IGNITE OKC #3

"Enlighten us!  But make it quick."  Five minutes.  20 slides, advancing every 15 seconds.  Fun!  I happened to see an article in the Oklahoma Gazette about this.  I also heard about it at my Tuesday Toastmaster's Meeting.

There was a band, Moon there.  They're music was good, but I couldn't understand any of thier lyrics, so I have no idea what their message was.  Also they kept playing while the Emcee,  was speaking, so she had to shout out above the sound of the three electric guitars.  To their credit, they played softer when she spoke, but when is rock music every really soft?  Towards the end it was just plain annoying and took a lot away from the introductions.

Some of the speakers were awesomely rehearsed and moved smoothly along with thier slides.  They made five minutes seem like so much more.  The garden lady, Heather Popowsky had great presentation and a vivacious smile when she came out but lost her place and fell behind.  She was obviously achingly aware of this and it drained a lot of energy from her presentation, including her engaging smile.  I was willing her to relax and go with it because she was so obviously prepared and had a good thing going.

Alexandra Rupp's presentation about literacy probably moved me the most, because I always say books saved my life.  The stats about literacy were heartbreaking, and truthfully, unbelievable.  There's a very aggressive literacy campaign in Iran.  (I attended classes to improve my Farsi.) It's very grass roots but very accessable and well advertised.  It's easy to assume because this is America, the land of Golden Opportunity, that we are all living happily ever after.  So how can these kids believe in the fairytale of the American Dream if they can't read enough to even know what it is?  I have to look into this.

Kudos to Rachel Hernandez, I loved her stage presence, and the original graphics on her slides were amazing, especially after she let us know that her husband had drawn them.  I felt sorry for the little Master lock at the end, he was just doing his job.  After hearing her introduction, it was really hard to reconcile the cutting edge image, killer red pumps, and amazing figure to a Mom with three kids and her own company.  You rock girl!

All the speakers were incredible in their own rights, simply amazing.  I was informed, entertained and moved.The concept was awesome.  I loved the absolute diversity of the crowd. The speakers were amazingly diverse too, from many places outside Oklahoma.  Only one that I can recall, Trevor Bruner, said that he was born and bred in Oklahoma in his intro.

It was my first time at an Ignite event, according to the OK Gazette, they have become a "global phenomenon."  I'm going to Google that today. There's another coming up in Fall 2011.