We had enough interest to set up a hosted blog at http://www.ignite-phoenix.org so please update your bookmarks and other links. The RSS feed for the new site is available here.
We’re stoked about running an Ignite session in Phoenix, so check out the new site and get involved!
What appeals to me about O’Reilly’s Ignite format is the free and open information exchange and the incredible opportunity to network.
There are only about 15 presentations in a night, 5 minutes each, with a rock hard stop at the end. At 5 minutes, you’re off the stage and the next one begins. We put a big break in the middle and at the end for people to talk, mingle, and share ideas. If you see something that gets you jazzed, you can run over and talk with the person right away, and odds are you’ll be surrounded by other people who are just as excited as you.
It took me a while to really get some value out of Twitter, which didn’t happen until I found a few local Twitterati who shared some common interests. Those contacts took me to new contacts, and now I follow so many interesting people it can be a bit distracting. I think Ignite can be like Twitter in creating those sort of unexpected connections that lead to exciting ideas for both the people who come and Phoenix overall.
It’s not a big lecture or presentation, just a bunch of hard hitting, short and to the point I’d had a Twitter account for a while, but what really took it off for me was when I found local people who had similar interests and we began to talk. Each new connection led to even more new connections, and soon I was having all kinds of interesting
Yes its our Hello World! post. I was hoping for this moment: HELLO WORLD!
Sarcasm aside I am very excited to be working on the project with Jeff. Our hope is to genuinely create a tech culture here in Phoenix. Not a tech business network but a tech culture, meaning a group of people who have a passion for tech and want to hang out a discuss what they are doing with it, be it for business or fun.
I am Roger Williams and the other igniter is Jeff Moriarty. We are ready to see more action taken for making the tech culture in phoenix really start getting together and mingling. I am coming from a sales background and Jeff is a programmer. We want to see more done outside of the regular way of networking. No more single presentations for 1 hour. You get 5 minutes, make it good, make it addictive. You also get to hear 16 presenters, listen up and get involved with the ones you like.
So leave us some comments about what we are missing and what you want to see done to make phoenix a tech haven.
