Notable names in the growing Tampa entrepreneurship scene will take the stage at the Cuban Club on May 22, 2014. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the fourth annual Ignite! Tampa Bay, an event billed with the phrase "Enlighten us, but make it quick!''
Speakers will cover a range of topics from local politics to
TED-like inspirational talks. Armed with slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds and whatever props they can carry, presenters take the podium for exactly five minutes to inspire and "ignite'' the audience.
Ignite! Tampa Bay 2014 presenters include local Tampa and St. Petersburg residents who are active members of the startup community:
USFSP Entrepreneurship program co-Founder Nathan Schwagler will discuss his love for Tampa Bay with a talk titled "On Gratitude''; Software Engineer and Technologist Aubrey Goodman is tackling "Active Vulnerability''; and
Launchtrack Founder Jonathan Cordeau is talking about "How NO Empowers.'' A complete list of speakers will be released in coming weeks.
Chris Krimitsos, founder and CEO of the
Tampa Bay Business Owners, will be the evening's emcee.
Held at the historic
Cuban Club in Ybor City, the 2014 Ignite! will strive to find a balance between inspiring and overwhelming the audience, says Joy Randels, one of the event's organizers.
The national movement (founded in Seattle in 2006 through
O'Reilly Media) launched in Tampa in 2011. Some might say that Ignite! Tampa Bay has found footing after three years of trial and error.
Almost four years ago, Ignite! was one of the first entrepreneurial showcases to step into the Tampa limelight. The event moved from the former Wyndham Tampa Westshore (now
Holiday Inn Tampa) in summer 2011 to the
Glazer Children's Museum in January 2012, doubling in audience size. By 2013, the evening was staged at the
Tampa Theatre in downtown Tampa, where over 800 attendees heard from more than
30 speakers.
"It was too much,'' Randels says of the 2013 event, which ran long. "This year, we will be done on time so that people can go out and connect afterward, and the number of presenters will be limited to 20.''
Randels spoke at the 2013 event, challenging local entrepreneurs to work together to change the status quo and be supportive of each other's endeavors.
Ignite! Tampa is subsidized by the
Hillsborough County EDI2 fund through Technova, Florida Inc., a nonprofit that produces entrepreneurial events like Ignite! and
Barcamp Tampa Bay throughout the year, along with supporting independent events like
Startup Weekend,
Startup Bus,
Tampa Hackerspace,
FIRST Robotics and
Robocon.
Join the
Ignite Tampa Bay Meetup group for event updates or
visit the website to purchase tickets.
Writer:
Justine Benstead
Source: Joy Randels, Ignite! Tampa Bay
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