5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 270 An arms race has been quietly intensifying throughout the land. City versus city. Metro region vs metro region. State vs state. Traffic watchers vs traffic watchers. And weather team vs weather team. Join me as I unveil the desperate race to the top of these unholy local warriors. If you think the Doppler 4000 is something to behold, and the SkyTeam 10 is a worthy adversary, then prepare to have your mind blown right out of your socks... America's Promise and Your Future Lover Jed Harvey Arkley 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.cafemama.com/ 01/24/2009 269 Variously considered a right, a responsibility, and the only status symbol that counts, here in America, cars 'R us. My family decided one day to go against that grain and we gave up our car, suddenly and without warning. Over the ensuing two-and-a-half years, we've learned a lot about living without, bike hundreds of miles, take the bus to the hospital while in labor with baby #3, and discover that there's nothing quite as cute as a baby asleep on your handlebars, but that doesn't mean the traffic on 39th avenue will cut you any slack. Sarah Gilbert was once an investment banker. Her transition to the dotcom world looks prescient in retrospect. Now she writes away the wee hours after her three little boys fall asleep and thinks about food every minute. sarah gilbert 6 cafemama 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 268 What would you do if you had to amuse a four year old for a whole day? Don't freak out if your Ikea friendly apartment isn't filled with Disney movies, Sponge Bob action figures and Hannah Montana paraphernalia. There's no need to keep a secret stash of kid stuff under the bed in case of a child watching emergency. Keep your confidence as I show you how to utilize your current strengths and what's around you in keeping a small, busy body occupied for a day. Rose does this kind of child entertaining all the time for her two wee ones. Rose Bowcut 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.peopleandplace.net/ 01/24/2009 267 Systems of sociality have come a long way since apes groomed each other on the savanna. We’ve got social capital, social software, social networks, social media, and social graphs. This talk centers on another (dare I say deeper) shade of social: social learning. The study of social learning is applicable to fields from education to environmental management. Now, online tools are accelerating our ability to encourage and engage in social learning practices. Howard is senior writer and analyst for Ecotrust. He edits a weblog/journal of ideas called People and Place. Howard Silverman 155 Ecotrust 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://0009.org/ 01/24/2009 266 The feeling of being sure about something. Absolutely sure. Willing to put everything on the line. It's familiar to us all. I'm not talking about hunches, feelings, educated guesses, or logical conclusions, I'm talking about stuff that we really truly unequivocally know to be true, for sure, without a shadow of a doubt. But then we turn out to be wrong, and we're like, "oh yeah, duh, stupid me, what was i thinking?" In this kind of situation, how do we justify that sensation of certainty? Where does that feeling come from? How do we interrogate and validate that sensation? How do we know when to trust it? Can it be hacked? Fé Kaylius is a devotee of the 'discipline of de', a fan of solresol, a founding member of N.I.N.E., and an art thief. He has presented at FooCamp, WhereCamp, BarCamp, Manifesta, and Portland's own Laundry Lecture Series on topics ranging from "pervasive gaming" to "legacy development", from "collaborative mapping" to "technologically induced out of body experiences". Fé Kaylius 144 9>∞ 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://twitter.com/trisimon 01/24/2009 265 Do you know how many waking minutes are in your day? If you added up all the minutes you spent accomplishing something yesterday, how many would that be? Try it, you may be surprised. How did you spend all those extra minutes? We (collectively) waste mountains of time being ineffective. I will teach you to see "waste", to help you understand why it is there, and show you ways to change your habits to improve your effectiveness. Born in Denmark, raised in Minnesota. Loved Legos and computers from an early age. Studied Mechanical Engineering. Attempted a start-up in 2000, but lost out to "the bubble". Took a few years to practice carpentry and compete in duathlon/triathlon. Opened and managed a triathlon equipment store for a few years. Started a web community known as MacJams.com. Explored the United States by foot, car, bike, train, plane, bus, kayak, subway. Arrived in Portland in September 2008 to further interests in applying technology to permaculture and sustainable communities. Currently working as a contract PHP programmer in SE Portland. Simon Walter-Hansen 154 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://twitter.com/trisimon 01/24/2009 264 In a world of "relatively" cheap energy, most of us have the energy to live like a king! Do you feel you live like a king? I'll put some perspective on that ubiquitous word "energy". Let me charge you up for 5 minutes and you may just get jolted out of your seat! Questions to be considered: • What is energy? • Why is it important to understand the fundamentals? • How does it affect us now and in the future? Subtopics covered: • Energy states (potential and kinetic), sources, density, harnessing, storage, conversion, transmission, usage and loss. Born in Denmark, raised in Minnesota. Loved Legos and computers from an early age. Studied Mechanical Engineering. Attempted a start-up in 2000, but lost out to "the bubble". Took a few years to practice carpentry and compete in duathlon/triathlon. Opened and managed a triathlon equipment store for a few years. Started a web community known as MacJams.com. Explored the United States by foot, car, bike, train, plane, bus, kayak, subway. Arrived in Portland in September 2008 to further interests in applying technology to permaculture and sustainable communities. Currently working as a contract PHP programmer in SE Portland. Simon Walter-Hansen 154 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://twitter.com/trisimon 01/24/2009 263 For the past 5 years, I've governed over a community of netizens at a place called MacJams. I'd like to share the findings of some interesting social dynamics experiments conducted over those five years; some successful, some utter failures. Musings to include: • The effects of positive and negative comments. • Formation of sub-communities • Dealing with social and cultural differences • Critical Mass and Statistics • Feedback loops and Consensus • Liberty and Adhoc development • Extensions into real-life Born in Denmark, raised in Minnesota. Loved Legos and computers from an early age. Studied Mechanical Engineering. Attempted a start-up in 2000, but lost out to "the bubble". Took a few years to practice carpentry and compete in duathlon/triathlon. Opened and managed a triathlon equipment store for a few years. Started a web community known as MacJams.com. Explored the United States by foot, car, bike, train, plane, bus, kayak, subway. Arrived in Portland in September 2008 to further interests in applying technology to permaculture and sustainable communities. Currently working as a contract PHP programmer in SE Portland. Simon Walter-Hansen 154 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.johnweiss.me/ 01/24/2009 262 Transformative experiences do not happen thru marketing, “purple cows” or aesthetic design. They are created by changing lives thru authentic and meaningful Experience Design. Whether you are tasked with creating an entertainment focused experience or purely functional, learn why it’s critical to move beyond “Design” into “Experience Design”, and the important differences between the two. Designer. Founder of FiveEdge Media. My work is guided by purpose, passion, simplicity, beauty, innovation and surprise. John Weiss 153 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.seastorm.com/ 01/24/2009 261 It's not too early to use CSS3! Some CSS3 selectors are already supported in some browsers such as Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Here are a few fun ways you can use TODAY to enhance your site with CSS3. I'm a web geek and a rock mama. Erika Meyer 152 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 260 Do you get enough produce variety in your meals, or you eat the same fruits and veggies, prepared in the same way, day-in and day-out? I used to walk right past the bok choy and kohlrabi in the grocery store, not knowing how to prepare or cook those unusual vegetables. For a long time, I stuck to green beans and green-leaf salad. There are hundreds of kinds of fruits and vegetables, and all of them can be interesting and delicious to eat if they are prepared right. Every meal can be an adventure. I will show you how to get out of your produce rut! Jeanne is a budding foodie who has a life-long passion for produce. She spent her childhood in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoyed picking and eating berries, peaches, pears, and apples, and savored the flavors of fresh artichoke and asparagus. Then she lived in Maui for high school and college, where she loved eating fresh juicy mangoes, crisp rose apples, sweet-tart strawberry guavas, and buttery Sharwil avocados. Jeanne Turner 147 ISITE Design 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://twitter.com/stevenwalling 01/24/2009 259 Go is the oldest game still played in its original form today. But how could a board game invented more than 2,500 years ago in China for bored aristocrats really be fun and relevant to 21st century life? Go isn't just a game rich in history. It's a pleasurable pursuit that has been the obsession of a diverse array of people: mad scientists, military tacticians, child-geniuses, and more than a few geeks have fallen in love with the elegant complexity that is Go. Oh, and did I mention you can get paid the big Yen if you're good? Steven has been a (mediocre) Go player since he was a wee geek lad, and was lucky enough to get hired at a company where everybody plays the game. Steven Walling AboutUs (.org) 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://tech.brianwestbrook.com/ 01/24/2009 258 It's one of the biggest rivalries in the country: Seattle vs. Portland. Portland has NBA, Seattle used to. Seattle has Boeing, Portland has Beer. Portland's makes expensive shoes, Seattle creates spendy software. Seattle started Ignite, Portland lit it on fire. Take a look at (up to) 15 auto-advancing comparisons between the Slog cities and judge for yourself which city is better: Portland or Seattle. Brian M. Westbrook is most accustomed with rambling to himself and forgets about the thousands of those listening / watching -- he occasionally jumps in front of a live audience -- sometimes one he hasn't paid. Like you, at Ignite Portland. A weekly feature on Newsradio 750 KXL, KXL.com says of Brian: "With over 15 years of professional Internet and Information Technology experience, Brian has a keen grasp of a diverse range of high-tech disciplines. " But since he wrote that himself few years ago: Buyer Beware! BMW (his initials, really) has appeared on half-dozen TV stations in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and on that thing called radio nationwide: including NPR. Originally from the Portland-area, he now (mostly) calls Seattle home. But his friends aren't really sure he ever left... Brian also still wonders why we write biographies in third person. Brian M. Westbrook 150 brianwestbrook.com / KXL-AM / other "old-school media" 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.nightanddaystudios.com/ 01/24/2009 257 For centuries people have believed in magic, yet today science cannot detect anything truly magical. While this could be a failure in the methods of science itself, it remains true that there is little obviously magical to point to in our daily lives (besides the metaphorical magics of love, life, coincidence, and sleight-of-hand). However, I propose that magic is, or at least was, real. I will look at the nature of the universe from an open-minded, hypothetical, and rational standpoint and explore such possibilities as galactic cycles of magical energy, magical entropy, and changing universal constants; the existence of many worlds; examples of magic that are themselves hidden by magic; the idea that lost knowledge, ingredients, or currently untapped human abilities prevent magic from being practiced; and the concept of a universe-filling matrix of computational matter that is so advanced and pervasive that, once tapped, effectively creates a truly magical reality. My slides will be a combination of diagrams illustrating key concepts in the ten theories of magic and photographic evidence of our ongoing obsession with magic (including unicorn poster and panther-riding-ladies painted on the sides of vans). The goal is to open our minds to the possibility of magic in real life and to prepare us for its possible return! Nat Sims is the founder and principal of Night & Day Studios. He has been a content developer and media designer for 20 years, creating software, exhibits, stories, games, and music. Nat studied graphic and interface design at Hampshire College and earned his master's degree at the University of California San Diego in cultural studies and cognitive science. He has been contemplating magical reality since he first read The Hobbit at age 8. Nat Sims 151 Night & Day Studios 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://tech.brianwestbrook.com/ 01/24/2009 256 He's been to all Fifty States and has learned how to maximize every square inch of luggage... and yet for some reason keeps on coming back to P-town. In this inspiring chat about travel, our friend and road warrior, will cover the essential gadgets to pack and which to, well... punt. A creative look at shrinking technology and tips to keep us in touch with friends back home and helpful tips on how to make them all work. And if after 300 seconds you aren't motivated to jump on a jet plane, you will at least be able to accept personal responsibility for another airline bankruptcy. Brian M. Westbrook is most accustomed with rambling to himself and forgets about the thousands of those listening / watching -- he occasionally jumps in front of a live audience -- sometimes one he hasn't paid. Like you, at Ignite Portland. A weekly feature on Newsradio 750 KXL, KXL.com says of Brian: "With over 15 years of professional Internet and Information Technology experience, Brian has a keen grasp of a diverse range of high-tech disciplines. " But since he wrote that himself few years ago: Buyer Beware! BMW (his initials, really) has appeared on half-dozen TV stations in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and on that thing called radio nationwide: including NPR. He's constantly sharing the newest gadgets, latest security alerts or websites to visit... and in his "spare" time, he loves to travel. Brian also wonders why we write biographies in third person. Brian M. Westbrook 150 brianwestbrook.com / KXL-AM / other "old-school media" 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.aaronhockley.com/ 01/24/2009 255 As everyone becomes a creator of online content, we are all using large social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, Blogspot, Myspace, SmugMug, and others. All of these sites have some sort of terms or license agreement, and the contents of that agreement might shock you. You've probably given a large corporation a license to use your content in any way they choose. We'll look at some of the most offensive agreements and some reasonable alternatives. Aaron leads a life involving photography, software development, blogging, and a family. Through those activities he's been a creator of online content for over 10 years which has provided the background for this talk. Aaron B. Hockley 26 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 254 Life in a college town, where “adults” are the minority and binge drinking is the rule, teaches you more than any textbook or lecture. Kim and Megan will shed light on the real college learning experience and share their vision for a successful education system based on experiential learning. A curriculum where frat parties teach networking skills and all nighters demonstrate the potential of the human spirit. University of Oregon seniors, Kim and Megan, met freshmen year in the dorms and bonded over a midnight showing of Harry Potter. Post Harry Potter the two drifted but were soon reunited by advertising, a love of tacos and a desire to flee to Mexico after graduation. Kim Karalekas & Megan Nuttall University of Oregon Ad Kids 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.twilio.com/ 01/24/2009 253 "Steve is the prototypical cool American male. Y'know, I'm talking about Steve McGarrett, alright? Steve Austin, Steve McQueen. Y'know, he's the guy on his horse, the guy alone. He has his own code of honor, his own code of ethics, his own rules of living, man." - Tao of Steve Let's take a few minutes and Steveify our Powerpoint... and our model Steve is Steve Jobs. The master of the presentation, and all around "Steve." Step 1. Ditch powerpoint. (Optional) Step 2. Ditch 90% of your content. (Required) Jeff has a hard time holding jobs, so he creates them instead. As a serial entrepreneur, Jeff's had many occasions to convince people to give him money... investors, customers, relatives, etc. There are usually slides involved. Jeff Lawson 149 Twilio Inc. 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.democracylab.org/ 01/24/2009 252 How do you change the world? In the age of internet connectivity, big change can be made by people using their brains collaboratively. Social scientists and software developers are experimenting with new tools to empower citizens to make their voices heard in the halls of power. From the Obama administration's Citizen's Briefing Book (http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/) to MySpace's collaboration with Change.org (http://www.change.org/ideas) to hundreds of startups across the globe, a big idea is catching on - that we can use the internet to harvest the wisdom of the crowd and find smarter solutions to political problems. It's time to get over our ego stroking Facebook updates and twittering about what we had for lunch, and include something more ambitious in our daily internet activity: a discussion of society's priorities. That's what open source politics is about - a conversation about our world - the rich, wonderful, real world - and how we can make it better. By day, a financial planner, specializing in 401(k) plans. By night, an open politics evangelist, bootstrapping an ambitious nonprofit into existence. The fruit of the labor is DemocracyLab.org, a homegrown example of open source politics in action. Check out this short animated video describing our idea (http://www.vimeo.com/2740218) and learn about our partnership with Oregon 150 (http://www.oregon150.org/projects/youth-legacy/). Mark Frischmuth 114 DemocracyLab 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://www.cyanpdx.com/blog/ 01/24/2009 251 Everyone pays attention to cars, power plants, etc., but few are talking about our largest environmental impact: buildings. Buildings use 76% of our total electricity vs. transportation which uses 1%. Buildings are the largest energy consumer of any type and have the highest CO2 emissions. LEED standards are moving us in the right direction, but they are still not a Net Zero impact. What's more, we could make buildings that actually *restore* the environment. In my talk I'll share the evolution of building sustainability, our current environmental impact, and share what is possible for the future. A 4th generation Portlander, Damin Tarlow has spent his entire life trying to do something of significance. With the exception of short stints as a carney in Vegas, a student in Austria and a quick 10,000 mile drive to Panama, he’s spent his time on almost every kind of real estate project, from industrial port complexes within national parks, to automotive facilities in Asia, to historic rehabs into breweries to ultra sustainable high rise housing.  Having traveled to over 40 countries, managed building projects for over 12 years and working for the most sustainable developer in the world, he has a unique outlook on the built environment and its impact on the world in which we live.   Damin Tarlow Gerding Edlen Development 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 250 The Recession hit shortly after I moved to Portland and started looking for a job. Bang! Since then I have learned several strategies to keep my spirits up while searching for a job. I intend to go over the points listed below while sharing some personal stories that will keep the tone light and funny. This talk will give advice to both those who are unemployed and those who are part of the support network for a person who is unemployed. 1. Get rid of shame or a sense failure. We are in the middle of a Recession. Unemployment during this time says nothing about you or your abilities. 2. Get out of the house and start a routine. 3. How to define who you are without a job. 4. Think outside of the box. 5. Surround yourself with support and keep hope alive. I am an educator who has worked in non-profits and schools. I have taught English, social studies, primary prevention, leadership skills, etc. to groups of youth and adults from five to five hundred. I recently moved to Portland and started looking for a job. I have always had a job, and this is a different experience for me. I have tips and funny stories to share. Mike Brungardt 148 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 http://blog.soloflex.com/ 01/24/2009 248 What might you expect to see if your company devoted half of its resources to the night-watchman's department? I mean, in addition to doubling your cost of goods and losing competitiveness in the market. Well, you could expect to receive "non-standard" accounting from your board of directors and managers to hide the fraud. You could expect to get NO annual report. And banish the though of ever receiving any dividends on your stock. Welcome to the only shareholder's meeting of America, Inc you'll ever attend. Bring your pitchforks. You've been screwed! So, can we? Is all of this hope for change all for not? Is there a path we can take that will deliver us into the promised land? Where did the $700 billion go? • Bank Bailout • Friends of powerful politicians and the Wooden Arrow company Where is this $850 billion going? • 1/3 is tax cuts • 1/3 goes to states ⁃ Welfare and Unemployment (expenses) • 1/3 is actual economic stimulus ⁃ Going into capital ⁃ Infrastructure, roads, etc. The $1.55 trillion we're spending is just borrowing money to cover on going costs. It's chump change. We need new capital, not just barely covering our bills. How much do we need to get to where we want to be? $20 trillion • Economic stimulus ⁃ Nation infrastructure for hydrogen fuel ⁃ Interstate water systems ⁃ Cities being rebuilt ⁃ Bicycles paths ⁃ High speed trains • Reallocation ⁃ Military (Our largest expense) • Can we afford it? ⁃ Our total GDP vs. Debt • Don't just take my word for it, take Paul Krugman's (just on Steven Colbert) Alien, raised in Roswell, NM. Record setting number of demerits at New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI). Hobby is slaying dragons, like the Trojan Nuclear Plant. Now engaged in a death struggle with the military-welfare state. Jerry Wilson 137 Founder/President Soloflex, Inc. 01/24/2009 5 01/24/2009 01/24/2009 247 "Mad constraints in our way Budget's tight and there's no delay It's alright, it's okay UX Cheerleaders save the day!" Who are the advocates for great user experience in your company? Usually it's the Information Architects, Interaction Designers, User Experience Designers, Human Factors Design Engineers, and Usability Experts. Who should be cheering for good UX? Everyone! What can you do to join the team? Follow along as I lead 10 User Experience Cheers and you will learn the rules of the UX game. Soon you, too, will be a User Experience Cheerleader! Jeanne is an Information Architect at ISITE Design, where she cheers for (and works on) the best user experience possible for all projects. She also leads IxDA Portland, the local chapter of the Interaction Design Association. Jeanne Turner 147 ISITE Design 01/24/2009 5 01/23/2009 http://www.bretbernhoft.com/ 01/23/2009 246 The culture of Portland Oregon is unlike any where else in the world. From politics to the DIY mantra, Portland is blessed with a variety of active participants and perspectives. But what happens when these culture begin to meet each other, do they clash or is there mutual conformity? For the next five minutes Bret Bernhoft will explain how Portland Politics is changing as a result of the “Do It Yourself” spirit as well as the consequences, both good and bad. It’s time to really understand how things are done around here. I am a Generation Y Consultant. I have been doing this work for over 2 years now and love it. I am also currently attending Portland State University in the hopes of finishing my MBA. After having worked for several local for-profit companies I realized that there is a huge gap between the expectations of the work environment and the reality of Generation Y. Being both a Generation Yer myself and a leader in Gen-Y thought, I can provide both insight and creativity when presenting as well as when I am consulting. Ignite Portland is an opportunity to expose the truths about what it takes to motivate and retain Generation Y in life and in the workplace. Bret Bernhoft 141 01/23/2009 5 01/23/2009 http://www.yrgcommunications.com/ 01/23/2009 245 These days, everything you say and do can be seen by anyone at anytime on the Internet. Becky will explain the Do’s and Don’t of posting, blogging, and commenting to assure you don’t get kicked off the playground or blacklisted from social media. Becky Engel is an account catalyst who successfully blends marketing, advertising, public relations and online strategies, always with an eye to solving the client’s business problem. Becky’s strategic planning and her ability to bring teams of many disciplines together in common cause creates unparalleled efficiencies, integration and service. And she is continually advocating for an office in New Zealand. Becky Engel Director of Client Services 01/23/2009 5 01/23/2009 http://instantrimshot.com/ 01/23/2009 244 When I created http://instantrimshot.com in early 2008 it was meant for use on the people I work with - an easily available utility to accentuate bad jokes. People were crazily enthusiastic about the idea and within a week I was getting a couple of thousand hits per day. 1 year later it has served over 1 million unique visitors from across the globe and even been mentioned in GQ magazine! My presentation will follow the site from the initial concept to it's meteoric rise as part of the "single serving sites" trend that surfaced around the time. Gaining traction with a few influential bloggers and trickling down through message boards and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, the site now has a slew of imitators and ripoffs. I will also spend some time featuring the most interesting emails I've received in regard to the site, from followers throughout the world. Scott is a front-end web developer and student of viral marketing in Portland, OR. In his spare time he does consulting work and is the Founder and Producer of a local video podcast called The Penny Jam (http://thepennyjam.com) Scott Carver 146 http://scottcarver.info/ 01/23/2009 5 01/22/2009 01/22/2009 243 Portland has had neighborhood associations for over thirty years. They reached their greatest effectiveness in the 1980’s and have been in decline ever since. While all neighborhood associations are different they go through cycles of high and low activity. The City of Portland is generous financially, but they often do not support neighborhoods with their actions. The city is pleased when neighborhoods agree with them and are unhappy when they receive criticism or a different ideas and approaches. How can this be improved? The neighborhood system must be reorganized, improved, and expanded in order to achieve its full potential. Learn how this can be achieved in effective and sustainable methods. Our capacity to develop grassroots systems to build and improve neighborhoods physically and socially is one of the many goals of the new age. Join me to learn how this might be done. I have lived in Portland for more than thirty years and have been an activist with local government for most of this time through neighborhood associations, non-profits, and other groups. I am a planner and an historian. With this perspective I feel strongly that Portland needs to decentralize many aspects of local governance in order to activate the power and creativity of the ideas and talents of it's citizens. Don MacGillivray Buckman Community Association, League of Women Voters 01/22/2009 5 01/22/2009 http://sarah.thesharps.us/ 01/22/2009 242 The summer season for technical conferences is fast approaching, and conference organizers are starting to look at swag, including the infamous conference t-shirt. A conference t-shirt says "I was there". Unfortunately, conference t-shirts to be ill-fitting and unflattering for women attendees. If women don't want to wear a conference t-shirt, it's like they never attended the conference. Why are tech t-shirts so unflattering? What makes a good tech t-shirt for women? Sarah Sharp will explore the design, sizing, and distribution of the ultimate geek fashion accessory. Sarah Sharp is a Linux kernel hacker at Intel's Open Source Technology Center. In her spare time, Sarah is a volunteer avionics hacker for the Portland State Aerospace Society, a group that builds open source amateur rockets (see the Ignite Portland 3 talk). Sarah also participates in Code N Splode and occasionally shows up to pdxgeekchix lunch. Sarah Sharp 01/22/2009 5 01/22/2009 http://www.aaronhockley.com/ 01/22/2009 241 Over the past few years I've observed thousands of companies and individuals venture into the world of so-called social media. Tools such as blogs, Twitter, photo- and video-sharing websites, and other interactive systems can provide a powerful way to develop identity and branding when used correctly. Unfortunately, many newcomers to social media fall into some common traps which not only lessen the usefulness of the tools but also negatively impact the perception of the user. In a fun, helpful fashion we'll look at a few social media pitfalls, how to avoid them, and how to make the most of social media to build a personal or corporate brand in a connected world. There are plenty of Portland-area success stories as well as some missteps; we can learn from both. Aaron leads a life involving photography, software development, blogging, and a family. Social media has woven its way into various aspects of his life and he's seen plenty of other folks do it right... and wrong. Aaron B. Hockley 26 01/22/2009 5 01/21/2009 http://www.davidzumini.com/ 01/21/2009 240 Looking for a job? Having trouble with that? Your not alone. It's estimated that there are currently 3 applicants for every available job opening. Suddenly, your resume becomes just another piece of paper lost in a file somewhere. In order to land the job you want you need to learn to sell yourself - to make yourself stand out above the crowd. Sit back and relax while I offer up a few entertaining and useful strategies to help you achieve this goal. My name is David, I'm a recent graduate with degrees in Marketing & Business Management and I've been searching for a career in Portland for the past few months. David Zumini 01/21/2009 5 01/21/2009 http://www.startupgeek.org/ 01/21/2009 239 2009 is a year that the tables are being turned and the pressure is now on you to get off your duff and do something to make a difference. A difference in your career, a difference in your neighborhood, a difference in your community. In 5 minutes I'll talk about the three things you can do to get off your duff and get started! Seasoned speaker who is enthusiastic and can invigorate an audience. Past speaking gigs include industry events, open source events and even my own living room with no-one present. David Abramowski 01/21/2009 5 01/21/2009 http://www.jenprocter.com/ 01/21/2009 238 Get more fun out of life! Self Hypnosis is a useful tool that can be used by almost anyone. Its free, and it's easy! First, I will give a quick description of the hypnosis trance state and how it feels. Then, I will teach the audience how to hypnotize themselves. Specifically, I will emphasize the use of self-hypnosis for things such as: not being a loser, (winning!), pain relief, learning (memory), public speaking, creativity enhancement, increased energy, sports performance, procrastination, HEADACHES, attitude, courage, dating, anxiety relief. I am Portland Dog Runner and Jen Procter, M.NLP, CHt. I am a runner and a hypnotist. In previous incarnations, chronologically from most recent to most past, I have been a commercial photographer's rep, a human resources czar, a coffee shop manager, a bartender, and a wedding photographer. I have always been an art lover, a reader, a bookmaker, a photographer, an animal lover, a friend, a baker, and a little bit of a thrill seeker. Read on! Jen Procter is a Native Oregonian who was born in Salem as an enrolled member of the Coquille Indian Tribe. Jen was raised in a holistic fashion, which helped her develop a love for the wonders of nature and the outdoors as well as a deep respect for animals. After achieving her goal of completing a half marathon, Jen was hooked on running. She then decided it was time to make more changes in her life. Her curiosity in the power of hypnosis to help others achieve their goals led her to the Apositiva Institute in Portland, OR. Jen Procter, CH, M.NLP graduated from Apositiva Institute in February of 2008 as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. While discovering her talents in hypnosis and it's amazing life-changing possibilities, Jen was also introduced to the transformative results which are obtained through the practice of Neuro-Lingusitic Programming (NLP). After pursuing her studies in this field, Jen was awarded a Master Practitioner's Certificate in the art and science of NLP. Jen and her clients find that the practice of both hypnosis and NLP together is a very powerful tool to create desired changes in a person's life. These two practices work wonders when used on their own as well, depending on the specific need of each client and the opportunity presented. Jen came to Natural Choices Health Clinic to practice in November of 2008 and looks forward to working together with you to build your best possible life! "We were born happy. We do not need a reason for happiness it is our natural state!" - Richard Bandler, co-founder of NLP Some things that help make Jen a happy person: hypnotherapy, NLP, running, playing with dogs, snowboarding, reading, cross country skiing, hula-hooping, eating ice cream, riding her motorcycle, bicycle riding, watching movies, camping, hiking and baking. Jen is a practicing member of the National Guild of Hypnotists. Jen Procter 145 Jen Procter, M.NLP. CHt, Member: National Guild of Hypnotists 01/21/2009 5 01/22/2009 http://www.syntaxpolice.org/ 01/20/2009 237 Android is a Linux-based open source operating system by Google that can be used to power smart phones like TMobile's G1. It's a very open platform, and easy to develop software for. Isaac will give an overview of the development environment and highlight some key features of the operating system with a focus on what makes the open nature of the Android so powerful. Isaac will illustrate these topics by giving a brief overview of the encryption system he and others have been building into Android: http://code.google.com/p/openintents/wiki/CryptoIntents For programmers, this talk will aim to be an effective introduction to Android so that you can go home, install the development tools, and start hacking even if you don't have a phone. For non-programmers, this talk will aim to give you a taste of how open-source principles will soon affect a cell phone near you. Isaac is a Haskell hacker, cyclist, Android hacker, and employee of Galois, Inc in Portland, OR. Isaac Potoczny-Jones 143 01/20/2009 5 01/15/2009 01/15/2009 236 Generation Y is beginning to enter into their own, in business, in politics and in society as a whole. As the traditional paradigms of leadership begin to fail, new and more innovative resources and ideas must emerge. Generation Y has begun the process of vitalizing and transforming the leadership landscape. In every venue of both professional and personal life, assumptions about effective leadership are changing. Over the course of the next 20 years, Generation Y will change the way the world conducts itself. With a focus on community and individual rights, the change that we as a society have been clamoring for has arrived. Through my presentation I will show how Generation Y is changing the world as we know it. I will provide the audience with an opportunity to see inside the minds of tomorrow's leaders as well as how they too can capture the spirit of the coming leadership revolution. I am a Generation Y Consultant. I have been doing this work for over 2 years now and love it. I am also currently attending Portland State University in the hopes of finishing my MBA. After having worked for several local for-profit companies I realized that there is a huge gap between the expectations of the work environment and the reality of Generation Y. Being both a Generation Yer myself and a leader in Gen-Y thought, I can provide both insight and creativity when presenting as well as when I am consulting. Ignite Portland is an opportunity to expose the truths about what it takes to motivate and retain Generation Y in life and in the workplace. Bret Bernhoft 141 01/15/2009 5 01/15/2009 01/15/2009 235 Ever wander some sweet little arbor, long strand of beach, or panoramic vista around Portland hand in hand your Honey, look each other and think, "Baby, I would love to wrap myself around you, right here."? …You are not alone. In fact, you are in good company. Witness Carolynn Duggan's presentation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyJty3ZruLo) at IP4, when two minutes into her spiel this line appears: "Someone in Portland has been building a great list for discreet outdoor sex over the past 10 years." I am that someone. The crowd's enthusiasm caught me by surprise. Damn, what a focus group – over 600 people at the Bagdad! I realized that PDXers love to love: 1) The outdoors 2) Who we love while in the outdoors Now, I will reveal to IP5ers the fun and finer aspects of selecting adventurous and romantic outdoor interludes in our not-so-urbane setting, while maintaining the high standards for which Ignite Portland events are so well known. For example, no naked human tricks will be used during the presentation. @kram - with his astounding eye for art that ignites Portland - will provide slides of Barbie, Ken, and other plastic personalities that ingeniously imply recreating in the great wide open. Toys R Us will never look the same. Included in the outdoor amour instructions and inspirations are how to spot desirable features that enhance the experience, as well as what to avoid as public health hazards. Useful suggestions on how to use opportunities in nurturing relationships – for men, being sensitive to women's hesitations, and for women, an awareness of men's desire for variety- are also included. And so, as the unabashed sun shines broad daylight on happy couples coupling – unnoticed, yet right under our noses – our Lewis-and-Clark-expedition spirit meets our keep-it-weird-and-on-the-down-low Portland culture. I am something of an authority on romantic interludes by virtue – or vice – of experiences that put Sex in the City on notice. Less revealing credentials include a degree in psychology with sexuality studies under a protégée of Jung, and research at the University of Illinois on sexual behavior. Among my accolades relevant to this proposal is an Oregon Writer's Colony award bestowed last autumn for a short story in a compendium yet to go to press, Boudoir, Unexpected. Vocationally, I am a recovering technical writer, who was rescued by a marauding band of friendly creatives. As well as being labeled a network weaver, I am also a successful romantic match-maker, playing on my strong suit of getting the right folks together in bed in more than one sense. Familiars know me as an unconference groupie, merrily dystopian, and working hard to keep Portland weird. Teresa Boze No one seems to want to claim me 01/15/2009 5 01/13/2009 http://www.stopbeingsweet.com/ 01/13/2009 234 Are you addicted to sweets? You might be and don't even know it. Or you might be well aware of how sugar controls your life. In this presentation I will offer tips for getting off the white stuff for good. (Try it, it's not as easy as you think!) My name is David and I'm a sugar addict. On November 3rd, 2005 I officially quit sugar for a year and began blogging about it. I've been sugar-free ever since.* * But for four days a year around Halloween annually. David Vanadia 01/13/2009 5 01/13/2009 01/13/2009 233 Our presentation will be a mix of transcendentalist philosophy, barnyard sense, semi-autobiographical revelations, and sage advice, shared not for personal gain but for the greater good of our fellow urban dwellers. We intend to reveal the little known but vitally important correlations between growing up rural, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the joys of 'alone time,' and the key to happiness. Jennifer Allen grew up in rural Oregon. Dana Hinger grew up in rural Utah. Both enjoy bacon and noting how their lives in Portland are different than back on the farm. Jennifer Allen & Dana Hinger 01/13/2009 5 01/13/2009 http://www.personaltelco.net/ 01/13/2009 232 Today, most broadband services are controlled by large corporations with large, visible advertising campaigns. Those same large corporations have mixed motives, that don't necessarily align with their customers. Furthermore, they are decreasing your options and increasing control of how you can use your internet connections. Newsflash! Low-cost high-capacity bandwidth is only a few miles away from your house or business, and it is high time we have neutral and very high-speed interconnection with those options. Yes, it won't be cheap to build the infrastructure, about a half-billion bucks for Portland. But whoever builds it, we'll pay for it. I'd just like for us to own it after we've paid for it. I'd also like to be able to *use* it after we've paid for it. We have lots of precedents for publicly owned infrastructure: water, sewer, streets, the Bonneville Power Administration. Break the chains of control! Own your future! Demand neutrally-operated super-fast last-mile broadband infrastructure. A volunteer, officer and board member for the local non-profit Personal Telco Project, a group dedicated to the idea that people should have a bigger say in how their networks are operated. We do that by building our own networks that we share with our communities, and by helping to educate others in how they can too. To date, we have done this using Wi-Fi technology. Russell Senior Personal Telco Project, Inc. 01/13/2009 5 01/12/2009 http://voilleque.com/ 01/12/2009 230 There are 53,644,737,765,488,792,839,237,440,000 possible deals in contract bridge. If that's not enough to get your coder brain racing, consider this: bridge is a universal language (with regional dialects!), creates conversation, and is one of the deepest things you can do with a deck of cards. Naturally recession-proof, bridge teaches logic, improves memory, and involves snacks. And despite what you may have heard, the basics are easy. One-minute-four-slides easy. Join the legion of Portland techies who play bridge. (The legion currently has a membership of one, so there's ample opportunity for leadership roles!) Legal beagle, cook, and gentleman's gentleman, J-P is a perennial proposer for Ignite Portland. Interested in everything, he nonetheless strives to focus on work culture, intellectual property, corporate law, and learning as play. J-P Voillequé 74 01/12/2009 5 01/12/2009 http://www.mvvfest.org/ 01/12/2009 229 Confronted with boredom and constant complaining, two drinking buddies set down their hi-balls long enough to fill out some paperwork and start an arts nonprofit aimed at exhibiting films at local theaters. More than 300 films later, the Mid-Valley Video Festival is keeping it fresh with live music, fashion design, visual and performance art programming in beautiful downtown Salem. This presentation will offer a brief overview of the necessary steps to create and maintain your own nonprofit organization. I'm a work-at-home dad living near Salem. Born and raised in Oregon, I graduated from Boston University and lived in Europe for two years with my wife while she finished college. We have three kids, three cats, a dog, 6 llamas and 22 sheep. I own Black Sheep Advertising, Inc., founded Mid-Valley Video Festival, created Mix-n-Mash and the Cherry City Music Fest. My main technological interests are video, open source and social networking. Ross Swartzendruber 139 Mid-Valley Video Festival 01/12/2009 5 01/10/2009 01/10/2009 228 Open source is hugely popular. This can blind people to the problems which lurk. Identifying what open material should achieve and if open source is an effective way to go, are essential. Instead of an examination of intent and match to intent, license selection often involves looking to see what a friend uses or what a colleague likes. But a license can have a cool name without being the right one. Open source can be as easily a moralizing waste of effort as it is a beautiful community supported development effort. And corporate interests can change how a project is run or what it achieves. Intellectual property strategist for public organizations for 10 years. Worked to enable numerous open source projects, but saw some projects hindered. Former competitive debate coach. Dana Bostrom 01/10/2009 5 01/07/2009 http://macaronimaniac.blogspot.com/ 01/07/2009 226 These are heady, historic days, as a new presidency begins. Sure, you like Obama. This being Portland, you almost certainly voted for Obama. But maybe there's some part of you that's wondering, "What does this really mean for white people?" Fear not! This presentation provides all you need to know about African American history and culture, now that we have a black man in the White House. With this white person's tour of negritude, you too will be down with all that. Lois Leveen met Barack Obama the first time he was elected president - of the Harvard Law Review, a legal journal where she worked part-time while she was in college. She didn't follow his example of pursuing a career in law and politics, opting instead to get a Ph.D. in African American literature, a field which she taught at UCLA and Reed College. These days, she's just another Portland writer/artist/performer, dazzling audiences on, in, and at LiveWire, Bitch Magazine, Performance Works Northwest, Oregon Literary Review, and any party where she can get at least one vodka martini into her. She possesses more leopard print than most wild game reserves, and she's starting 2009 ready to let her fellow pasty-faced Portlanders know what she knows about black culture. Lois M. Leveen 135 01/07/2009 5 01/07/2009 http://www.searchengineoptimizationportland.com/blog/ 01/07/2009 225 How to use keyword research to entice more readers/visitors to your website. How it is done, how and why it works. What tools you can use. It's so easy even a caveman can do it. Gary Pool "web maestro" & "search engine optimizician", a person whose uncanny sense of the art and science of website optimization comes from his natural talents in music and math. Fear of algorithms isn't in his vocabulary. In fact he begins each work session with the Algorithm March... Web Maestro As the "Web Maestro" at White Rose Productions, Gary is passionate about SEO. His fast-loading, W3C validated, search-smart sites win rave reviews from business owners and website users alike. His latest site, created for a Chinese company, has resulted in an invitation to China for the dedication of their latest recycling plant. Gary Pool Gary Pool's internet experience began in 1998 with completion of the Multimedia Certification from the New Media Center, San Diego, a sister program to the one at MIT. Gary Pool 138 SEOPDX 01/07/2009 5 01/06/2009 http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Welcome_to_Debatepedia! 01/06/2009 224 Since the summer of 2006, I've been creating Debatepedia.org, "the Wikipedia of pros and cons". I would like to present my findings at Ignite Portland. There is an ideal way to debate with yourself, weigh the pros and cons of issues, and actually form an opinion, rather than plodding through life with nothing to stand up for. I would like to share this approach in Portland. Founded Debatepedia - "the Wikipedia of pros and cons" - in the summer of 2006 and have been working on it full-time ever since. Went to Georgetown's School of Foreign Service right before that. Nevertheless, to save my soul from the perils of the East, I decided to be born on the West coast in Seattle. Brooks Lindsay Founder of Debatepedia.org 01/06/2009 5 01/06/2009 http://deadletter.tribe.net/ 01/06/2009 223 Artists often imagine that the perfect situation involves a beautiful loft, most often fantasized as live-work, in which all that imagined work becomes real. How many beautiful lofts have been terminated because the artists simply didn't know what the hidden costs or legalities were? This 5-minute presentation is designed to make investigating a personal loft or large shared industrial building easy and smooth. Focuses on: the basics of researching a property with the city, zoning and occupancy, what to look for decent resources like water, power, drainage and light, common prices and terms, and hidden costs such as insurance, triple net, and utilities. deadletter b has been teaching mathematics, running industrial arts buildings, and generally promoting regional infrastructure since 2000. Intensely geeky about network structures, collective processing, and high school mathematics, he's an Infrastructure Geek. deadletter b 136 Deadletter, Tool Shed PDX, Watershed PDX, LLC 01/06/2009 5 01/23/2009 http://www.floatingbones.com/ 12/31/2008 222 The things we build and use are tightly-coupled and compression-based: toys, furniture, vehicles, buildings, etc. We presume this is the only way to create structure, but nature has a different idea. Kenneth Snelson invented floating compression models in the late 1940s; Buckminster Fuller called the principle tensegrity. Fuller noted, "All [natural] structures, properly understood, from the solar system to the atom, are tensegrity structures." Today, researchers are modeling our musculoskeletal system as a tensegrity—a radical departure from the traditional "levers and hinges" anatomical model. What can this shift of perspective mean for us today? What are the Big Rules for effectively and efficiently controlling loosely-coupled structures? What would be possible if we allowed our bones to float in our bodies ... right now? Phil is an engineer, mathematician, and linguist. He has extensively studied tensional integrity models and their application to living structure. Tensegrity is remarkable but not mystical; it's simply a concept that few of us have ever explored. Experienced body/mind instructors typically have a strong intuitive grasp of tensegrity, but they lack the vocabulary to relate those concepts in geek-speak. Geeks may not realize the vast body of knowledge, experience, and heart that body/mind workers bring to their craft. Phil bridges the worlds of holistic movement and whole-systems thinking. Phil Earnhardt 134 12/31/2008 5 12/29/2008 12/29/2008 221 When was the last time your computer discovered something you didn’t explicitly tell it about? If it’s been a while, maybe you need an ontology. Ontologies – formal specifications of the objects in a domain and the relationships between them – let you make models of things you know about, and then reason over them to discover new relationships. Ontologies are powerful, dynamic, and they let you organize your data much closer to the way humans think than a database can. They’re also one of the technologies at the heart of the emerging Semantic Web (Web 3.0). In this talk, I’ll give a brief introduction to ontologies, how they’re used as knowledge modeling tools, and the kinds of reasoning you can do with them. We’ll touch on some of the more interesting things that come up when you use ontology-based systems, like the need for confidence and lineage. We’ll cover the differences between ontologies and databases, and lay the famous “I could do that with my database!” argument to rest. I’ll wrap up with a brief intro to the Semantic Web, the place you’re most likely to run into an ontology. You’ll come away from this talk (finally) understanding what semantics are, and with enough information to start building your own ontologies. Sharon Stern has a degree in Comparative Literature, and an interest in linguistics and computing. She architects ontologies at Thetus, a leading provider of semantic modeling software Sharon Stern 35 12/29/2008 5 12/25/2008 http://www.katefolsom.blogspot.com/ 12/25/2008 220 Forget everything your teachers taught you in school and listen close: it's not about knowing how to diagram a sentence or tell the difference between elusion, illusion and allusion. Writing well is about getting ideas across in a way that makes people want to keep reading, and more importantly, not beat you about the head with your own work. I'll be giving simple tips for writing effective prose and not getting bogged down in trying to fit some paradigm of "good writing." Vermonter by way of California moves to Portland to find herself. Finds herself with diagnosed mental illnesses, a steady supply of helpful medications, a dog and an underfurnished apartment. Decides "may you have an interesting life" is both a curse and a wonderful blessing to bestow, and even if it weren't wonderful, she's stuck with it anyway. Writer, student, misanthrope, owner of a fantastic rack. Experienced journalist, blogger, editor, critic and smartass. Kate "The Great" Folsom 133 International Tribunal of Awesome People Named Kate Folsom 12/25/2008 5 12/05/2008 http://linkenfuego.wordpress.com/ 12/05/2008 219 Do you know that the world-famous Helvetica was based on a late 19th century typeface model? That Arial is Helvetica’s bastard child, commissioned to avoid paying licensing fees? That John Baskerville, whose typeface our founding father, Benjamin Franklin adores, kept a lifelong mistress? That the designer of Gill Sans has a life of wild debauchery? That Times New Roman, now considered boring, was born out of a desire to typographically be more advanced? And that The Times newspaper doesn’t use Times New Roman anymore, notwithstanding the name? Join me as I take you through the interesting minutiae behind fonts we love, fonts we love to hate, and the man and woman who stood behind their design. I’m an independent brand developer, typography/readability consultant and social media strategist who wants to meet every single person on the Portland Twitter, creative and technology community and hear his/her story. http://bit.ly/bio Bram Pitoyo 131 12/05/2008 5 12/04/2008 http://www.8isc.com/ 12/04/2008 218 We bring so much potential into our jobs, everything we have done and everything we are capable of. Unlimited possibilities tempered by due process and micromanagers with short-attention spans. How is it that in one month, work can transform from an exciting world of novelty and new challenges into a mundane facsimile of what life is supposed to be? I wish to address this familiar phenomenon with the Portland crowd. Interactive Multimedia Producer Sean Canton 130 none 12/04/2008 5 12/03/2008 http://www.cubespacepdx.com/ 12/03/2008 217 Much of the credit for Portland's high quality of life is a direct result of the time and energy invested by previous generations of citizens. Our predecessors are the unsung heroes who fought to bring us Waterfront Park, the urban growth boundary, light rail and many other aspects of daily life that we all take for granted. We are fortunate in that our local governments are accessible, approachable and very interested in working with Portlanders (no, they are not just pandering--a citizen activist just got elected to City Council). With the rapid pace of growth in our fair city, lots of folks just don't how our local governments work or how to get involved. So I will offer a quick primer on how to participate in designing Portland's future. A life-long policy wonk who derives great joy from the machinations of local governments. I am likely one of the few citizens (but this is Portland, so I know I am not the only one) who is on a first name basis with both the City of Portland's Auditor and Chief Financial Officer. I credit this strange affinity to my grandfather who was the Chief Budget Examiner for New York City until he died in 1977. Eva Schweber 47 CubeSpace 12/03/2008 5 11/27/2008 http://rabbidavidkominsky.wordpresss.com/ 11/27/2008 216 A non-sectarian introduction to the ideas behind mysticism, I'll explain some of the root assumptions underlying most mystical thinking. Key goal of the session: everyone attending should know the answer to the joke: What did the mystic say to the hotdog vendor? Using graphics and metaphors, I'll go through the basis of mystical belief, and what the implications of this belief are (and why mystics of all religions are essentially alike). This is intended as more of an academic introduction than one whose goal is to make people mystics. Really...no proselytizing. I'm a local entrepreneur and rabbi who often combines the spheres of my life. Co-owner of CubeSpace, freelance rabbi, and someone who tries to be a good guy. David Kominsky 97 CubeSpace 11/27/2008 5 11/26/2008 http://www.psychster.com/ 11/26/2008 215 If you want to make money from your website, you need page views. The best way to increase page views is not to get more users - it's to increase visits and stickiness. We'll resurrect the world's Most Loved Evil Psychologist B.F. Skinner to teach you how to equip your site with reinforcement schedules that will make it irresistable. Your users will soon be clicking the mouse as fast as Skinner's mice clicked levers. Brush up on your evil laughter...or if you're the user, maybe you'll finally graduate from Facebook Anonymous! Earned Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of Iowa in 1999. Former Beta Program Manager at Microsoft and Sr. Business Analyst at Classmates.com. Currently CEO with Psychster Inc., devoted to research on the psychology of social media and makers of YouJustGetMe.com, a personality site where you learn if others see you as you see yourself. David Evans 129 Psychster Inc. 11/26/2008 5 11/24/2008 http://magicseth.com/ 11/24/2008 214 While Arthur C Clarke said "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," the opposite is also true, any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. MagicSeth has been to the future, brought back samples of telepathic computers, stolen software from Web 18.0, and has conquered Google. Witness some the magic, or is it technology, as MagicSeth demonstrates wonder for a technologically advanced society. With a Bachelors in Magic and Technology and a Masters in Wonder from MIT, Seth Raphael is doing what he loves, and blowing people's minds. His childhood passion of magic had to compete with his love of computers. At times one threatened to eclipse the other as he alternatively wrote off magic as foolish, and technology as soul-less. At last he reconciled his two obsessions, creating a cutting-edge form of entertainment. He studied technology and magic at Hampshire College, and the emotion of Wonder at the MIT Media Lab. Now he travels the world teaching organizations how to achieve things they never thought possible. Seth Raphael 127 MagicSeth 11/24/2008 5 11/24/2008 http://www.singleorganism.com/ 11/24/2008 213 This talk is all about DNA and you'd better cope with it. Science isn't the art of making things up so that math and biology classes are justified. Rather science is all about observing reproducible phenomena in the world. DNA is something we now know lots about. You'd be surprised how knowing a little bit more about DNA explains all sorts of things you see everyday. For example, can you really clone yourself or what are the odds that you'll get convicted for a crime your evil twin committed? Perhaps more practically, why do dog lovers pay for pet DNA testing and why does every apple look exactly the same at the grocery store? You'll be glad that you listened to this talk the next time your friend, or the cops, ask you for a DNA test. Jayson grew up in Spokane, WA, moved to Miami, FL, for a degree in Computer Science, moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a PhD in Bioinformatics, and now lives in Portland to be close to family and work at a biotech start-up. "What is Bioinformatics?" is good question to make a conversation with Jayson awkward. He'll get really excited about computers and science and stuff and you'll get very bored. Jayson unfortunately thinks topics such as Proteomics and Java and Linux are fun to discuss in casual conversation. He also spends the majority of his time in front of a laptop and will often claim that he loves his work. Oddly, Jayson has allergies to Facebook, instant messaging, Twitter, and other forms of social media. Way back in the day, Jayson helped design parts of the Java Web Tier API and to this day he is still very much a coder. Apply typical stereotypes. Dr. Jayson Falkner Single Organism Software Inc 11/24/2008 5 11/23/2008 http://www.ayalasculptures.com/ 11/23/2008 212 This talk is about the story of the unfolding universe (13.7 billion years) and how we, as a species, on the Earth (6.7+/- billion years old), are very, very recent arrivals in the "story". Our presence on Earth is the result of billions of years of very specific activities in the cosmos. If this activity had not taken place, in the way that it did, we, and countless other species wouldn't be here; ironically, the "story" is not about US. We play a unique and vital role as part of the natural wonder on this planet. So what is the "story" about? What is our purpose here on Earth? What does it matter that we are literally born out of "star stuff"? How can we relate to this bizarre, seemingly sci-fi story about the cosmos? These and other questions will be answered in this talk. Source information is based on cosmology work done by Brian Swimme, Tomas Berry and others. Because of the talk is so brief, it will be visually humorous, laced with irony and consist of generally mind-blowing information about who we are and how we fit into the Universe Story. Jim was born in Oakland, California. He lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay area. He recently moved to Portland from Seattle. Sculpting, drawing, poetry and story-telling are Jim’s primary creative outlets. Jim's "day job" is a freelance Process Engineer. Jim is fascinated with recent discoveries in astronomy, quantum theory and cosmology. JIm Ayala independent 11/23/2008 5 11/21/2008 11/21/2008 211 UI (user interface) with computers and electronics has changed drastically since the introduction of the teletype computers that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Peripheral devices, graphics, and other feedback have made using computers fun, easy, and efficient. Because of the possibilities of new, more natural ways of interacting with machines and with the intro of multitouch hardware and applications, a new set of standards must be conceived and adopted as what we see as standards (see double clicking or menu bars). This talk is about history, proposed standards, what the hobbyists are doing (building multitouch devices and software), and where the future lies. John Brown is a full time PSU student and also works full time at a large ad agency here in PDX. He love electronics, musicals, and books. Though a notorious wallflower, he only really feels comfortable when presenting on a topic that excites him, even if everyone is looking at him (and secretly judging, he is sure). John Brown coders, programmers, readers, nerds, solderers, and those on Tri-Met are my people. Also, anyone who would take the time to come to the Ignite Portland website and read through the proposals. They're my type of people. 11/21/2008 5 11/19/2008 http://www.leopoldketel.com/ 11/19/2008 210 Having worked for many self-important people in the past, Mr. Ketel, shows the difference between mere vanity and true narcissism. He will show how to placate narcissists but most importantly, how to spot one and avoid them all together. A 21st Century version of Mad Men's Don Drapper, Jerry Ketel is the President and Executive Creative Director of his modern day "advertising agency". Jerry is a proud member of Portland's Creative Community having gone to school at the Pacific Northwest College of Art right here in Portland. Jerry Ketel 68 Leopold Ketel & Partners 11/19/2008 5 11/19/2008 http://www.dimpleandasmirk.com/ 11/19/2008 209 Did you know there are more reasons to take the bus besides that warm feeling you get by considering yourself more environmentally-conscious than the next person? You don't have to buy a magazine to see the latest fashion do's and don'ts, or the trends in accessories. You could find your new favorite song by overhearing it blasting out of someone's headphones. If you're lucky and become a regular, you may develop a series of bus crushes. Or, perhaps you want to see some of the people who take "Keep Portland Weird" a bit too literally. All you need is $2, a cell or iPhone (to check arrival times), and a sense of adventure. I'll present some of the experiences I've had while on a TriMet bus as well as offer tips for making a trip on public transit less mundane. Originally from Maryland, A. L. Venable grew restless and was curious to check out another part of the country. Thanks to FindMySpot.com, she took a chance by vacationing in Portland, Oregon in 2005 and loved it so much, she moved here in April 2006 with no job, a few thousand dollars in a savings account, and a place to live for a couple of months. After being under-employed (aka temp assignments around town), she began working full-time in the interactive agency world in November 2006. She enjoys music, vodka, photography, traveling, meeting new people, and may kick your ass at Scrabble(tm). She blogs at Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com and Our PDX Network. A. L. Venable 126 11/19/2008 5 11/19/2008 http://www.lofiart.com/ 11/19/2008 208 Encryption is a mystery to many people. Hollywood tells us that any network can be hacked by a sharp looking geek with enough touch screen monitors. I'll talk about why encryption works, how it is essential for the web, and how it can build trust for online communities. I'll end with speculation on the future of encryption - opportunistic encryption and quantum keys. I will keep the whole talk on a human level - no computer science degree is necessary for the listener. Chris is a local web designer/developer. Chris Pitzer 11/19/2008 5 11/19/2008 http://www.kindigs.com/ 11/19/2008 207 I’ll start with the assumptions that drove the first round of web development (eyeballs, 1st mover advantage, 96-01), and how they correlate to the leading assumptions driving Web 2.0. I’ll outline 8 current realities that could undermine Web 2.0's success, and wrap them into a main thesis; that Web2.0 is yet to prove that an open and shared system platform based on user freedom and experience customization can capture and serve the mainstream majority. This new ecosystem of products and services must address issues of Scale, Standards, Reliability, Value, Simplicity, Revenue Drivers, and the all important Network Effect if it hopes to succeed. Will Web2.0 deliver a sustainable Internet economy where users can pick and choose from a wide variety of independent applications? Or will these applications simply provide proven feature functions for tomorrow's Web3.0 experiences, business models and directives? Can a one platform paradigm succeed (The Web2.0 Cloud), or will a new breed of independent systems emerge to challenge it? I'll concluded with a slide called "the inevitability of failure", reminding how renewed energy and opportunities are unleashed when industry inflection points occur. I've worked in the online industry since 1997, having held positions at ATT WorldNet, DoubleClick, DreamHomeSource and HanleyWood eMedia. I am currently working on a social networking startup called KinDigs. Our goal is to bring structured granularity to online relationships and personal content, and help users capture and preserve personal legacy. My passion is designing holistic, experience-driven online applications that satisfy user and business goals through community driven tools and environments. I'm a huge fan of music and the arts. My mantra is "Place competitive drive to the side ... focus on delivering value." Paul Daigle 122 11/19/2008 5 11/18/2008 11/18/2008 206 "Our users are morons!" How many times have you heard this from someone on your development team? The fact is, your users' brains are less important than their feelings. To build great software, you must be able to empathize. Not just with your users, but with your teammates and with your own true self. Luckily, you already have all the tools you need to be a master empathizer. I'll show how my unique and often embarrassing life experiences have taught me empathy, and I'll teach you the secrets of empathy-driven design: how to pull from your own experiences, how to identify the "pain points" in your software, and how to sell the empathetic approach to your team without looking like a big softie. Dan Blaker is a project manager with a heart of gold (and 13 years' experience in the software industry). Born a poor white hippie on a Tennessee commune, he learned at an early age how to walk in someone else's shoes—because he literally had to share his shoes with the other kids on the commune. Dan Blaker 11/18/2008 5 11/18/2008 http://none/ 11/18/2008 205 A series of scratchboards I created based on my experiences working graveyard shifts at a controversial nuthouse in Cornelius, OR. Although it was shut down after the escape of a resident, it remains close to my heart as one of the weirdest positions I have held in a lifetime of weird positions. A teacher of many years, I have spent my summers and off hours pursuing the ridiculous in jobs and life. Vanya Schroeder none 11/18/2008 5 11/17/2008 http://www.techcraver.com/ 11/17/2008 203 We often think of the USA as the center of the technological world. This may be true in many aspects of technology, but not the mobile phone industry. Looking at "emerging markets", we can see some amazing mobile adoption patterns. For example, South Africa has about 90% mobile adoption and in India in the month of September 2008, a cell phone was activated every 7 seconds. My talk will help you discover these other areas of the world and highlight how NGOs, governments, and health organizations in these areas are using mobile technology for positive social change. Using technologies such as mobile social networking, SMS, and combining these vehicles; organizations are driving outstanding social change that deserves to be highlighted and supported. Jason is a lifelong technologist, web developer and tinkerer. Never satisfied with things the way they are, Jason is always seeking new technologies and avenues to explore. Jason Harris 123 11/17/2008 5 11/16/2008 11/16/2008 202 America is a divided nation. But not east-west, red-blue, R-D, coast-heartland, white-black-brown, venus-mars. The division transcends those categories, for we are divided within ourselves in a duality that stretches back to the founding of our Republic. The conservative Republican movement that began with the Barry Goldwater candidacy in 1964 exploited that initial division for political gain, ultimately controlling the national debate by 1980. While what the conservatives started is now intellectually discredited, their vision of America retains a powerful emotional hold on the American people and will until a more compelling and honest vision, also rooted in the founding, takes its place. The task of leading an entire nation to heal and evolve is challenging and perhaps unprecedented in the history of the world, and it is a task that now rests with the new national leadership of the Democratic Party. I'm a communications professional, strategist, and political counselor. I solve problems and facilitate change. Rick Hanson 120 11/16/2008 5 11/16/2008 11/16/2008 201 We walk the streets of Portland, staring at the sidewalks or our into the eyes of our companions, often forgetting to look up. When we do take the time to gaze above, we see the magnificent combination of art and architecture. Impotent glass and concrete buildings are encroaching our skyline. In their shadow is the remnant of Portland edifices from an era of meaningful architecture. In my presentation I will Ignite Portland with 20 pages of the beauty of our city if one only takes the time to look up. Cornices and gargoyles. Statues and arches. Brick and mortar and marble and engravings. I will accompany these photos with historical trivia about the buildings and its architects, editorial about the nostalgic state of what once was and light humor about what buildings have become. I've only been to one Ignite Portland and it was enough to make me want to come back as a participant. My demographics are atypical of the audience on the outside, but in tune on the inside (thanks to my girlfriend, who is sitting right next to me as I write this). Ex-executive trying to make a difference in the world with the back half of my life. Read more at www.myspace.com/edmarkiewicz www.gsm-mef.blogspot.com www.picasa.google.com/edmarkiewicz Ed Markiewicz 119 11/16/2008 5 11/16/2008 http://www.bridgepdx.org/ 11/16/2008 200 Chickens are awesome. They're cute. They give you eggs. They eat slugs. And the sound that they make when they are being eaten alive by raccoons is unforgettable. Follow Selena on her journey through three years of tending chickens in Portland. Learn where to leave your chickens after dark, where to find replacement hens, and how daylight savings time and user group meetings can kill. Selena Deckelmann is an enthusiastic open source advocate and PostgreSQL specialist. Her work ranges from the highly local–organizing the Portland PostgreSQL User Group–to planning national conferences, and international outreach to other user groups and events. She is also a founding board member of Legion of Tech. She has presented at LUG Radio Live, OSCON and the Linux Plumbers Conference on working with Drupal, running user groups and measuring filesystem performance. She works for End Point Corporation, a software engineering consultancy. And she raises chickens. Selena Deckelmann 54 Open Source Bridge 11/16/2008 5 11/15/2008 http://www.burmacollective.org/ 11/15/2008 199 More than 30 million people are living in exile worldwide. Maybe 30,000 people make it to the US in any given year through the refugee resettlement program. How do people go from living their lives to living in exile to resettlement in a foreign country? Using Burma as an example, this presentation will focus on the steps a person would go through to flee their home, apply for asylum with the UNHCR in a second country like Malaysia, and eventually, be resettled in a third country like the US. Before moving to Portland in 2006, I lived in Thailand, where I took naps every day, ate lots of curry, and hung out with friends from Burma. I studied applied anthropology at Australian National University, and did research on the riveting topic of public discourse surrounding refugees and asylum-seekers there. I work at PSU, am an occasional social activist, and a lover of all things pie. Tara Horn 117 11/15/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.thenewgroup.com/ 11/14/2008 198 Men have much to learn. First they must give up any idea, whatsoever, of running the household, or that their opinions matter. The simple success for men in life, as it has always been, and always will be, centers on the happiness of the wife. And, like before, I'd present in Haiku. IP1 alumni, creative and art director-type, producer, writer, photographer, account guy and world traveler. On marriage number two and with all of the answers. Scott Huber 118 The New Group 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://cdcstudios.com/ 11/14/2008 197 The world is ending, zombies are everywhere (even nice mrs. jones next door who always gave you fresh cinnamon rolls) and want to eat your brains, you've got to hide somewhere. In 5 quick minutes you'll get the must have list of items, how to travel lightly and where to go. I’m a 33 year old Network Engineer residing in Portland, Oregon. I enjoy all things “northwesty” including the obvious rain and clouds in addition to the typical coffee addictive personality so abundant up here. Aside from being a CSS and xhtml design fanatic I also am currently an MCSE as well as MCSA and divide my computing attentions between Windows & Mac OS X based systems. Equally at home with Photoshop or rooting about in the schema of an Exchange server I tend to find my attentions drawn more to the artistic endeavors lately. In addition to a focus on art, I’m also bettering myself while figuring out to resolve mistakes from the past in a fair and balanced matter (really fair and balanced though, nothing like Fox News lol). I’m also a huge fan of Drum & Bugle corps and spend as much time as possible helping out the Seattle Cascades youth organization in any way I can (I even drove for them in 2004 and 2005). For those who don’t know Drum & Bugle Corps is an activity quite a bit like marching band but independant of high schools and colleges. The kids (ages 15-22) that do this pay a premium and rehearse hundreds of hours to participate in the summer tour throughout the US. Very cool and very fun activity. I’m currently married to the most wonderful woman in the world, who shares my love for art and nature and enjoying that all too often insane thing called life. Most days I can be found with some type of caffeine in my hand and a fairly happy expression. I’m still trying to beat the evil damned nicotine bug as well as exercising more regularly to regain a decent level of physical fitness (apparently it’s easy to gain sympathy weight during a pregnancy. Sadly it doesn’t go away as easily as it comes). Things aren’t always perfect but for the most part they are as best as they can be. Chris O'Rourke 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.leopoldketel.com/ 11/14/2008 196 A primer on what to do and not do while internet dating. I have some great examples of what mistakes to avoid, how awful the approaches can be and even some research (secondary and primary) I've gleaned while internet dating. Yes, this comes from my own (extensive) experience but also from friends and associates who have now hilarious horror stories of stalkers, cock shots, weird dates with unsocialized human beings and those who simply do not know how to use a spell checker. Jerry Ketel was raised in Portland. Went to school at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and for the last 27 years has been a proud member of the Portland Creative Community. His dirty secret is that he hates Power Point Presentations and has banned them from the agency he owns. Unfortunately, the damned presentation software is unavoidable—so he wanted to use it for good instead of evil. Ignite Portland 5 would give him the opportunity to show his detractors what a Powerpoint Presentation SHOULD be. Jerry Ketel 68 Leopold Ketel & Partners 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.mycuriouslife.com/ 11/14/2008 195 Conceiving a child can be easy, but raising one (or many) can be insane. Ten tips for keeping your dojo safe, preserving (a sliver of) your sanity, honing the practice of persuasion, knowing when you really should panic, and identifying the weapons of good parent-fu. No children will be (permanently) harmed in the making of this presentation. Interaction/user experience designer by day, father of seven by night (and day, weekends and holidays, too). Two genetically related kids, 3 internationally adopted, one domestically adopted and one by way of the foster care system. Three with special needs. I am a master of controlled chaos. Todd Kalhar 115 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 11/14/2008 194 There are lots of reasons to have kids but there are significantly more reasons not to have children. The biggest challenge is coping with the mommies, daddies, and their precious snowflakes... and my parents. Self abused traveler... sometimes writer and musician who has fallen into the tech industry in much the same way one gets splashed by traffic. Currently working on changing careers to nursing and being less introverted. Da5id Clouse 92 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.chuffle.com/ 11/14/2008 193 Self censorship and unnecessary apologies are viral. They infect one realm of your day and gradually spread to every corner of your brain. Once you allow apologies to become a crutch, you can rarely stop. Once you bottle your emotions and bury them inside, they begin to eat away at your happiness. Unlocking the power of simple profanity can help engage your passion, vent your frustration, and motivate those around you. Limiting your apologies to genuine personal wrongdoing increases their meaning and effectiveness and speeds the process of identifying real errors, and helps you maintain your self respect. Born and raised in Chandler, AZ. Moved to San Jose following the easy money (in 1999) moved back to Phoenix in 2001 when it all exploded. Moved to Portland in 2003 because Arizona sucks sweaty jockstrap. Portland's jockstrap is significantly less sweaty. I like bicycles and fatty foods. Aaron Walker 113 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.pushclicktouch.com/ 11/14/2008 192 Want to play music? Afraid to begin? Play the ukulele! Watch and learn how to play the simplest chords so you can play every other Ramones or Hank Williams song. Latch onto the instrument that automatically puts on a smile on your face. It's tropical! It's happy! During this presentation, I will, of course, be playing live. Bill is the Interim Director of Interaction Design at Ziba Design in Portland, Oregon. With Ziba, he is fortunate to work on a variety of challenges, from handheld satellite radios and medical devices to community websites and interactive spaces. And he writes about the variety and history of interaction design in everyday experiences on his blog, PushClickTouch.com. And he's the Treasurer of the Interaction Design Association. And, of course, he plays the ukulele. Bill DeRouchey Ziba Design 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://twitter.com/stevenwalling 11/14/2008 191 For a single city to claim that it's the world capital of blogs, Twitter, or any other Web-based technology might seem a little weird, since by their very nature they're meant to free us from the limitations of geography. But for a few important reasons, Portland quite clearly holds a very special place in the world when it comes to wikis. I've got five reasons why this is true, and some simple explanation of what I think that says about Portland. Whether you're a wiki geek or not, it's interesting to think that our city has a guiding hand in a technology that has fundamentally transformed the way we share information. I'm an employee of AboutUs Inc., a volunteer administrator for Wikipedia, and nut for all things wiki. Steven Walling 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://katin.gaia.com/ 11/14/2008 190 Nations have economies, states have economies, cities and counties have economies; but did you know that you have your own personal economy as well? This presentation will reveal the core essence of understanding what and how you trade (import/export) every day and what other value exchanges are possible. Learn the different domains of value and how to find the highest-value exchanges with people. Learn about how we all trade much more than dollars and cents everyday, and how to do it better. Bonus slide: the secret formula behind every get-rich-quick scheme in existence. Software engineer that crosses over to soft-skills trainer; web systems guy that is certified in hypnotherapy; hardcore linguistics geek that helps create local economic exchange. Ten years of self-employment experience, twenty years of software engineering experience. 7.5 yrs in Portland. Katin Imes 112 a self-employed neighbor 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://www.mckenzieworldwide.com/ 11/14/2008 189 At some point in life, we all wake up and realize that the clock is ticking and there are things we've always wanted to do, but family and work pressures have gotten in the way. For some, it can be something like finally reading War and Peace. For others, like me, something more exciting -- and yes, even risky -- is called for. In my case, that something was offroad motorcycle racing. In today's world this is not exactly a PC pursuit, but it is definitely fun and it gets me out into the woods on a regular basis. I'm a bit of an oxymoron -- a liberal dirt biker. This talk will help open people's eyes to a rewarding and often misunderstood sport and provide some tips on how to get started. My original background is as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor before switching over to the public relations side of things. My focus has all been in high-tech, working with 1-person startups to the world's largest software companies. Now I'm a senior leader with McKenzie Worldwide. Brian Edwards 110 McKenzie Worldwide 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://positorio.us/ 11/14/2008 188 Many people in Portland are involved in technology start-ups or other potential money making opportunities. One problem PDXers face is that their sense of community involvement often forces them to partake in non-moneymaking side projects that distract them from the steps necessary to build a billion dollar corporation capable of properly achieving world domination. Using my wealth of experiences with efforts such as SPARK, ORBlogs.org and Engage The Gorge, I will present some creative ways in which I have catastrophically destroyed community-based efforts. Learning from my successes, you will finally be able to ditch that pesky time sink and focus your full attention on your plans for world domination. Scientist, programmer, and a digger of all things tech. Catastrophic failure at starting companies, unfortunately good at building community efforts. Nestled snugly in the Columbia River Gorge John Metta 109 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 http://voostru/ 11/14/2008 187 This talk will span the process of choosing the right firecracker stand, selecting your salesman, conversation faux pais, what to buy and why, the process of negotiation, and how to get even more. I might even drop in a list of common terms. When I was 12, I bought the rights to distribute Fireworks in Jackson County Oklahoma. Today, I own 20 retail outlets, a wholesale distributorship, and also put on city displays. Andy Van Oostrum ISITE Design and 4A Fireworks in SW Oklahoma 11/14/2008 5 11/14/2008 11/14/2008 186 Amateur radio is still alive and well, and coming into the 21st Century as a playground for the technically curious. In addition to the work hams do in disaster relief communications, there is a lot of place for experimentation and learning. Ham radio is pushing the envelope in digital voice communications, high-speed "Internet" over incredible distances, and providing a fertile playground for the technologically curious. Understanding our wireless world and how it works starts with an entry-level ham radio license: where you take it from there is up to you.. Growing up while living behind one of America's biggest amateur radio stores permanently damaged me somehow, but it did start me on a lifelong desire to learn about our world and the fascinating field of electronics and radio. Chris Sullivan 107 11/14/2008 5 11/13/2008 http://www.saosocialnetwork.org/ 11/13/2008 185 cascadia has been talked about ever since we discovered that everything is better in the NW and the rest of the country hates us for it...let me give you 10 reasons why we should break off from Canada & the US to form a new, independent nation. born to hippie parents...rebelled to become a young conservative...taught high school english and history for 5 years...became an education policy advisor in the legislature...became a lobbyist...became a middle-aged liberal/independent...left government to run the software association...been to every ignite (except #3 due to travel). Harvey Mathews 104 lithuanian calvinist 11/13/2008 5 11/13/2008 http://beardrevue.com/ 11/13/2008 184 Honestly, I don't know how this one will shape up. I've opened a can of worms and now I've just got to pick one. The thing is, I was born in Louisville (where, as evidenced tonight, beards are in) and lived all around the world. But Portland seems to have embraced the beard far better than I've ever imagined. Beardliness is awesomeness. And I wear my awesomeness on my face every day. Michael Buchino runs Beard Revue, a web logbook committed to the review, commentary & discussion for the beard enthusiast. Besides beardcraft, his passions include graphic design, music commonly associated with a hipsters, indoor soccer, Granadian shawarma and the University of Louisville men's basketball program among other things. He is a recently ordained Reverend of the Universal Life Church Monastery and happily resides in Little Beirut. Michael Buchino 105 Beard Revue 11/13/2008 5 11/13/2008 http://blog.reedgillette.com/ 11/13/2008 182 Apply the basics of video games to your life. How to Gain Real Life Experience, Skills, Strength and build Social bonds using the rules of Role Playing Games and other Genres of Video Games. There are too many people building their on line characters when they can be off the couch gaining confidence and doing things in the real world. Software Development Manager @ Corillian/CheckFree/Fiserv Adventure Racer Video Game Player Reed Gillette 102 11/13/2008 5 11/14/2008 11/13/2008 181 Like most people, I left Ignite Portland 4 full of energy, reciting the key phrases of the evening, and especially mumbling ideas to my girl about all the great talks I would give. In trying to figure which I would submt, I realized I had too many topics that would wow the audience. Now, I could be diligent and try to do one every 4-5 months up until Ignite Portland 16, but follow through has never been my thing, as I am easily distracted by the shiny. Instead, I could collect all the grand themes sparking around in my brain, put them on 10 slides with pizazz, and let the community follow through on my ideas by giving them the love and attention they deserve, developing them into healthy, sturdy Ignite talks. John Brown is a full time PSU student and also works full time at a large ad agency here in PDX. He love electronics, musicals, and books. Though a notorious wallflower, he only really feels comfortable when presenting on a topic that excites him, even if everyone is looking at him (and secretly judging, he is sure). John Brown 101 coders, programmers, readers, nerds, solderers, and those on Tri-Met are my people. Also, anyone who would take the time to come to the Ignite Portland website and read through the proposals. They're my type of people. 11/13/2008 5 02/11/2009 http://iterasi.com/ 11/13/2008 180 I have made lots of omelettes. Like maybe over 1,000. I make them for friends in small groups and I've made them in large groups - the most being 88 in one setting. I've run crews of 8 making omelettes. I know my omelettes. So I thought it would be fun to share this knowledge in a humorous presentation where I would share some tricks I've learned. I would show omelettes that worked - my special is a seafood omelette - and perhaps those that did not. So it could be fun and I probably would not embarrass myself, the organizers or the sponsors too much. Maybe not. CEO of iterasi, was CEO of WeSync.com, before that CEO of ProTools Pete Grillo CEO of iterasi 11/13/2008