…. well, actually I’m not all that sure just yet. As it happened with the last 2 events as well (and likely to happen in the future too), the speakers are still hard at work on their slides. I know because they told me. ;)

They have to be. It is not an easy task to prepare a 5 minutes long presentation so that it has enough content, but not too much. Interests people but not sells. Sound coming naturally from within, not being a forced act.

Well, actually I cannot say that I’m completely in the dark myself. Let’s just say that among the speakers we have global traveller, documentary film maker, songwriter, journalist, businessman of an alternative kind, the most energetic person you’ll ever meet…

The most inspiring part for me, though, that the people audience turn out to just as exciting and interesting every time. It feels like we are doing something right to be able to get such a crowd together.

There’s still a bit more to do before the (figurative) curtain is up.

^Greg

————————————-

Ignite Taipei #3
2011 December 29, Thursday, 19:30 (doors open, talks start at 20:00) - 22:00 
海邊的卡夫卡, 台北市中正區羅斯福路三段244巷2號2樓
Kafka by the Sea, No. 2, Lane 244, Section 3, Roosevelt Rd.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=6071919448752534138
The entry is NT$200 which includes a drink.
https://www.facebook.com/events/279829082062280/ 

Date set for Ignite Taipei #3

As the end of the year was approaching, I had no other choice just to finally come up with a date for our third event. As an expat staying over the holidays in Taiwan, it kinda makes sense to choose it around the time when others are celebrating, so I can celebrate in my own way, together with friends and future friends in a fun and geeky way.

So Ignite Taipei #3 is set for December 22 December 29, Thursday evening. The place is the same as before, Kafka By The Sea, a surprisingly spacious and event friendly cafe in a university and student rich part of Taipei City. 

We have a handy event listing on Facebook, useful to see how many people are interested in coming and passing on the info.

Starting around 7:30pm, we usually run for about 2.5 hours, plus hanging out afterwards. The entrance fee is 200NT, which covers a drink as well.

I guess before the day, more people will check out the videos we took at past events (I certainly love checking them out again and again:) on our YouTube channel.

Also, we are always looking for adventurous speakers. If you think you can inspire and enlighten us, in a mere 5 minutes, then fill out our speaker application form. If there’s anything else you feel you can help us with (volunteer helper that night, sponsorship, advertising, technology), please let us know on ignitetaipei@gmail.com

Well, we have one month left, it will be tough. But it will be a fitting celebration of an awesome year. :)

- Greg

[Edit on Nov 25: update the date, should be final]

敬請期待Ignite Taipei #3!

敬請期待Ignite Taipei# 3 !

感謝大家的支持及愛戴，我們已成功舉辦了Ignite Taipei#1 及#2，而Ignite Taipei#3也已於籌備中囉。

於籌備的過程中，我們希望各位都能機會參與。

如果您曾被Ignite Taipei#1及＃2的演講感動並從中得到一些靈感，也希望有機會能給自己一個發聲的機會，請填寫以下問卷讓我們知道您有興趣成為下一次Ignite Taipei的講者。

請一次只填寫一個您感興趣的話題，如果您感興趣的主題不只一個，也請您多填寫幾次問卷。

經由這次的問卷調查，我們希望能募集越多對相同主題感興趣的講者並給各位觀眾最好的演講品質。如果有過多申請者，我們也會建立新的篩選機制及舉辦更多不同主題的Ignite Taipei event讓所有觀眾及講者都能獲得一樣的機會。

所以當您對任何主題感興趣並希望將您的所知所學分享給其他人，請別吝嗇藉由此次機會激發更多人！

此外，要是您對Ignite Taipei的活動及任何建議，也請您寄信至ignitetaipei@gmail.com或於facebook留言，我們會密切注意並給予回覆。

再次感謝各位的支持，也祝各位有個美好的週末。

Ignite Taipei

Working on our next event

Now that we have two successful Ignites behind us, there’s even more to look forward to.

We have started working on our next big event (let’s call it Ignite Taipei #3), and we need you for that. If you are inspired by our previous speakers and would like to give a talk as well, you can submit your talk idea using the Ignite Taipei speaker application form. Please submit one talk idea at a time, if you have more than one, you can fill out the form as many time as many ideas you have.

The idea of the form is to start requiting interesting speakers as soon as possible, and if we have enough applicants, we will have a selection procedure to bring you the best talks. On the other hand, if there are a lot of speakers, we might just create more events for everyone to be able to enjoy. :) So please, any time you have inspiration, let us know!

Also, if you have any other idea about events we should do, let us know that too. :)

From Ignite Taipei #2

Reflection of Ignite taipei#2

在某個炎炎夏日的傍晚，我親愛的好朋友Greg撥了通電話給我。

“Hey, Tifi, when will you be available? let’s meet up and catch up with a few things! :)”



這個暑假從一剛開始就充滿著種種的不確定，
原本該有的3M實習生因為種種因素而取消，原本該去的駕訓班跟法文課也因為一些原因而暫緩，
那時的我看著白白的行事曆感到一股衝上喉頭的恐慌。

難道我升大三的暑假就要渾渾噩噩的過了嗎？
要是這三個月我什麼成果都沒做出來該怎麼辦？

恐

慌

。


直到Greg的那通電話那個親切的邀約那個溫暖的笑容詢問我對於主辦Ignite taipei的意願時我欣然答應。

說不定這是個好機會讓自己有些不一樣的經驗。

整個過程中我慢慢的摸索著該何去運作。
雖然當過第一次ignite taipei的講者，卻對需要準備什麼需要注意什麼有些茫然無知。

依照著上次Greg寄給我的一些信件及自己摸索來的成果，
我盡可能的搜尋一些管道散佈這個活動的資訊。
同時，我也絞盡腦汁的思考著有什麼適當的人選？
有什麼我認識的人會想分享自己的經驗？

經過一個一個的詢問，經過一個一個對象的調查，
總算名單差不多確定了。

再來，除了如何宣傳這一個大家都沒聽過的活動我也盡可能的寄信通知各位講者任何資訊並關心他們演講準備的進度。

因為第一次準備這種活動，仍然感到相當的壓力。
（雖然Greg一直跟我說放輕鬆準備就好，可是個性緊張的我卻依然失眠數日）

在這過程中我發現，很多事情不會真的照自己的計畫走即使自己認為有多麼的可行。

我以為設立的進度表就可以準時的完成我們的計畫，
可是我卻發現，即使我訂了期限，也不見得對方有辦法在期限內完成。

或許是我將一切計畫想的太完美讓進度在自己的小世界裡滴答滴答的前進。

不過還是很感謝各位講者的配合及付出，很多很認真的講者在我寄信通知的幾個小時候就準備好寄發回來，
並隨時與我保持聯絡。

也感謝很多熱心的朋友願意來幫我們的忙。

各位朋友，你們都讓我覺得我不是一個人。


每次上線都一定第一個看ignite taipei有沒有新的通知有沒有新的留言，
光是一個like都能讓我嘴角上揚，我知道又有一個人能看見我們支持我們的努力。

在活動的前一晚我幾乎睡不著，要是人來太少或是人來太多我該怎麼安排？
要是有一些講者沒辦法出席怎麼辦？
要是有些觀眾對我們感到很失望怎麼辦？

天空在我輾轉難眠的時刻悄悄泛白，而我的煩惱卻沒隨著太陽的出現而蒸發。



終於是ignite taipei這天了。
提早了兩個小時到了現場，也看到自告奮勇的工作人員已來到了現場，
Greg正在準備儀器，我則與其他的工作人員將現場整理了一下。


7:00
有一些觀眾已抵達，真是讓人驚喜。

7:20
越來越多觀眾湧入，越來越多。

7:30
正是開放進場。

7:45
座位幾乎做了八分滿了，看來大家都好準時很踴躍。

我，相當感動。


8:00

節目開始。


從一剛開始的介紹的緊張都後來的游刃有餘，我發現我的神經不再那麼緊繃，
看著大家聚精會神的神情，小小的成就感在滋長。


原本一直很擔心中場遊戲大家會害怕與陌生人講話，
沒想到活動進行的相當成功，
各位也都很開心的與彼此交流討論，
在這過程中我看到了我期待中的笑容。


很快的，節目也接近了尾聲。



節目結束後有些觀眾前來與我聊聊，
我真的覺得好開心各位的前來各位的支持。

大家的鼓勵大家的加油都讓我的眼淚默默的在眼眶中流動。


我做到了，

我們真的做到了。

Ignite Taipei #2 videos

Videos are uploaded to YouTube from the 2nd Ignite event in Taipei on September 1. Only in Chinese at the moment, but working on translation.

It was a great event, thank you everyone for coming!

There are 13 videos in this playlist, watch them in HD!

Fill in this questionnaire to help us improve

Starting to recover from last week’s event, and will post a review of our experience in the coming days.

In the meantime: please fill out post-event questionnaire if you have been to Ignite Taipei #1. We want to make the #2 event better, and for that we have to learn what you have liked and what you haven’t.

Thanks a lot! ^^

(This is just a preview. Click on the picture to see the whole thing ;)