Communitech was very pleased to be a part of the first IgniteWaterloo last night, and it was an honour to sponsor the event. Community-driven, there are few venues out there which legitimately care about fostering opinion and interest in a pure, open forum.

 I have to say my personal fav was Dave Estill’s “solar power blows the lid off” rythmic, poetic, high-impact presentation which single-handedly converted me into a solarist and a white boy rap fan in a matter of minutes. The guy is passionate. Kinda brilliant to map the cadence of his vocal presentation with the visual.

All of the presenters had some fantastic stuff to say and night was well worth all of the effort. And there was plenty of effort that went into the event. Big props for the organizers, partners, volunteers and particularly to the presenters, which I’m going to list here because I think these folks should get as much notoriety as possible!:

Mark Connolly: Metaphor in product design: are you sure that’s an album?

Jesse Rodgers: VeloCity, Startup and the now-notorious ultimate cool shark/gorrilla high-5

Brent Curry: Nudging people onto bikes in the age of the automobile

David Estill: Here Comes the Sun: Solar Energy as development home and abroad

Jon Fishbein: Meet The Real Africa

Nicholas Oddson: Nothing’s impossible when you’re creating it: How theatre helped my career

Aden Seaman: Solving a Rubik’s Cube in 90 seconds

Jason Shim: ‘Til Disconnection Do We Part: A Second Life Wedding

David Swart: Novel ways to display the visible sphere

Jaclyn Konzelman: TEDxWaterloo

Jayne Thompson: Global climate change at a local scale: forecasting floods and issuing warnings

Darin White: Meta-Making: creating a hacker space in 17 easy steps

Kevin Thaler: Twenty-two years of Policing:  Thrills, Laughs and Fears

This thing is just starting. Like the ideas and opinions which comprise the content, just watch this great idea grow.

– Thom