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."

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."

Geeks Vs Nerds

[markass530]

I've maintained for a while, that I am a nerd, into computers, and tech stuff etc.I Also say that I am not a geek, because "Geeks" are Star Trek, anime, and get dressed up as such characters (and other things I think are retarded) . I point to Slashdots title, news for nerds, as exhibit A. (A majority of stuff on the site is about nerd stuff, not geek stuff). Anyone agree/Disagree?

Why not Pecha Kucha?

[lennier]

15 slides for 20 seconds... this sounds like an unbranded knockoff of Pecha Kucha [pecha-kucha.org], 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?