The tagline of Ignite Phoenix is “Lighting a fire under the Valley’s creative community”. But Ignite doesn’t start a bonfire; it starts many small fires, some of which smolder for a time until becoming visible in the lives of one or more people.
Image by Rail Life on Flickr
One of those people is Steve Belt. He saw Austin Baker’s presentation Running A Successful Coffee Establishment at Ignite Phoenix #1. The fire that was lit under him took nearly a year and half to grow, but it ultimately resulted in a change of career and the creation of his coffee shop, Echo Coffee. For a more complete explanation of his personal and business growth, head on over to his blog and read his post, “The Story of Echo Coffee“.
Ignite Phoenix is nearly 2 years old now. Hundreds of people have attended the six events which have been held so far, and there are many stories of how Ignite Phoenix has affected the lives of Valley residents, and ultimately made the community we live in a little better.
We want to know those stories.
They don’t have to be stories of how you opened a new business or entirely changed your career like Steve did. Maybe attending Ignite Phoenix has introduced you to new people and new opportunities. Or maybe a presentation has caused you to try something new, discover a new passion or just see the world in a different way. Whatever the change has been in your life, let us know in the comments. Post a quick two sentence description or write several paragraphs. Tell us and the Phoenix community what impact Ignite has had on you.
More from Ignite Phoenix
- Announcing the speakers for Ignite Phoenix #8!
- The Ignite Phoenix #7 lineup is here!
- Ignite Phoenix 7: The Art of PHX @ The Phoenix Art Museum
- Happening tomorrow: Ignite Phoenix @ ASU
- Help Ignite Phoenix and the local design scene!
Ignite Phoenix Recommends
- Brian Street – The 1965 Ford Mustang (Ignite Vancouver)
- Startup Free Fall (The Paleo Startup)
- BlogGlue Weekly Stats For The Paleo Startup (The Paleo Startup)
For me, Ignite ended up triggering some pretty transformational changes. Some were nearly immediate, others took awhile to gestate, but both were major for me.
Mostly it started when I saw Robert Hoekman, Jr.’s (@rhjr) presentation about taiko drumming at Ignite Phoenix #4. (Video here: http://igniteshow.com/videos/ignite-phoenix-4-everything-i-know-i-learned-taiko-0 ) I started taiko lessons immediately after seeing that, and my 1-year anniversary of being a taikoist will be June 25th.
That was a big deal for me because it helped reawaken my long-dormant love of composing and performing music. It also introduced me to an entirely new group of people and set of cultural and emotional experiences, all of which have had a positive impact on my life.
I also met fellow musician Nicholas DiBiase (@hepnova) via Ignite, and by the end of 2009 he and I were friends and starting to toy with doing collaborative music projects. Over time, our ideas and discussions with others organically grew, with the catalyzing support of Gangplank Studios (http://gangplankhq.com/studio/), into what would become a new music and art event series called Desert Bloom Phoenix (http://www.desertbloomphoenix.com, @DesertBloomPHX). That event has, itself, begun having positive effects on the lives of participants.
So the waves continue moving outward, and multiplying. Passion can create harmonic resonance in others, and that’s exactly what we need!
I’ve had lots of small “moments” from Ignite. Things like some dude named Matthew Petro’s Ignite 6 presentation, “Your Office Coffee Sucks”. Now every time I get a lousy cup of coffee, and think to myself, “Matthew needs to school these people…”.
I can’t say I’ve had a life-changing epiphany of the level Steve experienced, but for me, the passion I see displayed in virtually every single Ignite presentation helps me get more passionate about my passions — even if they aren’t even remotely connected to the presentation itself. If that makes any sense.. I learn *something* (usually a lot) at every Ignite, and I get fired up. Those are pretty cool things.
After being truly inspired by Brian Carson’s ‘The heART of investing’ I showed the entire office his video from Ignite Phoenix. Unanimously, our organization decided we wanted to connect and volunteer within our community. We agreed it was about time we performed our share of corporate social responsibility by designating one full business day each quarter to volunteer locally. Our service projects at various places have touched the lives of many families and individuals throughout the Phoenix area and continue to enlighten employees on the rewards of giving.
Although Ignite didn’t directly influence the creation of TEDxPhoenix, it did provide a much needed introduction into the world of creating a community focused event through my volunteering efforts, which came in extremely handy when putting together the first TEDxPhoenix event.
Of course, every talk provides a glimpse into a new world of possibility, and there have been many takeaways from the Ignite events I’ve had a chance to be a part of.