About a month and a half ago, I decided to submit an idea for a talk for Ignite Charlotte 4. To my surprise (I’ll let you know whether it was a good or bad surprise after it’s over), they accepted my idea.
In case you’re not familiar with the Ignite format, each person gives a talk with 20 slides that automatically advance after 15 seconds, for a total length of 5 minutes. I’ve attended the first 3 Ignite events in Charlotte, and true to the Ignite motto, “Enlighten us, but make it quick!”, I’ve found each one very enlightening.
The title, which it turns out is the longest title of any of the talks, and it’s not that close, is “Couch to 13.1: How an Out-of-Shape Nerd Completed a Half Marathon.” As I wrote on Twitter after I found out: “I was selected to give a talk at #IgniteCLT.Not sure which was crazier, deciding to run a half-marathon or deciding to give a talk about it.” I’ll definitely have more to write about the subject after my talk, since there’s a lot of stuff that won’t fit into a 5 minute talk. It’s definitely been difficult putting everything together, and being as shy as I am, the thought of getting up on a stage for 5 minutes with a slide show that goes on whether I’m ready or not scares the hell out of me. But I’ve been practicing, I’m making progress, and I think *fingers crossed* I’ll be ready.
Ignite Charlotte 4 is at the Neighborhood Theatre this Tuesday night, March 20. Admission is free, but you need to RSVP by Monday. If you’re not in Charlotte, I recommend checking out Ignite if there’s one close to you. You can go to IgniteShow.com and find one in your back yard, or just watch videos for past talks from around the world.
Even if my talk doesn’t go so well, I’m sure the 11 other speakers will be brilliant. Come check it out if you can.
