Now that the event is over, it’s time to tell us what you thought about it.
After we do an event, we like to have a thread where you can comment and tell us …
What worked well? (We’ll try not to change those)
Where were the rough spots that we should improve for next time?
So this post is your chance - post a comment below, let us know what you thought of the event, what you liked and give us your suggestions for how to make it better. Just like everything else about Ignite Portland, we need you, our community, to contribute here to make the next one the very best it can be.
Overall I thought things went pretty smoothly.
One rough spot was when your photographer tripped over someone’s bag in an aisle and accidentally bumped the emergency exit door (setting off the buzzer)… oops. Sorry about that. I’ll definitely be paying closer attention to the aisle…
Too full
Learned my lesson to get there early next time.
Can’t say I enjoyed it at all because I didn’t get in. The staff at the door were firm but polite. Pointed a decent crowd of us latecomers to the Back Stage bar, suggesting the event would be livecast on the screen there. False hopes: it didn’t happen, leaving a bunch of people disappointed. The Blazers game was a worthy substitute. And the beer was good, too.
This was my first Ignite, and it exceeded my expectations. The diversity of speakers and topics was fitting for Portland, and I had a ton of fun, even sitting on stairs!
Everything from the sponsors’ ads to the venue (Bagdad) was excellent - looking forward to the next one.
Like Peter, I was unable to get in… walked up at about 6:05pm to the closed doors. Spent about 7pm-8pm at the Back Stage (enough time to get served one drink due to the bartenders’ speed) before accepting that the live food would not happen.
Looking forward to catching a couple clips on this site and hoping to catch a seat next time. Like many people I get off of work at 5-5:30 and camping out at the Bagdad is not a viable option for me.
Excellent event! It was my first Ignite and it was even better than I thought it would be. I especially enjoyed the variety of speakers.
The only problem I had was a small group of people that sat behind us that kept talking (loudly) about their friends. They were a little obnoxious and would not quite down, even after several attempts from people sitting around them asking them to be quite. Maybe next time you might want to have some volunteer staff walk around and keep an ear open for the half-drunk assholes that need to be asked to leave.
Thanks for the great show. Can’t wait till the next Ignite Portland!
I thought in many ways it was the best Ignite Portland to date. Great talks, good crowd, a lot of fun.
One thing that caught me (and probably others) was that the web site says the doors open at 5:30pm, but they were actually opened up a bit after 5. I had reserved seats as a sponsor so it didn’t matter much to me, but for people who didn’t, that half hour could mean the difference between them getting in or not.
I understand from the event side wanting to open the doors earlier to keep the line down and ease the flow. (plus probably weren’t anticipating a full house, which hadn’t happened since IP2.) In the interest of fairness though, I think it’s important to stick to what’s listed.
That’s really the only thing I had… overall an incredible event. (Oh, that and one of the johns was out of order in the bathroom, which led to the men’s line being longer than the women’s, which should never ever ever happen.)
@Jason, I’m not sure it would have helped to wait to open the doors, people would still be in the same position in line relative to everyone else, whether that line was on the street or had already moved inside and into their seats. I was actually kind of glad that I just walked up and found out it was full rather than waiting in line to find out
I thought it was a great event! Lots of great speakers.
@Jason - sure, the men’s line was longer than the women’s, but the men’s line moved faster!
I wasn’t able to get in so I watched it streaming online, which was definitely a suitable replacement though not ideal. My only gripe was the video seemed to buffer any time someone joined or left the stream. I could tell by the count in the lower left hand corner. Otherwise, great experience even from home.
The event ran very smoothly. Great job by the organizers, volunteers and speakers.
I was sad that many people that came an hour early couldn’t get in because there wasn’t enough room.
It was unfortunate that the Back Stage Bar didn’t work out for watching the live feeds, because it would have been an ideal overflow area.
This was my first Ignite. I had heard great things so I came with high expectations.
Overall I was pretty disappointed with the presentations. I found 3-5 of them to be great, but the rest were pretty sloppy. One woman tried to give a funny presentation about rape. Another was shilling her movie about herself. Several others had no POV whatsoever.
In short, I think the event needs an editor. Perhaps I’m naive or just uninformed given that this was my first event. But there are a lot of smart and talented people in PDX, and it would be nice to hear from the people who have the most interesting things to say.
I loved the hyperbolic geometry pitch and really want to hear more!
having eagerly anticipated the event for weeks, my friends and i suffered terrible disappointment when we arrived at 6:00 and couldn’t get in. we stuck around for a couple hours figuring an opportunity might present itself to catch at least some of the talks.
at 8:30 i confirmed with your door staff that dozens exiting attendees were not returning and suggested seats were now available. i was met with vitriolic resistance, the arithmetic confounded them, and I was denied.
i understand that you didn’t expect so many people to show up, but the dumbfounded reaction? i found it absolutely bizarre that an event of “thinkers” couldn’t find a movie screen in a movie theater, perhaps? project the streaming talks to an appreciative flock of eager attendees? on a wall outside maybe? anything?
nope. fail.
Yes, I too was turned away (at 6:15) and was greatly disappointed. I had arranged several things (kids, work, house, dinner, sitter) just to get there 45 minutes early only to be sent home.
I have never been to one and was looking forward to experiencing it live for the first time.
I was able to catch most of it on the live stream, though. I liked the variety and how it kept moving, one speaker right after another. Some of the talks were pretty awkward, but some of that I attribute to the weird side of Portland. Mars, geometry, and wikipedia were my favorites.
This was my first Ignite. I really had no idea what to expect.
Way too many seats reserved for sponsors/volunteers/etc. About half the main floor was set aside and then they weren’t even filled completely. I thought it started at 6, so I guess it was luck that I showed up at 5:30 and managed to get a seat. It’s too bad to hear about so many people who couldn’t get in.
The presentations were hit and miss. Most were good (Mars guy, the cat lady), a few were excellent (how to avoid the psych ward, oxycotin/stress, wikipedians), and the hyperbolic geometry gal was off the charts. A couple went nowhere (ugly is the new beautiful; her slides didn’t make sense, she rambled and seemed nervous) and the “sexy feminist” was preachy and lame. You’re telling a bunch of Portland lefties that rape is bad, really? Oh, and the Andreality lady — how did she sneak in there? Blatant self promotion.
Overall, we enjoyed ourselves but the seating situation was pretty poor.
@Matt, people aren’t necessarily in the same place in line because some showed up based on the (ultimately false) billing of doors opening at 5:30pm. Had they known doors were opening earlier they could have planned for that, or opted to pass on it if they couldn’t make it that early.
When there are more people than seats you’re going to end up with some people bummed they can’t get in, that’s just the way it is. But for those who planned for this based on the advertised door time, got a babysitter, got out of work early, made the commute across town, etc and got screwed because doors opened sooner than advertised, that’s the kind of upset we CAN avoid. That’s all I’m saying.
Watched via stream (THANK YOU THANK YOU for making this available).
I agree with Pierce, loved Case’s enthusiasm on the hyperbolic geometry talk, would love to hear elaboration on what she mentioned about it’s application to mapping social networks.
Also loved Selena’s talk about adventures in voter fraud. And the talk about living on fake-Mars station in the Desert.
The props, 2 person routine, and interacting with shills in the audience were interesting, but I’d suggest capping that to 1 presentation at the end of the first section. More is too gimicky, and raises the production bar in a way that may intimidate people that would otherwise offer good talks but don’t think they’re ‘good enough’ because they don’t have props.
Also agree maybe should cut back on the thinly veiled self-promo talks… Although any self-promo is explicitly against the stated Ignite rules, I think it would make it hard to find good presentations if it were 100% enforced, since coherence and passion are usually closely linked to application, and I do want to be aware of how they’re applying stuff, just keep it tasteful. Saw two talks that seemed to cross the line, and I only saw about half of them.
Also found the talk with the ‘guys suck’ undertone annoying, both in content and slightly angry/condescending attitude. First, talking to a techno-geeky audience, I think she was way off base essentually accusing x# of us as being sexual predators based on stats of overly-aggressive guys in the general population. Also, several of my portly friends have exceptionally beautiful girlfriends or wives, so it’s both condescending and factually wrong to tell us we should steer clear of women that are more physically attractive or fit than we are.
Although it did, obviously, hurt my feelings a bit (especially since I’ve only been on the receiving end of minor, public, malicious sexual assault, never the deliverer), I don’t begrudge her some stage time. She was coherent and well prepared, and obviously cared about what she was saying, which goes a long ways, and I did find other parts of her talk informative. I’m sure she had experiences that justified her position in her mind. Mine differ.
Just a quick note on the crowding/seating/door opening time situation - this is the first Ignite Portland where we’ve had to turn people away since Ignite Portland 2 (in February 2008). Had we known to expect so many people, we might have planned differently.
As it is, we’ll definitely be looking at this as a big issue to address for IP9. I don’t know what the answer will be, and please do continue to share your feedback.
Speaking for myself and the other organizers I spoke with about it last night, we were caught completely off guard that we had to close the doors, and felt terrible that we had to turn anyone away, without nearby overflow. We will definitely take that to heart in our “post mortem” review and plans for IP9.
Thank you all for being generally patient and understanding.
Add me to the list of the disappointed latecomers. Not pissed off, but yes, disappointed. It definitely would have been nice to come up with a live feed at the Back Stage. At least I got to catch up with a friend who was also too late that I hadn’t seen in a while so it didn’t feel too much like a wasted trip.
I’m getting the impression that even had there been a live stream at the Backstage there would have been people turned away from that venue too.
I think it’s also important to note that people arrived early and got in prior to 5:30, but had the doors not opened until that time those people would have been in the long line ahead of those who came later. So the point is kind of moot.
Apart from finding a large venue, which - given the requirements for Ignite would be fairly difficult - I’d say, come as early as you can next time. (or volunteer or be a speaker, of course
)
@Noj. I am sorry that I hurt your feelings.
Honestly, there were men in room last night who have victimized some of the women in attendance. It is certainly each woman’s prerogative to decide how she will handle rape and if she wants to go through the pain of testifying in court, having her reputation smeared, etc. I let the women (note the multiple here) whom I knew would be in that situation in on the fact that I would be bringing it up. All of them agreed that it is an issue that needs to be brought to the community’s attention.
As far as the audience being addressed, believing that a certain man won’t be violent or a sexual assailant because of his education or profession is inaccurate thinking. Making it a “women’s issue” is also off the mark. Women, by the way, don’t “go get raped.” Rapists rape women (and men). Most victims are raped by someone they know.
Because I do feel that the women (that 50 rape victims in the room thing is pretty accurate) who participate in the tech community should be comfortable and safe there, it is a dialog that should be happening and men should be participating in it. The boogie man doesn’t live somewhere else.
As far as the weight issue goes, you are right. The standard is different for men. That is not necessarily a good thing, nor does it take any weight (pardon the pun) off of women to meet an unreasonable standard of beauty. I am not in a very good position to stand up for “portly” women, but I can certainly point out the double standard.
Thanks for disagreeing in such a respectful way.
@Bev
You were still lame and preaching to the choir. You didn’t enlighten anyone. Your energies get channeled into other, more productive outlets, I imagine.
Oh, and: “Honestly, there were men in room last night who have victimized some of the women in attendance.”
[Citation needed]
First Ignite - perhaps my last.
It’s takes just as long to drive and wait for the event as it does to view it - so yes - that’s 4+ hours.
There were 3-5 very good talks. That means there needs to be a better screening process for this to be a sustainable event.
@Phil - If you expect me to out rape victims (or perpetrators that they themselves do not wish to confront), I am sorry. I can not help you.
@Bev, your attempt to apply field statistics to the inhouse audience was a suckerpunch and didn’t win you any fans. Simple as that.
Really loved Amber Case’s Geometry piece and Steven Walling’s View into Wikipedia. Would love more stuff like that.
Also really enjoyed the Poker Alice piece.
Every time a presenter brought us something that they value, an experience or an idea that means something to them, it was interesting to me.
I was insulted by the people who were shilling their stuff. Thanks guy handing out fliers to the folks getting beer, I really want to be advertised to, that’s why I go to Ignite.
And Audrareality didn’t make sense and wasn’t interesting. The last thing we need is another narcissist in Portland saying “Look at Me. I have nothing to add of value, but just look at me.
In all, a really great night.
@Phil
Do you disagree with the statistics? Applying “field statistics” to a general audience is an effective technique to secure someone’s attention. As enlightened as the Ignite crowd may be we’re no exception. It’s a tough subject and the presenter will always comes across chauvinistic; as a father with a daughter I’m glad someone has the balls to talk about it. And seriously, it will always be an unpopular & uncomfortable topic that you don’t win a lot of (male) friends over.
Overall I would give the event a B+, mainly because of the lack of space. I, for one, can’t wait for the next one and will make sure I come a bit earlier.
The producers/organizers did a great job. From picking the site, the talks, the coordinators to herding the herds. Thanks to all the volunteers that made it happen. Perhaps we can recruit from the commenters help for the area they think needs improvement. All hands on deck. That’s the wiki way.
Thanks to the coordinators, wranglers, tech staff, and others who made it possible. As someone who’d never spoken before a large group before I’ll have to say that they helped make what could have been a pretty intimidating experience and enjoyable and rewarding one. Now I have to get “Poker Alice” out of my brain and think of something new to propose - this could be addicting!
Bev, I thought your attire was great. It fit your talk so well. You didn’t just deliver some words, but you delivered a message.
Phillip, Thanks for reinforcing my point of “Go with what you got.” Pressing that record button is so challenging. Thanks for the reminder. Can I borrow your camera?
Sarina: I took that cup of Oxytocin and sprinkled it around a bit. You gave me permission. You gave us all permission.
Amber, you have such a fun world to play in. Now we all want to go there.
Dave, Are you gonna go to Venus next?
And anyone out there who wants to do a talk, start taking slides now. Because if your submission is accepted you may only get one week to turn in your slides. Join the ranks. Submit for September’s show. We’ll be glad you did.
UITNB:)
Duh lady in da “Pretty Woman” dress (pre Richard Gere) raped me with statistics. I told her no but she persisted. 1 in 12 people at Ignite 8 would admit to being raped by her information. 2 in 3.37870452487450284752 of people at Ignite 8 have been or were being raped by du seating. Liked that de no pants guys that followed her.
@Ram, @Kristin - Thank You.
The Ignite crew made it look easy, and I’m sure it’s not. I was very impressed by their low impact organizing of the speakers. I’ve been involved with events where the organizers go way overboard in rehearsing and controlling the presentations. The immediacy and rawness of the talks makes Ignite as exciting as it is.
Thanks to everyone who worked on this. Thanks to my fellow IP8 speakers who were thought-provoking and entertaining–and wow, so brave! Thanks to the IP7 speakers who inspired me (especially Colleen and Kent!). Thanks to the sponsors (who have the best commercials ever). And thanks to the audience, of course. What a great crowd. Portland is just awesome.
I’m sad that I will be out of the country when IP9 happens. I still would be happy to volunteer for pre-event tasks, if there are any.
…not the same Matt Already posting here. “Matt B”. It was my first ignite, recommended by a friend. Earlier that morning I watched all the videos from the previous (iP7). I am glad I did. That convinced me to go. I arrived at about 6:15 like Many other folks. I got lucky, and got in. Re: “at capacity” (which I heard at the front door… before I got in)… Same venue + many returning people + a lot more new people = over-capacity. A preplanned second venue with video feed should be planned. From now on.
My favorite was definitely Amber’s on hyperbolic geometry. It was worth the show. I also liked wiki-master, writer’s block, Mars and fabber. All told, I would say I enjoyed about 1/2 the talks, and only Really liked about 1/4. I have seen other similar comments. The best ones were not selling anything, but just sharing good, honest, humorous (often without trying too hard) stories, and life experiences.
I can’t imagine a show with 20 “winners”. They can’t all be winners, right?! The men’s bathroom line was long, but no worries, that’s where I met and chatted with most folks. Everyone has to get in line at some point. I will be back for another ignite, and be early, and make an effort to chat with more people. Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers for making it happen. Extra thanks to Brady.
Certainly some good talks. Nice people all around. It was fun to have a twitter session going with everyone in the room. I felt bad when the fire alarm went off.
It’s unfortunate, however, to see Ignite (especially in Portland) used for self-promotion and to grind axes.
First, a couple replies:
As the only one who mentioned my handbills directly, @Bridget Pilloud, I appreciate the feedback. However, in my twisted view of the world, I see my handbills as nothing more than a demonstration of how people should “promote” themselves. I let most folks who didn’t want the handbills pass without much of a fight. I’ve spoken in front of groups many times and always expect that if any possible mention of any kind of self-promotion comes out, some people take offense. I’m sorry people feel that way, but I’m not sorry for doing it. For what it’s worth, I was only trying to give people a way to find me on twitter (@phillip) provided they wanted it. (And, to demonstrate how you should be handing out cards or handbills.)
@Kristin –thanks!
Overall, I find the comments about the subject matter of the presentations to be both interesting and unwarranted. I’m not trying to squash anyone from discussing the topics, however, I just figure if you didn’t like a presentation–let alone disagreeing with the CONTENT of the presentation–then all you have to do is present a rebuttal.
I think the organizers try very hard to pick good presentations–but, I’ve seen lots of ignite presentations the ones at IP8 were way above average.
There was a comment about props… while I don’t think my presentation was out of this world, I did intend to encourage others to go beyond simply saying words over their slides. There are so many other ways to communicate–props are just one way. Personally, I find the ignite Portland “rule” against bringing notes on stage misguided albeit well intentioned. Do whatever you want–as long as it’s 5 minutes and on topic then great. Not every presentation will win an award… or the hearts of the entire audience.
The organizers do a great job. I have nothing but positive things to say. However, although I know the organizers know this one gripe, I’ll put it here for a matter of record: you should either resolve the out-of-synch issue with the speaker’s video monitor or remove it completely… perhaps put a mirror in it’s place. It’s worse having it out of synch than to not have it at all.
Finally, because I see a lot of comments opposing “self promotion” I have to step back and wonder what ignite is about. In my opinion it’s about expressing your passion. If self-promotion is your passion then I think it’s fine. Plus, if you don’t give people a way to “buy” whatever you’re “selling” then you’re wasting your time. It’s a call to action in my opinion.
Beverly Fields: I thought you had a good talk concerning things that men do to destroy dating with women. Unfortunately after your talk when you stated that, “All women in this room have issues with men!” I replied, “Have you considered the other side of the story”, and you said, “Good night” and walked away! This made me VERY ANGRY!!!! Don’t tell me that all women are little angels, made of sugar and spice and everything nice. I know better than that! I am 52 years old and I have seen both men and women doing a lot of things to destroy their relationships. Unfortunately there are no standards of “normal” behavior between men and women who are dating. For example traditionally men have paid for dates. The man may not call the woman for several days after the date. When he finally does call she gets upset because she has not heard from him for several days. She thinks he does not care about her. He tells her that he was busy and did not have time to call her. Who is right in this situation? Is it possible that both people are right and wrong at the same time? I believe it all depends on your perspective.
When you turn your back on someone and walk away in a huff there is nothing I can do to get you to listen. We probably will not meet again.
@Ralph When you very rudely came up and interrupted a conversation I was having with someone else to tell me that I must “have issues” with men, I told you I would give you a gold star if you could find me a woman in the room who had never had an issue. When you failed to take my poorly aimed hint, I suggested that almost every woman in the room had had an issue at one time or another and wished you luck.
Please don’t miss quote me. The straw man argument you are creating makes no sense, just as ad hominem attacks add nothing to any sort of intelligent discourse.
The discourse *here* is supposed to be about Ignite and I played a very, very small part in that.
In spite of the fact that I just spoken before a group and am very open to dialogue about the issues I chose to address; my personal space, my energy and my time belong to me. I am not required to waste any of it where I do not choose. Is the fact that you were “VERY ANGRY” supposed to be a veiled threat of some kind? I walked away because you were setting off my “SCARY CREEP” warning system.
Now, can we please hand this discussion back to the people who actually wish to discuss the event? I am not that hard to find on the rest of the internet since I actually use *my* name there if someone has something they would like to say to me.