Call for speakers for Ignite Bristol #7

Posted on 27 March, 2012 by Dan

We’re back. Dja miss us?

Bristol’s best evening of ideas returns to its now regular haunt; the Tobacco Factory Theatre, North Street, for the first Ignite not on a school night – Friday 1 June 2012.

Tickets for the last couple of events have gone really quickly. The best way to ensure you get your hands on a pair of tickets is to apply for early bird tickets – free with giving a talk. That’s right, we’re only after you for your stories.

Bristol, we need your ideas, your stories, your tales of daring-do (or don’t). We want your advice on matters legal, the world’s best cuisine, ways we can make the world better, ways you made yourself better. Come to our stage and enlighten our audience, quickly. You’ll be glad you did.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 24 April. We’ll be letting everyone know soon after and announcing the line up on Friday 4 May – the same day the first batch of tickets will be available. There will be a meet up for speakers in the week of 9 April – we’ll post details here, or ping us on Twitter for more info.

King George commits the twin sins of turning his back to the audience AND reading from the slides. Tut-tut.

The calendar fans and Royalists among you will have noticed the significance of the date; it’s the beginning of the Jubilee Weekend. We’d really like to get the weekend off with a topical talk – are you a fan of the Queen and the tradition she embodies? Perhaps you know why a Republic would make Britain greater? Perhaps you have no preferences either way, but you can explain the differences between states with monarchs at the top and those with elected presidents – with 20 slides to back you up. Drop us a line.

What better way to start a three day weekend of pomp and ceremony than with a dozen informed and amusing talks by wonderful, talented speakers, all washed down with great beer/wine/soft drinks?

All we need now, is you. Click Submit an idea to tell us yours…

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Ignite on the Radio

Posted on 11 February, 2012 by Dan

Our chums at Ignite London featured on Radio 4′s Word of Mouth in January as part of a short article on public speaking events like Ignite and TED.

You can listen to it here.

The piece was put together by Ignite Bristol’s very own Toby Field and posed the question, “does show and tell in American schools foster better public speakers?” It also features an interview with Chris Anderson, the guy behind TED, who was formerly top of the tree at Bath-based magazine giants Future Publishing.

The only time we'll ever mention the T-word.

Sadly, the show’s host Michael Rosen doesn’t get on stage, but if he had he might have bumped into our host of IB#6, Paul Parry, a veteran Igniter who was clocking up his fourth talk, but his first on the London stage. As it was, that had to wait until a couple of weeks later when Rosen interviewed Paul about misuse of the word “literally”…

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Dave Bull – The Universe

Posted on 23 October, 2011 by Dan


Are you hard or soft? Someone asks you that during a phone conversation you’d usually hang up. Or be willing to put up with a pretty steep phone bill. Find out what Dave Bull‘s answer is in this pacey talk at Ignite Bristol #6 as he runs from Fred Hoyle mocking Stephen Hawking through pondering his own outcomes on the Turing test to what a dream about a train means to him. and possibly you.

That’s our last talk from Ignite Bristol #6. We will be back in 2012 with another event. If you have a story to tell or an idea to share, do let us know. A big thanks, as ever, to all our magnificent speakers for putting themselves forward, or not shying away when we went asking. Thank you too, to our wonderful hosts at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, and of course to all the team who helped put together another of Bristol’s best nights of ideas. See you next time.

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Rob Jonson – Joys of the Small Claims Court

Posted on 22 October, 2011 by Dan


The small claims court outperforms banks? That’s a case of oranges and pears isn’t it? Not if you are Rob Jonson.

Rob is not a lawyer, he’s a programmer. But that doesn’t stop him being highly successful in the small claims court. Rob has sought redress on matters from holiday insurance to car hire to mobile phone unlocking. And won in each case. In arguably Ignite Bristol’s most useful video yet, Rob explains how the small claims court works and how he’s used it to encourage a number of companies to improve their customer service.

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Antony de Heveningham – Bristol Trails Group

Posted on 20 October, 2011 by Dan


For a town without mountains Bristol is unusually blessed with great trails for mountainbikers, but it’s not simply good fortune – it’s bloody hard work on the part of a team of volunteers. Antony de Heveningham is the man who has built Bristol Trails Group in to the elite mud-fighting force that it is today.

In his talk for Ignite Bristol Antony explains what he and the other volunteers get out of the time they give to keeping the lycra and nylon clad hoardes rolling instead of pushing.

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Lia Han – Stop Asking for a Lightsaber

Posted on 17 October, 2011 by Dan


Luke ran around the swamp on Dagobah encumbered by nothing more than an oddball green midget with a peculiar turn of phrase. We doubt that he would have been quite so nimble if he’d been dragging a four-ton power source for that lightsaber of his. We know this now thanks to Lia Han. Coming on our stage, telling everyone why George Lucas is wrong and we can’t have lightsabers, knowing full well we’d be posting a video on the Internet? Lia is one brave lady.

The cat loving laser sciencer came to Ignite Bristol to once and for all put paid to requests for the iconic weapon by people at parties. Help her get the message out to everyone she hasn’t met yet by liking our Facebook page and sharing this and our other videos with all your friends, before they meet Lia.

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