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We at Detroit Unspun are still recovering from the amazing, energy-filled event that was Ignite Detroit, also the event with which we chose to kickoff this blog.  We posted detailed recaps during the first, second, and third intermissions, but in all of the excitement didn’t have a chance to blog about the results!

The audience chose not one, but three top winners, and they were David Murray, with his hilarious speech about the rise of the cats in “The Official End of the World Survival Guide – 2012 Edition”; Benjamin Bator, who spoke about how his hit website came to be in “The Texts From Last Night Story: From Hungover to All Over”; and Charlie Wollberg, whose presentation “Bite Off Less Than You Can Spew”, about how we digest too many sound bites and not enough real content was both appropriate and ironic for an event whose tagline was “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”

Though WXYZ recapped the event as one where “people in social media can break through the electronic barriers of the internet,” there is a much bigger story here, and that is, as Ignite Emcee Brandon Chesnutt explained, “[an] awesome community event that appeals to not just the social media group or the tech group but … to a larger base where anybody that was passionate about anything could come and have a really good time.”

Nowhere else could you have walked into a room and heard such a variety of people speaking on such a variety of topics, the thread that tied them together not being social media, but simply passion. Passion for ham radio. Passion for charity. Passion for eighties hair bands. Passion for motivating others. Passion for finding the silver lining after getting laid off.

Ignite is often labeled an event for “geeks” and “geek culture” but the real stories are not in the labels of “geek” or “social media,” but in the people and the passions behind their presentations. For example:

Meet Austin Szelkowski, aspiring motivational speaker from Fowlerville, MI — an energetic, articulate young man with an admirable outlook on the world and two weekly video shows, Strength and Hope TV and Begin Innovation TV.

Meet Melissa Hui, a Wayne State University biology student and health entrepreneur who shared with the crowd her passion for genetics and how they can alter our very DNA and even cure diseases.

Meet Karen Evans, a trademark attorney by day who shared her passion for educating children, especially from impoverished families, on how to cook nutritious meals.

Meet Deb Schanilec, who got laid off in 2009 and shared with the audience how she fought to find the silver lining of the situation — and won.

These are only a few of the real people behind the real stories and real passions displayed at Ignite Detroit #1. Don’t be fooled — events like these aren’t just for the “social media crowd,” they’re for everybody.

Detroit Unspun has interviews up with some of the presenters on our YouTube channel – we couldn’t get them all, unfortunately — it was a busy night!  Also, be sure to check out our Flickr stream for photos from the event.

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Well, what an interesting night. Our third group of speakers definitely gives the first two a run for their money, but who will be the winner? I type this with less than ten minutes before the winner is announced, so I gotta make this quick …

First up in Round Three was Brian Ambrozy of popular geek community Icrontic on how to effectively deal with internet trolls … you know, those people whose only mission online is to give you a hard time. We ALL need to know this kind of information, don’t we?

After Ambrozy was Andrew Herron, with an enlightening presentation on the relevance and application of ham radio … all we can say is “Who knew?” Not me, that’s for sure.

Following Herron was recent Social Media Club Detroit speaker Karen Evans, speaking NOT on anything legally-related, but instead on childhood obesity and why kids need to learn their way around the kitchen … NOW. I also interviewed her on video prior to the even; look for that on the Detroit Unspun YouTube channel.

On a related note, Melissa Hui followed Evans and spoke on how what we eat alters our very genetic code. Huh … I honestly had no idea.

Closing the night was Hajj Flemings, Detroit’s “Brand Man,” on the re-education of the disposable worker, which is similarly themed to Seth Godin’s recent release, Linchpin.

Overall this has been a very educational evening, and we’re only minutes away from finding out who the crowd picked as their winner …

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Wow, do we have some serious competition at the first annual Ignite Detroit!

The second portion of the program started off with Christopher Barger of General Motors, who did a completely un-automotive-related presentation on … hair bands, and what we can learn from them. Who knew that our beloved face of GM social media fame would be so … eighties?

Next up was a very moving and inspirational piece from Ryan Doyle of the Live To Give Foundation on how to make charities more personal … I think there are people still lined up to give the man hugs, and it’s the second intermission.

Following Doyle was 2009 Ignite Lansing champion David Murray, who gave us the lowdown — straight from an authentic Guatemalan’s mouth– on how to survive the “end of the world” in 2012, complete with how to avoid laser cats.

Christopher Baccus followed our Guatemalan prophet, sharing with the Ignite Detroit crowd how learning how to change your own car’s oil can make you a better car enthusiasist.

And then came the Attack of the 6’3″ woman, Ashley Zaniewski, not speaking about old-fashioned horror B-movies but on how she learned how to love her height.

As if the night couldn’t get any more interesting, in came Austin Szelkowski with a very riveting, edge-of-your-seat performance entitled “Is That Fear, or Excitement?” … this guy is definitely one you want to see live.

And, we just heard the 5 minute warning for the show to resume, so off we go …

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Here’s a few images snapped before Ignite Detroit.

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It’s the first intermission of Ignite Detroit and we’ve seen some incredible presentations so far.

The evening opened with Norm Witte and his speech entitled “Alcoholic America,” which was actually about how America can run on ethanol.

Following Norm was Edward Platt, with an incredibly interesting speech on dopamine – what it actually is, how it acts, and how it affects us.

Next was Charlie Wollberg with a moving and insightful speech on how we are digesting too many sound bites and not enough content and meaning in today’s bullet-pointed world.

Charlie is always a hard act to follow, but Benjamen Bator, one of the founders of the ever-popular site Texts From Last Night, held his own and was a total crowd pleaser talking  about how Texts From Last Night came to be and what’s on the horizon for this internet phenomenon.

Deb Schanilec closed out the first portion of Ignite Detroit with her story of how she got laid off in 2009 and her path to finding the silver lining.

And now beings the second portion of the event …

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I took a few minutes to interview one of the Ignite Detroit sponsors, Lish Dorset, also known as Detroit’s Queen of All Things Crafty — the brains behind Handmade Detroit and many other interesting things. It’s always an interesting conversation with Lish.

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Stacy took a minute to say hello to Sarah Worsham, and why her passion was “ignited.” For more videos, check out our Youtube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/detroitunspun

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The Detroit Regional News Hub is proud to kick off our new blog, Detroit Unspun, in partnership with the first annual Ignite Detroit event!

What is Ignite Detroit, you ask? Well, from the site:

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since then 100s of 5 minute talks have been given across the world. There are thriving Ignite communities in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC.

We’ll be live blogging tonight, so stay tuned for pictures, videos, and even post-event recaps!

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