The McClure

My first ever live Ignite event was Ignite Portland 6; last night was my second Ignite and I was one of 19 truly interesting speakers. A huge shout out goes to all the wonderful volunteers who come together to make Ignite happen, and make it the energising experience that it is for both speakers and attendees. These volunteers are so modest, that they don’t even credit themselves on the web site.

I loved the last Ignite Portland, and I have also watched many of the Ignite presentations that have been published on the web. I love the format, it forces you to get to the heart of what you are trying to say. It’s no surprise that Portland loves the format too: it epitomises the Agile philosophy. What is your Minimum Viable Presentation?

Five minutes is not long so you cannot delve into the topic in any real detail but it is just enough time to show your topic in a new light, and perhaps promote some thought or conversation. The presentations that I like the most are the ones where people bring their unique perspective to the hobbies that they are very passionate about.

Me? I love coffee… but I don’t want to drink too much of it, so I am constantly on the quest for the best coffee that I can for my 2 cups a day. In fact the quality of the coffee in Portland is one of the reasons I moved here!

Last year, to further my pursuit of excellent coffee,  I started roasting the beans in my own home. I knew nothing when I started, so I made friends with roasters and coffee judges and I documented the evolution of process that I went through.

What I found is that roasting your own coffee is easy and fairly straightforward but as you get better at roasting, you can make it as subtle and sophisticated as you want it to be. I wanted to share my experience, and the process that I went through so I presented “Roasting Coffee at Home: It’s easier than you think!”

The slides are not designed to stand on their own without my commentary, so if you weren’t at Ignite you can watch my presentation online:

• [updated] My presentation (thanks to Dr Normal)
• Just my presentation (thanks to AJ)
• The full Ignite Portland 7 stream (I’m at about the 21:30 min mark)

I know my subject matter well but giving this presentation made me really nervous (before and after). I found out today that there were about 600 people in the theatre, plus up to another 140 people watching the stream. This is the largest audience I have ever spoken to. And even stranger, I am usually talking to groups with whom I interact more.

Thank-you to everyone who gave me positive comments after my presentation. I was far out of my comfort zone and your comments helped. That said, it was a wonderful and exhilarating experience and I am already thinking about my next topic.

What topic do you want to Ignite?