The Webtrends Engage 2010 opened with an NOLA Ignite session on Monday evening. The
Ignite Series was started by Brady Forrest and Bree Pettis in 2006. The
objective is for innovators to share their ideas with one another. The tag
line: “Enlighten Us, But Make It Quick” can sum up the event for new comers.
This was not an official part of Webtrends but an opening act. To the left is one of many street bands that are part of what makes New Orleans great.
Speakers in the community come to talk about what
they're most passionate about. The topic area can be about anything, but each
speaker has only five minutes with only 20 slides that auto advance every 15
seconds. This gives the speaker a tight window for their presentation but it
also gives the audience a way to digest all the great information that will
come their way. This session also featured some great food and an open bar.
The later can be a benefit in NOLA. The local
paper had a letter to the city of Miami on the front page
today about getting
ready for the Super Bowl. It said that they needed to prepare for the Saints
fans. This first thing that Miami needs to do is to get more beer. The paper
acknowledged that they probably had extra ordered but that was not enough. The fans found that beer tasted better with victories. The paper also pointed out that there is no need to be concerned about safety issues as the
Saints fans just like a good time. There was no damage after the Saints won the
right to go to the Super Bowl. It’s the Big Easy and it has seen too much destruction. Fans just want to have fun now.
Ignite is very fast paced to take notes but here
are some personal highlights. First the audience was lively and loud. This is a
good thing, sets the right tone, and is like the Saints fans. There were even some Who Dats. And the
open bar had been in swing for over an hour before the speakers started. The
room was packed.
The first speaker went over her mistakes as an
entrepreneur. She did her list of failures and is now doing GetFitNola. She is
an ex-Marine and started in DC but now is does health and fitness in NOLA. I
guess there might be a need here with all the celebrations. She is a natural comedian and maybe should go
there. The applause meter went
wild.
The next guy did video games. He continued the
comic routine going over interface issues. I was not sure of his product but he
was amusing.
Gumbo Labs was the next topic. It is defined as
hacker space for tinkerers, not criminals. He said that hacker spaces are
taking off. There is hackerspaces.org. Many are in Germany. They now have a
physical space to geek out in here in NOLA. His team did work with DeeCours, an
art exhibit in New Orleans, to do a tech-based art happening. They meet every
Tuesday night and he wants you to come so Google them if you are in town.
The next guy was a really wired conspiracy
theorist. Walmart and RFID and DOD are the largest investors in RFID. He was the best comedian so far and got
a standing ovation.
Smart Gird was the next topic. The current gird
was designed in the 1870s and has 45 % efficiency. Only 3% of electricity comes
form renewable resources. We now need a two-way system. The Feds have provided 4.5 billion in
matching funds to help with research to make this happen. The speaker is working on smart energy
devices for the home.
The next guy was a funny Brit who evoked Led Zeppelin.
He got into cultural differences in vocabulary such as fags, pissed, randy,
jocks, bums, and bangers, Having lived in London for a year, I knew the punch
lines and have seen this routine before. You can image where this went. He forgot “on the job’ which relates to randy. This one was
pure comedy. He topped off the applause meter before we broke for half time.
After half time, an artist led off talking about
meetings and the Web. She was too serious and read her notes from cards. Being
a painter I was more hopeful for something here.
The next guy talked about people who get arrested
doing stupid stuff. Hope and fun
is in sight. He clarified that this is party related stuff, not serious
crime. His premise was you should
not feel guilty over these arrests, If you were a good person when you did this
act, you are still good. He is the person to take care of your trash with a
guilt free approach. However, if you do this all the time it is a problem. The audience picked up. He represents NOLA criminal law. The
audience was re-engaged. Who dat.
The next person started with some good
disclaimers. She asks people for money and she is single. Then she when through
the best practices in fund raising like finding out what the property values
your targets have. There was a lot of detective stuff. What they do, where they
work, what they love so you can figure out how to get their money. By
@verarcoks. This is way I prefer
to give directly to charities and not to fund raisers.
The next speaker talked about how to stop doing
things that do not matter. He
asked Twitter about the most random things he has done. Backtype said he has left over 2000
comments on the Web. He also drove cross-country to meet real people and he
wrote about it on the Web. People
applauded but they were likely his friends.
They next guy discussed Carebacks. They will allow anyone to get anything
to anyone at anytime. You give to
Carebacks and they make sure it does not go to crack dealers. Sounds like a
scam to me like the credit card companies that charged processing fees for
donations. He started funny and went down hill.
The session had some funny highlights. It was the
first Ignite in New Orleans so I guess it will take a while to sort out the
genre but I see its potential. Stand-up comics will do best. It helped to have
a sense of humor and not take yourself too seriously. The NOLA criminal law presentation wins my prize as he was funny and also clearly conveyed the need for his
business service. I look forward to the main act: Webstrends.
Meanwhile some school kids in my old neighborhood showed some wonderful creativity as the city gets ready for the Super Bowl.
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