Sometimes all it takes to change the world is five minutes. At least that’s the premise of Ignite @ ASU, an event that could most accurately be described as a lecture soaked in acid, a carnival of ideas, knowledge, inspiration and networking that aims to be the tiny spark that ignites a world of change.
Ignite @ ASU has its origins in Ignite Phoenix (which until this year it partnered with) and Arizona State University’s 10,000 Solutions, an experimental initiative that’s trying to collect solutions to problems both local and global from the ASU community and beyond – anyone can create a solution to any problem. This personalized approach to change informed the theme for this semester’s Ignite @ ASU: small solutions, big change.
The event, the fourth Ignite @ ASU and the first held at the Polytechnic campus, blended the multiple-speaker format of Ignite Phoenix talks with the problem-solving ethos of 10,000 Solutions to create an event where presenters proposed solutions to global issues and inspired others to join their crusade – or start their own.
“Everyone anywhere can have great solutions and those solutions add up to big change,” says Regina Duran, a business and global politics senior and Ignite @ ASU organizer. “It’s about going outside of our community and becoming part of the global community.”
More than 100 people settled into Polytechnic’s Aravaipa Auditorium on Nov. 16 to watch 12 presentations from ASU students, staff and faculty as well as local entrepreneurs and change-makers. Each presentation was five minutes long, with presenters speaking along to slideshows they prepared. Slides advanced every 15 seconds without the presenters controlling them, keeping the pace brisk and the presentations concise. If ever there were a lecture format for those with short attention spans, this is it.
“I was really enjoying getting familiar with the presenting style,” Cameron Rogers says. Rogers, a technological entrepreneurship and management freshman, enjoyed the rapid-fire format of the presentations and his overall experience at his first Ignite event. “I loved learning about the ideas as well. I felt like I was going to act most on the Twitter one.”
The first presentation, by Casey Thomas, an ASU alum and social media and tele-counseling coordinator at ASU, was about how to use Twitter to change the world. Thomas described how to use Twitter to promote your career, your nonprofit, your favorite cause or even just yourself.
“It’s about connecting you to communities of people who share your interests,” Thomas said in her presentation. “More than a pastime, it can be a passion.”
The other presentations ran the gamut, from teaching rape-defense skills to women in Africa to creating a database of native-language speakers and learners to facilitate language-learning via webcam.
“The more that we fuel opportunities like this, the better,” Nate Anderson says. Anderson is the founder and executive director of Ear Candy, a nonprofit organization that collects used instruments and distributes them to student musicians around the country. Anderson presented a lecture on Ear Candy at the event.
“This is a very easy way to at least experience some of the more creative and innovative ideas on campus, and not in an invasive way,” Anderson says. “People aren’t trying to sell you anything; you’re just there to listen and enjoy. You never know what’s going to inspire you.”
During the evening, audience members were treated to free food courtesy of Ignite @ ASU’s longtime sponsor, the Arizona State Credit Union. It also supplied prizes for audience drawings and “slideshow karaoke,” an activity wherein audience members improvised narration for slideshows they’d never seen, to get a taste of what the presenters experienced.
Mike Mader, assistant dean of student services and educational outreach at Polytechnic, gave a presentation about Club to College, an organization he started and collaborated on with his friend Mindy Elias. The group partners ASU students and staff with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to help children get on the path to college early. Kids from the program filled up two rows of the auditorium, a testament to the change already being made.
“I thought it went great and I liked the platform,” Mader says. “I’ve personally never witnessed or been a part of something like that. There were so many innovative ideas in such a short amount of time. It went by so fast and it was exciting – a little nerve-wracking, but an exhilarating experience.”
Mader feels fortunate to be part of the ASU community, where he feels supported both philosophically and practically to come up with new ideas and to implement them, embracing the spirit of Ignite.
“It’s incredibly inspirational at ASU,” Mader says. “It’s been transformational for me and I’m a 47-year-old staff member, I’m not a 19-year-old student. It’s a great environment where it’s your idea that matters, not your age or your status in the University. If you care about it, articulate it and inspire others to care about it – to me, that’s the seed of innovation.”
Duran echoes his sentiment and hopes that people left the event feeling “empowered and inspired to take action and create change around them. We really pushed our presenters to give people action items to do, whether it’s to read more about global issues or to partner with us.”
As Anderson says, “You never know what’s going to come out of throwing a bunch of creative people in a room together.”
Contact the reporter at llemoine@asu.edu
