Presenting - the Ignite way

Today I gave a presentation – actually two – but they were very different.

How many of you have heard about Ignite?

Ignite is the name for a particular type of event that is held throughout the world—organized by volunteers—at which participants speak about their ideas and personal or professional passions according to a specific format. The event holds the motto, “Enlighten us, but make it quick!” Anyone can throw an Ignite event. The presentations are meant to “ignite” the audience on a subject, whereby awareness, thought, and action are generated on the subjects presented.

Ignite is a presentation format that is shorter than the Pecha Kucha format, a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each, but longer than lightning talks, which are short presentations from five to 10 minutes in length. At an Ignite event, each speaker has a time limit of five minutes, and must use 20 slides with each slide advancing automatically after 15 seconds. This forces speakers to maintain a rapid pace. At a just-comprehensible clip of 160 words a minute, Ignite speakers can utter about 40 words per slide, making a total of 800 words for the complete talk.

Personally, I think this is one of the hardest methodologies to present.

You only have 15 seconds per slide – that means you need to get your point across in a very short time. Precise, and concise. The clock waits for no man

Visual slides are advised, it helps you get your point across. And bullet points should be kept to a minimum.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this presentation. It took only five minutes – but preparation on the ideas, the delivery and content took over 2 hours.

A great challenge and something that I would totally do again.

Below is the presentation (specifically in PPT format – since all the animations and timing are built into the presentation).