BTW: I didn’t know that Pecha Kucha existed until I told someone that I presented at Ignite Boulder and they mentioned a mutual friend who presented at the first PKD last March in Denver. PKs give you 20 seconds per slide, but, otherwise, the formats seem identical.

Good luck in finding a venue, John. Andrew Hyde found a good one for Boulder; it definitely helped having the event be successful.

I lived in Boulder for many years and now live in Broomfield. The Landmark Theater at Belleview is just a tad farther than downtown Denver. Parking is free there, and navigation is easy. If someone is into alternate transportation, it’s within walking distance of the Greenwood Village light rail station.

Too bad that ‘Flix didn’t work out. It’s really sad that they are now closed.

Could you have a cover charge that could be used to buy food/drink at the lobby bar?

Softpro could also host mini-Ignites on Saturdays with 3 presentations or something like that. That could generate some buzz at their store.

I e-mailed a talk proposal to the gmail address. Did you read it?

My only thing with the Landmark is DTC. That more or less precludes Boulder, at least I think it would.

We actually tried ‘hood flix, but they wanted 2500 IIRC for the event to be there. Was a deal breaker unfortunately.

I’ll have to check in with Softpro, would love to have them participate!

Thanks

I was down at Softpro on Thursday. They hadn’t heard about the first Denver Ignite. Softpro might be interested in sponsorship of future local Ignites.

yeah when I looked at it last, it woulda been all us, which would be sweet.

Excellent on the Wynkoop. I’ll scope it out!

The Wynkoop actually has a lot of space besides the main area and upstairs. A friend of mine just reminded me about its Mercantile Room, where the monthly Colorado Cafe Scientifique meetings are usually held. You can see pictures here:

http://cafescicolorado.org/Pictures.htm

According to Cafe Sci’s flyer, tonight’s meeting is in the basement of the Wynkoop (the “Impulse Theater” area), so maybe that’s yet another option.

Good points. For the snug I was thinking the downstairs, only to us. Still might be upstairs noise, I’ll have to check it out again. Wynkoop same thing, and we’d be unlikely to get the whole upstairs, though maybe.

Good ideas on the other areas, i’ll see what I can find!

And yeah PDX draws 600ish if I’m not mistaken.

We did during intermission, but unfortunately it was no easier to hear them (him) than it was the speakers.

The first one taught me a lot so the next will rock way harder. You’re right, giving the sponsors time to talk is key. I’ll also be working on lining sponsors up earlier too so they get more website exposure etc.

Thanks to the great sponsors we had at Ignite Denver 1, we did cover all costs, so that was awesome! They rock!

I’m wondering if it’s possible to get a private room at one of these venues that would provide a little more separation. Maybe some place a little outside of downtown would be more likely to have less high-energy partying (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and private rooms (since real estate isn’t sold by the square inch). I’m thinking about neighborhoods like Highland Square, Tennyson, the Santa Fe Art District, etc. It would be really cool to someday be able to rent a place like the Oriental Theater, but I suppose Ignite would need a few hundred more attendees to justify that. (That’s not unrealistic, though — Ignites can frequently draw crowds of 300-700.)

I may have missed it, but was there a slot in the schedule to acknowledge the sponsors? Ignites I’ve been to usually line the sponsors up, and give them 20-30 seconds of self-promotion each. Everyone from small-time bloggers to corporate giants like Intel give their condensed elevator pitch. I think encouraging sponsors is the key to covering the cost of the venue and other expenses.