Ignite Orlando took place on March 4th at Slingapours in Downtown Orlando.
For those unfamiliar with the Ignite, it’s a fast-paced educational and networking event for geeks. Basically speakers get up on stage and have five minutes to talk about their topic. The interesting part is that they have to present using no more than 20 slides that rotate automatically after 15 seconds. It makes it very entertaining to watch.
Some of the topics that were covered were Obama’s Stimulus in Orlando, An Intro to OAuth, Freelancing in the New Economy, OpenID vs. Facebook Connect vs. Google Friend Connect, NerdaPalooza Event, Using Newl Media Tools to Make Your Community a Cooler Place to Live, Programming in Not Pretty, CoWorking in Orlando, Building Referrals from Your Existing and Previous Clients and more.
I really dig the 5-minute format because I can get the nuts and bolts of a topic and it fits nicely with my attention span 
Half-way through the sessions, there was a contest where attendees were grouped together to make a bridge out of drinking straws. Teams competed against each other and the strength of the bridge was measured by the number of rolls of pennies that could be placed on it, before it collapsed.
Ignite was started in Seattle back in 2006, by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis and has since spread across the world. If you have the opportunity to attend one in your area, it will definitely be worth your while.
Here are some pictures of the event…
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I never knew about Ignite. It would really be interesting to learn about people's presentations on Obama's stimulus package, the whole OpenID/Facebook Connect/Google Friend Connect comparison, and Freelancing in the New Economy. Like you, I have a short attention span as well, lol. But those are topics interesting and relevant and I'd love to hear what "geeks" (as you say) have to share about it.
Thanks for the write up Missy! We are glad that you liked it!
Great fun and informative event @IgniteOrlando!