By now you’ve probably all heard the spiel.  “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”  “5 minutes, 20 slides, what would you say?”

But what does it all mean?  Why do we get together and hold these events?  Why is this important to us?

The Ignite Sault team also wanted to answer these questions (for our personal reasons, why we’re involved in putting these events together and for Ignite Sault itself).  One day just after Ignite Sault 2 finished and before we had set the date for Ignite Sault 3 (taking place in just a few weeks on April 8!:), the team got together to create a mission statement.

We knew a mission statement was important because it embodies an organization’s philosophies, goals, ambitions and more (www.missionstatements.com).  We wanted our mission statement to truly represent what Ignite Sault is about without sounding cheesy, wordy or like it was from the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator.

We split into two groups (coincidentally it ended up being the lefties and the righties!) and generated different key words and goals that we think of when we think of Ignite Sault using post-it notes and cue cards.  We then paired the key words into thematic groups and eventually came back together to present our findings.  Using these grouped together words, lots of brainstorming and plenty of teamwork, we came up with the following:

“To promote community growth by gathering a diverse group to share passion and inspire ideas.”

Here is a picture of our final cue card with Ignite Sault’s Mission Statement:

Wow!  Thank you to everybody who submitted talk proposals for Ignite Sault 3!  We are so excited by the topics and can’t wait until April 8 to hear them!

In the meantime, for those of you who can’t get enough Ignite, we’re pleased to let you know that this week is Global Ignite Week!  What does that mean?  Ignite talks are happening all around the world (60+ cities on 6 continents!) and many of them are being streamed LIVE!

Mashable recently had an article by Jennifer Van Grove on “10 Reasons You Should Attend or Watch a Global Ignite Week Event” and many of these reasons can be applied to Ignite Sault 3!

1. Be a part of history in the making
2. It’s global
3. No keynotes
4. Talks are only 5 minutes (hint: you won’t get bored)
5. Presentation slides auto-advance
6. It’s pitch free
7. There’s booze
8. There’s science fair like contests
9. Video is live streamed on the web (and archived)
10. You can unlock a Foursquare badge

You can read the full article here.

Enjoy and hope this inspires you for Ignite Sault 3!

Have you submitted your Ignite talk proposal yet? Keep in mind the deadline is today! Submit your proposal soon to avoid disappointment!   So far we have a great variety of interesting talks but we’re also looking for something lighthearted.  Are you the one who can add that to the mix and balance things out?  Let us know!

Friday’s Mix and Mingle with Ignite Sault was a great start to the weekend. Thank you to the awesome crowd who came out! What enthusiasm!

Everybody enjoyed a nice relaxing drink at Loplops and many also partook in the tasty gourmet pizza (3 kinds of pizza and all absolutely delicious!).

We unveiled our official Ignite Sault banner (thank you to Dumanski Office Interiors for providing it!) and Tim Kelly talked about Ignite Sault 3 and followed it up with some videos including:

“Why and How to Give an Ignite Talk” from Ignite Seattle

We followed it up by inviting past Ignite Sault presenter Curtis Collins up to talk about his experience (which he did in under 1 minute!) before replaying his talk on Art and Community.

We asked the crowd if they wanted to see more. The crowd asked for more!

Next we showed them Ignite Karaoke and when the crowd asked for more again we showed them Susan Hunter’s “The Pirate Principles” talk from Ignite Sault 2.

Everybody was buzzing and we could feel the excitement! Gerry Kirk capped the night by speaking about Ignite and Soo PodCamp (which took place on Saturday!).

It was great! We were pumped that everybody was so pumped! Now don’t forget, there are only a few more days to submit your Ignite Sault talk proposal (due on February 25)!

Not submitting a talk but you want to come and check it out on April 8?  Get your free tickets here!

February is definitely a short month!  There is only one week left to submit your talk proposals (the deadline is February 25) so don’t forget!  The time really does sneak up on you.

If you haven’t had the chance to check out Ignite Sault’s YouTube channel yet, you can see two more presentations from Ignite Sault 2 here.

Here’s Abigail Obenchain’s “A Plea for Restaurant Diversity in Sault Ste. Marie”

Here’s Luc Duchesne’s “Sticking it to the Man”

Also tomorrow is Friday which means Ignite Sault’s mixer to help you start your weekend off! This is your chance to relax, have a drink and mix and mingle with Ignite Sault participants, past presenters and more! (Also the chance to purchase Jenn’s delicious gourmet pizza!)

Don’t forget, Soo PodCamp is also happening on Saturday.

February may be a shorter month but there definitely isn’t a shortage of things to do! Hope to see you out!

Although it’s a shorter work week for most of you (if you had Family Day off:), we wanted to help you jump start the upcoming weekend!

This Friday (February 19) at 5 p.m. the Ignite Sault crew will be hosting a free mixer where you can meet and mingle with other Ignite participants and organizers in a fun and relaxed atmosphere (at Loplops!).  Know a friend who might be interested?  Bring them along!

Ignite is a community event and we wouldn’t be around if not for the diverse and dynamic citizens of the Sault!  So we really hope to see you out.  Not convinced yet?

Here are the top 5 reasons you should attend this Ignite event at Loplops.  (there are WAY more, use your imagination)

1. It’s been too dam long since you went for a beer (or cocktail) after work.
2. Mingling with fun and interesting people is good for you.
3. You get to bring friends that are curious about Ignite. We’ll explain what it is so you don’t have to.
4. Loplops will be serving gourmet pizza – specially prepared by Steve’s wife Jenn. Warning – don’t spoil your dinner and get into trouble .
5. The more people that show up, the more fun everyone will have. duh
6. Bonus reason – it’s a great way to finish up your week and start off the weekend.

Before you forget, mark it in your calendar. Check out more details here or on our Facebook fanpage!

If you’re interested in Ignite Sault you should also check out Soo PodCamp (another event brought to you by Gerry Kirk).  Soo PodCamp is an unconference that takes place on February 20 and focuses on new and social media.  It’s an excellent chance to exchange ideas, learn and network, network, network!

So those are two great events to help you kickstart your weekend!  Hope to see you out!