Don’t be late on your homework!

We’ve already told you that anyone can speak at Ignite, even shy people and we’ve told you that the first ever Austin Ignite Training Camp will be on November 19th to help potential speakers get an idea of what they’re getting into and (bonus) meet with past speakers and the Ignite leadership team in an intimate setting to help develop your topic and give you tips on maximizing the success of a speaker proposal.

If you haven’t RSVPd yet, there are a few spots remaining, but you shouldn’t wait because we’ve already assigned the first round of homework, so you better catch up so our Ignite teacher doesn’t rap your knuckles with a ruler! Okay, we won’t do that, but we’d like you to know that there will be homework, so RSVP right now, right this second.

When we talk to people about giving a speech at Ignite, the format can be intimidating. Five minutes? 20 slides? How can I pull this off?” The pace is fast, the topics are unique (often eclectic) and most people think they have to be a professional public speaker or an extroverted personality to get on stage.

That’s what makes Ignite special- we believe that every person has a unique story to tell and that anyone can get up on that stage. Every person who has spoken at Ignite Austin can tell you that they were scared before they got on stage, even those of us who speak before large crowds frequently, or those of us who are extremely outgoing. You worry you’ll screw up, your timing will be off, your topic will bore people, and you worry that yours will be the one Ignite speech that sucks. Everyone has those worries. Everyone.

We want to dispel the myth that only professional speakers or outgoing people grace the stages at Ignite Austin. Come meet past speakers at the first ever Ignite Austin Training Camp where we’ll break out into smaller groups so you can brainstorm ideas for speaker submissions and learn the secret tips and tricks on how to blow the audience away with an Ignite speech.

The goal of Ignite Austin is to spark new conversations and collaborations across cultures and disciplines throughout the city of Austin with fast-paced, bite-sized presentations. It’s a great opportunity to meet smart, interesting people (if we do say so ourselves) and maybe even learn something.

Interested in speaking at a future* Ignite Austin event or learning more about how in five minutes and 20 slides someone can tell a unique story? The format can be daunting and the stage large, but we want to help you get on that stage and blow the crowd away!

Join us for the first Ignite Austin Training Camp where we will help you discover your inner story, give you tips and tricks on how to get your speaker submission approved and share best practices for preparing and executing an Ignite speech from past speakers themselves. We’ll be breaking up into smaller groups during the event and holding a relaxed mixer afterwards, so you will have a chance to ask a lot of questions and prepare yourself to tell your story on stage in front of the eager crowd.

The event is free, but space is limited, so RSVP today.

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*The next Ignite Austin is in March 2012. We highly recommend attending this event if you plan on submitting a speaker proposal for Ignite.

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Fan subscriptions or Patronism is the model of the future. It allows fans to pay-what-they-feel for monthly access to their favorite band. Career musicians have tons of content that they can’t monetize. Super fans really want access to that material. For the first time ever musicians can now monetize that unreleased material!

We sit in 2011 during a surge of agile software startup activity, but in 2021 “Makers” will build physical hardware as agile as software.

By 2021, startups will be making unique physical products as ubiquitous as today’s web startups. Fueled by open source hardware, digital manufacturing and the internet – these hardware startups will overturn what we thought we knew about making things.

Guy Kawasaki discusses the future of public relatons and interpersonal relations through twenty tips on how to become more … Enchanting.

Matt Allen, the Ice Cream Man, explores the future of free and the power of altruism, doing things right and being nice. Matt explains his traveling the country and giving away free ice cream, the philosophy behind it. Free works! Especially free ice cream!

Prabhakar Gopalan is a management and product consultant who has a radical take on managers. Get rid of them! From Ignite SXSW, March 11th 2011.