Thursday 28 July will see the hosting of Auckland’s inaugural Ignite event at Britomart-based business hub Generator.

Ignite is a free networking and knowledge-sharing event, currently held in over 100 cities worldwide, where presenters from a wide range of backgrounds share their personal and professional passions. Each presenter is limited to 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes. The Ignite motto is ‘Enlighten us, but make it quick’.

Ignite Auckland 1 is hosted by Buddle Findlay partner Sacha Judd. Presenters include Paul Brislen from TUANZ, Ana Samways of the NZ Herald’s Sideswipe column, clinical psychologist Melanie Lake, Socialize founder and Generator resident Steve Adams, educator Pete Hall, Russell Briggs from Auckland Museum, architect Natasha Markham, organisational development specialist Jessie Bloore of Fluence and Rob Coup of geodata mapping service Koordinates.

Doors open at 6pm and there will be a cash bar. A warm-up ‘maker’ challenge starts at 6.30pm, and presentations begin at 8pm. Space is strictly limited, so visit www.amiando.com/aklignite to register now.

How Ignite began

Ignite began in Seattle in 2006, as a personal project of Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis, from technology media company O’Reilly.

They conceived it as an event where people could share their ideas over beer, and sent word out through their network. That first night, 200 Seattleites looking for ‘a fun night of geekery and networking’ squeezed into a bar.

The evening kicked off with a friendly but intense competition to build the sturdiest popsicle-stick bridge. Then 25 locals took to the stage for their five-minute Ignite talks, to an enthusiastic reception.

As word got out, other communities wanted Ignite in their cities. To date almost 200 Ignites have been held around the world. Run by local volunteers connected through the global Ignite network, it’s described by its coordinators as “a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections in each city… Fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, global.”

Local talks are streamed and archived online, allowing those around the world to share the participants’ collective knowledge and passion.

Visit the Ignite website at http://ignite.oreilly.com.

Ignite Auckland
Thursday 28 July
Generator
Level 1, 28 Customs Street East
Britomart

Doors open 6pm, warm-up challenge 6.30pm
Presentations begin 8pm
Registration at www.amiando.com/aklignite