Again, it was very enjoyable, and the shortcomings have already been discussed. Thank you very much to the organizers and sponsors for a great evening!

@Derrek “slides… are rotated and advanced at the whim of the projectionist”
That’s not how it works, it just seems that way sometimes when the speaker goes too fast or too slow to sync with 15 sec/slide.

The “2″ denotes that it was the sequel to a smaller show developed and presented in an advertising office. The original premise was this: People give five minute presentations on a subject of their choosing to an audience just like office people do in office meetings. You know, with powerpoint slides, and some guy standing up doing the “I’m not used to people looking directly at me” bit. But, all the uncomfortable pauses are played for laughs because … here’s the twist … the presenter gets only twenty slides, and they are rotated and advanced at the whim of the projectionist.

Of course, this simple smart ass gag could never sustain a packed house for two hours, and I was relieved when it was dropped right out of the gate. Quite simply, the caliber of the presenters was too high for the gag to work. What did work was the audience really seeing themselves in almost all of the presenters, because everyone in the room was a geek.

Yet there were still some missed opportunities, which I’ll point out here. There was no beginning. A show begins with a curtain or a drum roll or a lighting cue or a fart or something. Ignite lurched and halted while every sponsor did their little number in front of their thirty foot logo (which I’m not knocking, the show was free after all) and the projectionist still thought his gag was funny the sixth time.

But, as the first presenter was announced I was preparing to laugh. It turned out the first guy didn’t show, but this being the digital age, they had his slides, so they pushed some other dude on stage with a handful of notes. That’s a recipe for laughter folks. They told us what was going to happen before he even opened his mouth: he had to ad lib, and the audience went right along with it.

So ten seconds into the show, I’m thinking, man they should make more of these presenters ad lib in front of someone else’s slides … maybe not everyone, but it could be like the lightning round or something. Speaking of which, here’s the rest of my suggestions for Ignite Portland 3: Not all the presentations are going to be great, so get a gong for when the energy sags, or better yet, really commit to the slide rotating idea but chose your moments. Don’t tell the audience to boo people off stage. Clearly, Portland geeks are way too polite for booing someone off. Oh, and get me involved, my part can be drinking beer after beer and making sound effects, except on stage this time.

Ignite 3? I’ll be there!

I was grateful that someone on Twitter mentioned the doors opened at 5:15 because I would have missed that otherwise and likely not gained entrance if I’d arrived at 6 like I’d originally planned. Perhaps a little more talk about that in the days leading up to the event would be helpful to some. Then again, you may get people camping out at 8 AM, and the venue may not appreciate that.
I was able to do a little networking, mainly meeting Twitter friends in person. But some games/challenges are often fun for the naturally introverted art/tech community.

Overall, great event. Can’t wait for the next one.

I thought it was a fantastic evening-as a volunteer it was a great crowd, as an attendee for the rest of the night I saw some fabulous talks, and @kveton quoted me in his presentation. I met some net.friends for the first time in person, I made new friends, and I got to tell a lot of people some stuff they didn’t know. Bring on The Third!