Ignite Detroit!

Attending Ignite Detroit 3? Well, we are thrilled to welcome you to Sound Board inside MotorCity Casino Hotel for an awesome evening. Here are important things you should know before arriving:

Event Start Time:
Doors for Ignite Detroit 3 will open at 6:00pm. Talks will begin at approximately 7:30pm.

Parking:
Parking at MotorCity Casino Hotel is free. However, we have a special section reserved for Ignite attendees in the OHIO lot. Look for signs outside.

Registration:
Our registration table will have the names of all attendees. There will be no need to print your registration confirmation (unless you buy tickets after 5:00pm on the day of the event). We do plan to sell additional tickets at the door.

It is VERY important that you bring your ID. This is a 21 and up event. There are no exceptions. Additionally, it is likely that everyone will be carded by MotorCity Casino Hotel security.

Internet / WiFi:
Feel free to bring laptops and tablets if you would like to blog or tweet from the event. We will have free WiFi available for your use. The hashtag for the event is #ignitedetroit. Cameras are also welcome!

Food and Drinks:
Ignite Detroit 3 will feature free food and a cash bar. Thanks to MotorCity Casino Hotel, we will also feature some cheap drink specials for attendees!

Event Schedule:
Ignite Detroit will feature three rounds of five speakers. To view the speaking order, please click here. During the talks, we ask that you give the presenters your full attention. While heckling is welcome (to a reasonable extent), side conversations are frowned upon.

We will take a 15-minute break in between rounds. During this time, feel free to chat or grab a drink refill. Additionally, during the break, attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite talk of the round via text message. The top 3 talks (one from each round) will win special prizes courtesy of MotorCity Casino Hotel.

As a special added bonus, we will have local performers taking the stage during each break. To view the musical guests, please click here.

All talks should be complete and winners should be announced by 10:15pm.

After Party:
Once the winners are announced, the Ignite Detroit team and MotorCity Casino Hotel will be hosting an after party at the Overdrive bar just outside of Sound Board. Feel free to stick around and hear DJ Meph spin!

We’ll see you at Sound Board!

John, Norm, Sarah and Brandon
The Ignite Detroit Team

After receiving votes from nearly 1,000 voters, the Ignite Detroit team is very excited to announce our speakers for Ignite Detroit 3!

Here are the people who will be taking the stage next Wednesday, April 25, at Sound Board inside MotorCity Casino Hotel.

Round 1
1. The perils of imaginary lines (Charlie Wollborg)
2. Extra Pair of Underpants: Leadership Inside Out (Michelle Pallas)
3. Carfree Discounts – A Detroit Solution (Jon Koller)
4. Everyone Should Write a Book (Andrew Heaton)
5. Gurus are for people who drink wheatgrass or live in LA. (Jordan Miller)

Each of these speakers will have 5 minutes and 20 slides to educate, inform and entertain the crowd. With this awesome group of presenters, we’re expecting a great show!

Buy Tickets, Give to a Charity

Interested in seeing these fantastic talks? Tickets are still available for Ignite Detroit 3 for just $5.00 (plus Eventbrite fees). All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Detroit.

Click here to buy tickets in advance! We will also be selling tickets at the door (Credit Card only). Doors for the event open at 6:00 p.m. You must be 21+ to attend.

But Wait, There’s More:

There’ll be some free food, reasonably priced drinks, and lots of great talks given throughout the night.  Oh, and don’t forget the after-party at Overdrive at MotorCity Casino Hotel.

Buy Your Tickets Now for an Awesome Event to Benefit a Great Local Charity!

We’ll see you next week!

– The Ignite Detroit Team

Attending Ignite Detroit 2? Here is what you need to know!

Location and Time
Ignite Detroit 2 will be held at Sound Board inside MotorCity Casino Hotel.
Doors open at 6:30 PM (1^st floor entrance of Sound Board, follow the signs).
Talks will begin at 7:30 PM.

Click here for directions to the venue.

Parking
MotorCity Casino Hotel offers free parking and valet inside their structure.

Registration
Registration will take place just outside the 1^st floor doors of Sound Board. Since this is a public event, security and metal detectors will be on site. Just a reminder, this is a 21+ event and there are no exceptions. Once you make it past security, our volunteers will check you in.

We will have the names of all registered attendees at the event. You are not required to print and bring your Eventbrite ticket stub.

If you have reserved multiple tickets under one name, please have your party check-in under the ticket owner’s name.

Seating
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Arrive early if you want the best view, but there’s not a bad view in the house!

Refreshments
Ignite Detroit 2 will feature a full-service cash bar and some great drink specials!

MotorCity Casino Hotel is also supplying light snacks for the event. All food will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Computers, Cameras and Other Technology
Feel free to bring whatever electronics you like to event. We definitely encourage you to tweet, take photos and shoot video while attending. However, please note that access to power outlets will be limited due to the seating arrangements.

Afterparty
The Ignite Detroit 2 afterparty will be held at Overdrive, outside the 2^nd floor Sound Board entrance, from 10 PM till 11 PM

Need a Room?
Why leave when you can stay and play? MotorCity Casino Hotel is offering attendees a $99 room for the evening! To receive your discount, book your room by following this link (bottom of the page).

Hashtag
The event hashtag is #ignitedetroit.

“I have tickets, but can’t make it.”
No worries. We’ll make sure your tickets are given to someone else.

Thank you so much for supporting this event. Your Facebook likes, tweets and blog posts have really fueled all the marketing for Ignite Detroit and we truly appreciate it.

See you tomorrow night!

After receiving more than 6,500 votes in just 10 days, we’ve narrowed down our Ignite Detroit 2 speakers to 15 awesome topics.

Ken Wohl – The Mysterious Community that Controls Viral
James Lu – Social Entrepreneur
Leslie Blackburn – Transformation from Engineer to Sacred Sexual Healer: Learning to Let Go!
David “Dixon” Hammond – Doing the Impossible
Shawn Neal – The Sugar People present “Live From GrooveBox Studios”
Adam Kempa – Time Travel for Lazy People
Dan Redford – The Glocal Life
Dave Linabury – How I Beat a Billion Dollar Company with My Blog
Evelyn Chou – China’s No Panda Express
Emily Doerr – The Creation of Hostel Detroit
Hubert Sawyers III – “Cool as Ice?” Universal Life Lessons to Learn from Vanilla Ice’s Folly
Laura Farms – You Like Trivial Things, And That’s Okay!
Mike McClure – How to be a Better Boss by Encouraging Failure
Henry Balanon – Dad’s Guide on How to Handle the Birth of Your First Child
Daniel Eizans – Bringing Game Models to the Workplace

Similar to Ignite Detroit 1, the online community was responsible for picking seven speaking topics via UserVoice. The remaining speakers were selected by the event organizers and our partners.

Thank you all very much for supporting the event. As of today, we have more than 830 people registered to attend! Oh, and if you need to book a room the night of the event, MotorCity Casino Hotel is offering attendees an awesome deal on hotel rooms!

Speakers – You should have received an email from the Ignite Detroit 2 team yesterday.
Attendees – You will be receiving an email with information next Monday.

See you on April 14th!

The Ignite Detroit team is very proud to announce that Ignite Detroit #2 will be hosted at Sound Board inside the luxurious MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit on Thursday, April 14th. Tickets will be available starting March 18th. Admission to the event is FREE.

We moved. Check out our new space.

Yeah. We know. WOW.

MotorCity Casino Hotel has been nothing short of amazing and has provided us with an incredible space used by some of the world’s most popular entertainers. (Side note – Hall & Oates is coming on June 23rd. Who wants to get tickets? – Brandon)

Additionally, because of MotorCity Casino Hotel’s support, tickets to Ignite Detroit #2 will be free!

Help us say thanks by heading over to Facebook or Twitter and letting MotorCity Casino Hotel know that you appreciate their support of our community!

Submit Speaking Topics NOW

The call for speakers is now open and will close on March 15th. To submit a topic, visit our speaking page. Before submitting your topic, please read the speaker guidelines. The topic description you submit WILL be used for public voting, so make it count!

Oh, and if you spoke at Ignite Detroit #1, we are going to ask that you sit this one out so others have a chance to speak. We will gladly accept new topic submissions from you for Ignite Detroit #3

Speakers will be announced on April 7th.

Any questions – Contact Us

Our Flickr group pool is starting to fill up with pictures from Ignite Detroit #1. Check them out below and be sure to add any photos you took that night!

You helped us promote it and the media listened.

The Detroit Hub, our sponsor and media partner, posted some really cool behind-the-scenes footage and plenty of photos. Even more stuff is on the way!

Check out this story from Channel 7′s Stephen Clark.

Time Magazine’s Detroit Project gave us some props, too!

Hey Igniters!  If you have tickets to Ignite Detroit #1, here is what you should know prior to showing up at the event:

Print your tickets.
In case you haven’t heard, Ignite Detroit is SOLD OUT.  Please print your ticket(s) off of Eventbrite and bring it to the event.  If you have reserved more than one ticket, please try to arrive with your entire party.

We will be collecting printed tickets at check-in… and recycling them.

Parking is available behind the Magic Stick.
Gated parking is available directly behind the Magic Stick.  The entrance is located off of Alexandrine St., which just south of the event.  Parking is $4, so bring cash.   There is also guarded parking located directly across Woodward.  The cost is $3.

Arrive early for great seats.
Seating at Ignite Detroit is first come, first serve.  The earlier you arrive, the better.  Doors open at 6:30pm.

Bar. Bar. Bar.
We will have a full bar at the event that accepts cash and credit cards.  The bar will be open all night, but we are asking the bartenders to cease service during presentations.  We want to try and cut down on side conversations so the speakers have your full attention.

There will be multiple intermissions throughout the night where you can grab additional cocktails.

Stay and hang out.
We have the event space all night, so feel free to hang out after the presentations.  We’ll make sure to open up the pool tables and keep the music playing.

Have tickets and can’t make it?  Let us know.
If you can’t make it to the event or want to give your tickets to someone else, E-mail brandonchesnutt@gmail.com with the details.  We’ll take the tickets off your hands and give them to someone who is dying to attend.

See you on Thursday night!

We’re looking for a few Michigan-based companies that might want to add something cool or unique to the gift bags we are giving out to our 16 speakers. Interested? Head over to our contact page and shoot us a note.

Wow. We seriously cannot thank you enough for rallying the community to help support Ignite Detroit.  In just one week, we garnered more than 4,000 votes from 1,100 voters. There were also a few unexpected surprises, such as a three-way tie for sixth place. As a result, we’ve made a few tweaks and expanded our speaking roster.

Here are your Ignite Detroit #1 speakers:

Something about Dopamine
Edward L. Platt
@EdwardLPlatt

Bite off less than you can spew.
Charlie Wollborg
@CharlieCurve

The TFLN Story: From Hungover to All Over
Benjamin Bator
@benbetter

Laid Off in 2009–The Silver Lining
Deb Schanilec
@blissmonger

Making Charity Personal – The New Standard
Ryan Doyle
@livetogive

The Official End of the World Survival Guide – 2012 Edition
David Murray
@davemurr

Growing Geekery Downtown
Jeff Sturges
@jeffsturges

How changing your car’s oil will make you a better car enthusiast
Christopher Baccus
@cbaccus

Attack of the 6’3 Woman (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Height)
Ashley Zaniewski
@ashannzan

Is That Fear or Excitement?
Austin Szelkowski
@Austin_Szelkow

How to deal with internet trolls
Brian Ambrozy
@primesuspect

Hamming it up
Andrew Herron
@kritikal

Never Too Many Cooks: Why Kids Need to Learn Their Way Around the Kitchen
Karen Evans
@karenevanstm

The re-education of the Disposable Worker
Hajj Flemings
@hajjflemings

Food Rx
Melissa Hui
@MelissaHui

If you have been selected as a speaker, you will receive a follow-up E-mail this week containing instructions and materials that will help you prepare for the event.  Note:  If you are a speaker and have already registered for the event, DO NOT give away your ticket.

Thank you to everyone that applied. If you were not selected this time, you’ll have another shot at Ignite Detroit #2!