Choose your subject
Ignite is all about sharing personal and professional passions. Sales pitches are a no no, but anything else goes…
Talk through 20 slides
After plucking up the courage and finally choosing a topic, our speakers are given 20 blank slides to prepare their 5 minute talk.
15 seconds per slide
On the night, between 8-12 speakers take to the stage. With their presentations complete, each slide auto rotates every 15 seconds.
Inspire an audience
From hilarious stories to thought provoking facts, no two Ignite talks are ever the same… So what could you talk about?
The history of Ignite in Cardiff
Ignite saw its first event run in Seattle in December 2006, and since then has spread throughout America, and Western Europe. Ignite’s ethos is to inspire and enlighten audiences with the help of passionate speakers willing to share their experiences. The focus is on passion for your subject matter, but it isn’t an opportunity to sell yourself or your business. No talking about why you have the best widgets, or how you’re going to save people money: self-promotion is a “no no.”
The Ignite format is simple: 20 slides which automatically transition every 15 seconds. For the mathematicians amongst you, that makes just five minutes. Having only five minutes to get your passion over, inspires a much more concise presentation, with no time for waffling.
We’re proud that the first UK Ignite, was here in Cardiff. It was launched by Neil Cocker and Claire Scantlebury in October 2008. Since then, it’s inspired the launch of Ignite Bristol, London, Liverpool, and Norwich, to name but a few.
In 2012, having been involved for sometime Ed Barnett and Steve Dimmick took over the reins, allowing Neil and Claire to focus on TEDxCardiff. After running a couple of events side by side, Steve and Ed felt the scene was set for growing the team and upping the ante for the event in terms of regularity and venue. in 2017 Ed, Steve and Team stepped down and Suzanne took over running Ignite Cardiff.
In 2019, Suzanne handed over running of Ignite events to Sri and Team. Mark Stevenson continues to support our website, Amz has taken over a lead role for operations. Sri leads the team with Lucy has been compering the events. As the result of a larger event team, more inspiring speakers, a switch to more regular events and a lot of hard graft, Ignite Cardiff has seen seen rapid growth in audience size. Their bi-monthly events currently sell out in under a minute, and 450 people attend at the Glee Club.
In 2014, Ignite was a finalist in the Canmol Marketing Awards, and in 2015 is up for Best Event at the Cardiff Life Awards. Ignite was also chosen to be one of the founding members of the .wales domain launch and you can now find us at ignite.wales. We’re hoping we inspire others to start their own Ignite in Newport, Swansea, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Wrexham, Caernarfon or Builth Wells: anywhere people feel there will be a great audience and inspiring speakers.
Ignite is a special thing to be part of, whether you’re an attendee, a speaker or one of the organisers. It’s always free and in the last few years we have given away over £10,000 worth of prizes thanks to very kind sponsors.
Please check out some of the videos from past events, and make note of the upcoming ticket release dates. Come and see for yourself what makes Ignite one of the best events in Cardiff.