Things that might not work out (that worked out @ Ginglik)
Things That Might Not Work Out by Jennie Albone – Ignite London 18 November 2009 from hurryonhome on Vimeo.
It’s a dark art, talking. It got lost somewhere and IMS, powerpoint and the internet got the blame. In English classrooms throughout the country, students flail through Speaking and Listening assignments unable to connect with their audiences, talk in sentences and do more than read off what’s projected on the wall. Successful consultancy firms are investing in presentation skills training for their workforce because ’soft’ skills like eye contact and not soiling your bespoke suit actually, really matter.
It’s exciting, then, that events exist for people to talk passionately and knowledgeably about things. That these events draw capacity crowds. Crowds of polite, interesting people who don’t hurl things like insults or faeces at the speaker.
I have to confess something at this point. It’s not as shameful as revealing your greying thong to traffic lights in an epic binge Britain session. Or that your monthly spend on hair extensions exceeds the GDP of most countries (or, perhaps more apposite, the fiscal deficit). But, I’ll be honest, until a few months ago I’d never heard of Ignite or O’Reilly media.
You might not have either, and that’s okay. Basically, O’Reilly supports Ignite (and various other ventures) as a powerful but benign older brother, as well as spreading innovation knowledge through services, conferences and technology books. The Ignite concept is innovative in and of itself. Speakers have five minutes in which to enlighten their audience about a chosen topic without faffing, deviating or shameless self-promotion. And to make sure it only takes five minutes, they have twenty powerpoint slides – changing every 15 seconds – to make that point.
I keep saying ‘they‘ or ’speakers’. Partially because I want to retain some detachment from the clearly deranged girl in the video at the top of this post. And also preserve the belief that my discourse isn’t actually comprised of ‘um’ filling with a bit of ‘nice’ and ‘yeah’ garnish. But mainly because this is a worldwide event in which people from diverse industries and specialisms come together to talk.
Particular favourites from November 18th were: Ben Hammersley’s, ‘The Sex Lives of the Great Renaissance Masters’, Matt Baker’s Diarrhoea and Dodgy Doners: What’s Special About Bacteria’, Ashley Beningno’s error(e) 404: Italy as a Country Not Found and Matt Edgar’s ‘1794 – So Much to Answer For’. Possibly a purely personal subjective preference, but you’ve got to love anything based on sex, death, bowel movements or heavy-duty sarcasm (preferably not a heavily sarcastic bowel movement).
In a generally greying, get-your-coat-it’s-freezing-and-we-can’t-afford-the-central-heating, hang on a sec – Greenland’s got oil and it’s prepared to sell-out and burn out for it, basically bastard upcoming winter, thanks have to go to Amy Thibodeau and Dan Zambonini for organising the first Ignite London event. Because valuing speech doesn’t have to mean standing outside in an inhospitable London November and watching scary fundamentalists compete at Speaker’s Corner.
