One of the great benefits of the Web is the ease at which we can share ideas. A decade ago, talks at a conference would be seen by a few dozen to a few thousand people, then never seen again. Now we can watch and share great ideas from TED and elsewhere, from the comfort of our own homes.
One consequence of all this great content is the raising of the bar of quality in the presentations. The originators of TED helped raise this bar, initially inviting in great speakers, but also in limiting their time to 9 or 18 minutes. Here in Seattle, the innovators who created Ignite stepped the bar up another notch. Speakers get just 5 minutes, and to ensure they never go over, they get exactly 20 slides which automatically advance every 15 seconds.
I’ve given two Ignite talks so far, and I must say that the format is very difficult, challenging speakers to pick each and every word. But in the end, I’d say the results are much better talks, using far less time. What do you think?
Below is my first effort, at Ignite BGI, where I explain the landscape of capitalism trying to answer the question of “What is a conscious company?” (I’ll admit I spent too much time staring at the monitor, waiting for the slides to advance)
At just five minutes each, don’t stop at my talk, take a look at the whole set from Ignite BGI, starting with a few of my fledglings:
