Presenting at Ignite for Beginners

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I suppose I could have given this article a really provocative title. Something like “Set Your Career on Fire with Ignite!” Or worse.

But, since this is FreelanceSwitch, I’ll have to be more low-key while telling you the truth. And that is to suggest you try something new. And, at first, you won’t be very good at it.

The “it” I’m referring to is called Ignite. Despite its name, Ignite has nothing to do with fire. Although you may feel like you’re on fire while you’re participating.

Simply put, Ignite is an event that happens in more than 100 cities worldwide on a regular basis. Participants get up on stage in front of an audience and speak for five minutes on a topic they’re passionate about. Does this sound like a challenge you’re up for?

Ignite Presentation Tips

Igniter Tip: Your first talk will feel like the longest five minutes of your life.

You’ll need to provide 20 Powerpoint-compatible slides to accompany your talk. And guess what: You don’t have control over those slides. One of the Ignite organizers will be running the projector.

Igniter Tip: Synchronizing your words with the slides is crucial. So, when you’re practicing your talk, set your presentation design software to advance your slides every 15 seconds. Be sure to practice your talk more than once. Veteran Igniters devote many hours to practicing their talks.

I did my first Ignite talk in June. It was in front of an audience of several dozen lively people who’d made their way to an old warehouse in downtown Tucson, Arizona. The warehouse is being renovated, and the finished building will house an art school and gallery, meeting space, and a brew pub.

Judging from their wandering around the premises, the forthcoming brew pub seemed to be of greatest interest to the June Ignite Tucson audience. But, in the meantime, they were more than happy to tough it out with the bottled beer from the cash bar.

Igniter Tip: You like beer. I like beer too. But no beers for you until you’re finished with your Ignite talk. You want to look and sound your best.

So, I had to write a script – and memorize it. Reason: It’s not cool to get up on the Ignite stage and read from your notes.

My Ignite talk covered two of my favorite activities: bicycling and photography. Put the two of them together and you have bike-tography.

It was easy enough to find photos to illustrate. After all, I’ve been pedaling cameras around for 30 years. Putting captions beneath my photos? Piece o’ cake!

But I couldn’t just throw images with captions up on the screen. I had to talk about them passionately. That’s the essence of Ignite.

So, I had to write a script – and memorize it. Reason: It’s not cool to get up on the Ignite stage and read from your notes. Or from your slides.

This was the weakest part of my presentation. The writing of the script was fairly easy, but I didn’t practice enough to become completely comfortable with it. My delivery should have been as natural as a conversation between friends.

Igniter Tip: Your first talk will probably go like mine did. You won’t be the best Ignite speaker of the evening, and you won’t be the worst.

Highlights of an Ignite Event

One of the highlights of any Ignite evening is the wide variety of topics covered. In just a couple of hours, I learned what my fellow Tucsonans were doing to:

• Help people with AIDS
• Blend altruism with business
• Develop effective creative processes
• Teach everyone – including non-artists – how to draw and paint
• Explore our city by playing games

It was also an opportunity to observe a wide variety of presentation styles. And, if you’re a student of performance, it was a great school for learning what to do – and not to do – while on stage.

Stirring the Public Speaker Inside You

As mentioned above, your first Ignite talk probably won’t be one for the ages. But I encourage you to give it a try anyway.

Public speaking may be one of the most feared things on earth, but it’s a wonderful way to increase your visibility and credibility. And it doesn’t take more than a five-minute viewing of the news to understand that highly visible, credible people go a longer way in life than the obscure.

So, get up there on the Ignite stage!

If presenting is something you are working on now, then in addition to Ignite you may want to look into Barcamp. Read up on How to Present at Barcamp and Love It.