Next Week, 500+ Geek Talks Around the World

Brady Forrest writes "Next week, from March 1-5 there will be ~65 Ignite events happening around the world. Ignite is an opportunity for geeks to share their passions and ideas with local peers. Each speaker gets 20 slides that each auto-advance after 15 seconds for a total of just 5 minutes. The result is bite-size chunks of information that inform the crowd on new topics. Most of the Ignites will be streamed on the new Ignite video site."

Comments

500 geeks talking *simultaneously*?

[PaulBu]

;)

Re:500 geeks talking *simultaneously*?

[Cryacin]

15 seconds per slide for a total of just 5 minutes.

It'd be advantageous to all of our family's sanity if Aunty Jane and Uncle Joe's holiday slides presentation had that rule....

Re:500 geeks talking *simultaneously*?

[Clover_Kicker]

Actually your nose shuts down after the first 150 or so.

Ever been in a modern chicken barn or (gods help you) a fox farm?

Re:Let Me Calculate

[xenn]

Turn in your geek card immediately. Reading comprehension in mandatory.

OMG its twitter irl

[Jailbrekr]

Can they add the rule where its kept to a maximum of 140 characters as well?

Re:Let Me Calculate

[The Wild Norseman]

Reading comprehension in mandatory.

In mandatory what?

Well, TED did jump the shark this year

[SuperBanana]

So in other words, this will be TED without the elitism (used to be you had to get "invited", now you can't join at all except to pay $1k to get streaming video), astronomical ticket prices ($6000 to attend the conference!), etc?

Christopher Poole, founder of 4chan, was invited to talk this year at TED.

"Eyyyyy!" *splash*

Re:Well, TED did jump the shark this year

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/185

Also, from a reddit interview with TED founder Chris Anderson:

"It's kind of a myth to think that if we would only cut the price, everyone could show up and join in. We have an event that is sold out a year in advance, and we can't make it much bigger than the 1,500 who come now (plus 400 in Palm Springs) because it would get too impersonal. If we cut the price (which is normally $6k), it wouldn't allow any more people to come, it would just increase the number on the waitlist. At the same time we'd be losing the dollars that have paid for the creation of our website and allowed free distribution of the content to the world. (TED is a nonprofit -- all the conference profits get recirculated to TED.com, TED Prize, and other programs. No one's making money.)

I agree, it's right to reserve some places for people who can't afford the admission, and that's why we introduced the Fellows program. Each year about 40 people get fellowships ... but they're chosen out of more than 2,000 who apply. And as you noticed, we offer a reduced rate to some nonprofits and educators.

Happily the TEDx program has spawned literally hundreds of independent TED events that charge $100 or less for admission. We think more than 50,000 people have attended one of these in the past 12 months, so that's a lot more TED access than there's ever been before."

Re:Well, TED did jump the shark this year

[afabbro]

I wouldn't pay fifty cents to see another TED video. They're all the same. Someone who is famous for something stands in front of a pretty slideshow and states 3-4 little-known facts that are interesting and draws obvious inferences from them. He then says thanks and that's it. Heck, I could read the backs of Trivial Pursuit cards and get the same thing. I have yet to see a TED video where the presenter ties all of his ramblings together into a prediction, or a new synthesis. They are all just regurgitated fact-sharing.

It would be all-right if the fact-sharing was educational or comprehensive. "I'm going to explain the housing bust to you" or "let me explain how X works". Great. But TED is neither comprehensive nor educational. It's just random observations, hypothesis, exposition, and "let me tell you a story" stuff.

I watched one by Misha Glenny not long ago. I've read and enjoyed his books, but the TED video was like sitting with him after he's had a few beers and listen to him talk stream-of-consciousness. Kinda interesting but after a few minutes you start to think "where is all this going?" and it turns out it's going nowhere. His books told the story of post-war Eastern Europe and had a definite goal. The TED video felt like "they paid me to stand up here and entertain you for 10 minutes".

Every single video is like that! TED is waste of time.

Why not Pecha Kucha?

[lennier]

15 slides for 20 seconds... this sounds like an unbranded knockoff of Pecha Kucha, which has 20 slides at 20 seconds.

I know the PK crowd is haunted by architects and designers and artisty Mac-using types... and maybe they're a bit tight with control of it... but why not just join/run PK events in your area, or create more? Why does the world need two names/brands for what's the same idea?

Re:Let Me Calculate

[Arthur Grumbine]

Reading comprehension in mandatory.

In mandatory what?

Yeah, he really shot himself is the foot with that one.

Re:Let Me Calculate

[The Wild Norseman]

Yeah, he really shot himself is the foot with that one.

That seems really too good to be true.

Re:Geeks Vs Nerds

[DerekLyons]

I mostly agree. I've been saying for some years now that back in the day, geeks/nerds were people who were passionate about some out-of-the-mainstream interest. SF, computers, model railroads, real railroads, chess, war games, obscure bits of history...
 
But nowadays 'nerd' is synonymous with what would have been called a 'computer geek'.
 
The meaning of geek has suffered an even worse fate - geek now means conformity. It's not just about being into Star Trek or anime, it's about having seen and being into the right anime. About knowing the popular cultural references. About having read the right books and seen the right movies. (Hence the phrase "geek cred" and "turn in your geek card")
 
I don't call myself a geek or a nerd nowadays, because both terms have been rendered essentially meaningless.
 
Hmm... I guess I don't agree after all.