Lets start with this: Congratulations to all the time and effort put into Ignite Lansing by the volunteers. It was a fun and wonderful night. It was so much better than I expected, as this was my first time to one of these Ignites. I look forward to the next event, and ideas have been mulling around in my head to even submit a speech idea or two next time.

But what about my question. Are we burning up? I don’t think so just yet, but it seems a good pyre has been assembled. What needs to be done? We need to break out of the echo chamber. Echo Chamber? Yes. It seems to be that people there are just patting one another on the back, and it seems that very little good information is escaping from the event into the general population. I have seen only the article from the LSJ about the event, nothing on twitter or Google. The presenters need feedback, so we can all grow to be more effective for the future and igniting that pyre.

The Care and Feeding of Sue; or how to keep your woman happy – by Brian Azar
Brian’s was fun and lighthearted. He discussed how to maintain life with his wife. Now, I am sometimes critical when someone stands up and just starts to talk about his/her life and come across as their choices were correct for all situations. Brian really didn’t give off this vibe. He just talked about his experiences, joked them up, and gave insight. This was a nice way to start the night. Brian gave something else to me: A feeling that anyone can get up and talk in front of people. See, I am the type that fears public speaking beyond most else. Brian built up the idea that even I could do this. I think it was planned this way to open the show.

Welcome to Willy Wonka Land!- by Lisa Nowak
Lisa’s presentation was about random and odd fruits of the world that we would rarely see here in Michigan. Honestly, Lisa’s speech was boring to me. The subject of fruit, what they are, how they taste, just made me stand there non-engaged. Lisa did a fine job at the presentation. Then at the end, Lisa really pulled it together and made a spark. She asked for others that may have similar desires to contact her and see if they could start a group to import or locate rare fruits. This is EXACTLY what Ignite needs to do, fuel growth.

The Food We Eat – by Tom Hilker
Tom’s was arguably the best speech of the night. Tom is a high energy person. Tom is a driven person. Tom was effective. Tom talked about personal health and how the food we eat affects it. Tom’s message was simple in the end: Make your food quality, Eat simple portions every 3 hours, Eat more whole foods. Tom’s energy infected the audience. Tom knew his speech so well that when none of his slides worked properly, he described everything and got his point across greatly. Tom taught us that high energy and belief in the message delivers the best message.

Sadly no pictures of Chris came out.

Design Thinking and the Leadership of the Creative Class- by Chris Bachelder
Unfortunately, I stepped out during this one, so I was not able to take notes. My sincere apologies to Chris. I am asking around to see if anyone else can spark my memory. I will update when and if. Someone want to comment to make me remember?

Presentation Fail: The Art of Confusing, Boring, and Nauseating Your Audience – by Karissa and Stephen Purchase
Karissa and Stephen, I know what you were trying here: trying to show others how to express their ideas, the reason behind Ignite. Sadly, Presentation Fail, unless if you meant to give us an example of what not to do. I don’t want to pick you apart too much here, but here is my opinion. Karissa, you were the weak point. You spoke too fast. You didn’t enunciate. You didn’t use the microphone properly. Therefore your message was lost.
Stephen, you did better with the message and the process, but you did one thing that just annoyed me to the point that I was left not really wanting to listen to the rest. The statement where you compared yourself with Steve Jobs, and suggested that you two were of similar fabric, I found to be in bad taste. Saying that Steve is a good presenter is one thing, but linking yourself to him as being your personal role model just hurt the message in my mind. I have to admit, though, this could be poisoned with my own opinion of Jobs in general.

Clearing Hurdles in a Wheelchair- by Emily McQueen
Emily’s was the heart-felt, build me up speech of the night. She talked about how she has became a marathon racer in the last few years and that little side fact about how she has been in a wheelchair for nearly a decade. It was the standard “How I Have Overcome my Disadvantage” speech with a bit of information about wheelchair racing. And you know what, we need these type of speeches. Hopefully they fire up the rest of us to do things. Emily’s presentation drove home in me that point: that here I am a fully functional human and I am not doing everything I can. BAD ME. Then that point was driven even further as I was privileged to see something else of Emily. As I was leaving the event, Emily was leaving. (Side note: there are a lot of stairs in the Temple Building.) She was being carried down. She can’t do stairs herself, but she can go a marathon’s distance in a couple hours with just her arms and wheels. FRACK….I need to do more. Thank you, Emily.

How to kick ass and chew bubble gum – by Justin ‘Bugsy’ Sailor
Justin’s was a message that I was very happy to hear. I am not a sports fan nor athletic, but he really hit home a point that more need to hear. We need to support and offer more options to the youth of our world. We all need too, not just parents, teacher or similar. We ALL do. We need to be more of a community. This was something that even at Ignite needs to be said.

Hacking Usability – by Leanna Gingras
Leanna, I wish I could critique your speech. But I can’t. You did something that made it quite tough on me in the upper levels to hear. You didn’t use the mic well. You kept turning away from the mic, making it nearly impossible for me to understand your message. I hope that once the videos are processed I can watch it again and make it out as the few bits I could make out and the title have my attention.

5 Practical Ideas to Make Lansing Global Again- by Travis Stoliker
Travis’ speech was the fare of ideas of how to make Lansing a business powerhouse again. Sadly, a lot of the message Travis’s was simply ideas of his that had little support statements to make the message anything substantial. Much of his message contradicted my experiences, left me with asking often “What about this or that?” Travis came across as a “Pie in the sky” type to me. We need people like this, but they need to be paired with someone that cannot “Think outside of the Box” to really make options that can change the world.

**Update**

Travis commented here, and I wanted to make sure his question is seen.

How about instead of calling me a “pie in the sky type” and saying “Much of his message contradicted my experiences,” — How about you tell me which of your experiences contradict my presentation? Seems ironic to criticize my lack of substance w/ an equally substance lacking blog post about it. Hehe

Clunkers for Cash – by Bil Moore

Bil gave a message that really needs to be heard by more people in Michigan. We are the car capitol of the world but we all need to understand that we cannot sustainably replace our car every 3 or 4 years. Bil talked about how he has been working to keep his older car moving, shooting for the quarter of a million miles on the vehicle, and how everyone needs a proper mechanic. And he gave real numbers to the savings you would see if you bought a new car with higher MPG versus the lack of payments. This is something we all need to understand in our economy and times.

B-movie Survival Tips – by Steve Jencks
Steve’s time on stage had to be the most entertainment of the night. It was really pure fluff and really a way for him to gather more people to view his other works. Even with that, I loved it. I am a B-Movie buff myself and it was great to see others with the wacky passion. And I am looking forward to following a local creative person such as Steve. But really, Steve, I would rather have a cricket bat anytime versus a baseball bat.

How to Survive Planning a Wedding – by Ari and Jessi Adler
I will be simple here. I did not like this one. This speech felt split in what it was trying to do. It wasn’t informational of how to really survive a wedding nor was it entertaining really. The information was light and the entertainment was just rehashed wedding jokes really, especially stuff about the Mother-in-law. This time just felt like the presenters were saying “Look at us, look at us! We are married. Aren’t we special.” You maybe special for other reasons but not for being married. I have been married for 10 years now. I survived that whole wedding thing and so have many many others.

Food Photography – by Leigh Graves Wolf
Leigh wasn’t high energy as others and I think her speech was a bit too divided in that it really didn’t focus on the food or focus on the photography so much. Her five minutes didn’t really allow the expansion of both ideas. But it did do one thing. It made me want to sit down with her over a coffee and cake and talk about her photography more. I doubt that I will get that chance, but it made me want to do more. And a couple of her photos made me ask “how did she do that?” As an amateur photographer and never been formally trained, I am always wanting to learn from others even if in the finished product.

Give Camp – by Carla McWherter
Carla was there to simply report on another event that happened in the area. Give Camp happened to bring together developers with non-profit organizations. It led to more and more groups deciding to have an Internet presence. Give Camp is a great idea. Though the presentation was a tad boring, it contained information that needed to get out, especially to the crowd at Ignite. More people need to investigate Give Camp to see if their talents can be used. My answer to Carla’s question of how to get Geeks to work for Non-profits: Beer/caffeine and someone smart enough to interface with the group. I am not really a developer, but I’m still going to investigate Give Camp to see if my knowledge could be used.

Sadly no pictures of Rifino came out.

Handcrafting world class vodka in Michigan – by Rifino Valentine
Rifino’s presentation was really an ad for his Vodka, but I don’t care. It was informative. It reminded us that there are more options that are made right here in Michigan. Again, isn’t this partially why Ignite is being held in Lansing? Now I’m researching where to buy his Vodka locally.

To everyone in the process of Ignite Lansing, thank you, you worked hard for a wonderful night. Hopefully, more of us including myself can make the future ones that much better.