Ignite Portland

Are you ready? Here’s a few things we’d like you to know:

1. There is no dedicated parking at the Bagdad. This means you’ll have to deal with the mess of trying to find street parking near Hawthorne. Unless… you take the bus. We’d love for you to take the bus. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors. The 14 line stops right in front of the theater, and you can catch it downtown on 2nd Ave. Bus 75 stops just two blocks away at SE Hawthorne and 39th, and it runs all the way from St. Johns to Milwaukie, connecting with MAX twice: at Lloyd Center and N Lombard. If you need more info, go to http://trimet.org, or try the Google Transit trip planner.
2. Ignite is here to be documented. Bring your camera, your video camera, your tape recorder, or even a notebook. You could just sit and watch, but wouldn’t it be more fun to take pictures? AlphaGeek TV will be streaming live with four camera operators, for anyone who can’t be at the event in person. You can go to their site to find the live video tomorrow night.
3. Don’t bring anything you can’t carry around. There’s no coat check, and we’re expecting a big crowd. Ignite attendees are a friendly lot, but your brand new MacBook Air might be too tempting if it’s left on a seat.
4. The Bagdad does have wifi, but we can’t guarantee it’ll work if everyone tries to check the Super Tuesday results at once. This might be a good night to leave the laptop at home. Asking around for information (”Hi, I noticed you were looking at your iPhone. Do you know how the primaries are going?”) is one of my favorite ways to mingle.
5. The theater will be full. Saving a seat for your friend is fine, but if they don’t show by the time the presentations start, we’ll be asking you to move in so everyone can sit down. Help us make this a fun night for everyone.
6. Since the theater will be full, you’ll want to show up early for the best seat. Doors open at 5:15. We have reserved seating for the speakers and sponsors, but everything else is first-come, first-served.
7. The Bagdad’s full menu of food and drink will be available for purchase, so you can come straight from work without finding dinner first. They’ll even bring it out to your seat while you sit back and enjoy each presenter’s five minutes of glory.