Final Ignite London Speaker Announced!

We are pleased to announce our 21st and final Ignite London speaker.

Chris Thorpe’s Ignite London talk is called Perils, Wonders and Learning to “be” in a Networked World. Since he gave up playing with really big computers as a research scientist, Chris has been trying to find more and more excuses to play with really big computers powering web applications. He’s been involved in projects as diverse as bringing Which? to an online audience, social worlds for 7-11 year olds, video archives of Nobel Prize winners telling their life stories, a James Bond premiere webcast, and putting contemporary sculpture on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.

He is co-founder of Jaggeree, which is a consultancy that works in the spaces and intersections around content, play, people and data.  For more information on Chris visit Jaggeree or his other site Four Walks, or follow him on Twitter.

More Ignite London Speakers!

The following three speakers all but round out the roster for Ignite London (we are still waiting on the bio for one last speaker who will be announced very soon). It’s going to be a great night with 21 very cool talks.

Nicky Smyth’s Ignite London talk is called Analogue World Design Patterns: A Look at User Behaviour. Nicky is the Senior Research Manager of User Experience, BBC Future Media & Technology. She’s been working in digital media and broadcast since the initial boom of the 90s. With a background in user experience design, she is fascinated by ways that consumer insight can influence the way we craft experiences from storytelling through to digital services. Learn more about Nicky on her website, or follow her on Twitter.

Dafydd Rees’s talk is called Guerrilla Software Design – How to Make the Most of the Power of Small, Creative Software Teams. Dafydd is a freelance software developer with experience in the media, investment banking and mobile data industries. He started programming when he was five years old. Back in 2002, some great people made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and he’s been doing extreme programming ever since. Dafydd has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Swansea University. Visit Dafydd on his website or follow him on Twitter.

Gerard Darby will talk about Sideways Thinking. Gerard is the author of several books for young people on idea generation, including The Little Book for Big Ideas, Dare to Dream, and Get Connected. He is the co-editor of Reinvesting Education, a publication that brings together a diverse range of viewpoints on how education needs to be changed to meet the demands of the 21st Century. He runs workshops on creative and lateral thinking for both businesses and colleges in London.

Only one more speaker to announce and that’s our list complete.

Ignite London – More Speakers Announced!

We are really excited to announce the final roster of speakers for Ignite London! There are now 21 great talks confirmed from a really interesting and diverse group.

Here are four new ones to whet your appetite (the remaining talks will be announced later today or tomorrow):

John V Willshire’s talk is called If Advertising is a Firework, Social Media is a Bonfire.  John is Head of Innovation at PHD Media, which is about “the creation and cultivation of ideas through the study of social, cultural and technological trends.” Learn more about John by visiting his website or follow him on Twitter.

Sofia Pires will talk about CREATIVITY slash AUTISM. Two years ago Sofia left her job at Ogilvy & Mather in Mexico (she has also lived in Madrid) and joined Ignition, a creative unit at OMD Worldwide, based in London. She is now part of their strategy team and responsible for the company’s creative delivery – her position has also been described as “cultural sponge.” Learn more about Sofia on her websites here and here.

Matt Edgar’s talk is called 1794, So Much to Answer For. Matt works in product strategy and design leadership in web and mobile media. Before that, he was a newspaper journalist and history student. On his blog, he wonders about the history of technology and innovation; cool stuff that happens when media and print converge; and emerging patters for great mobile experiences. He lives in Leeds with his wife and three sons. To learn more, you can also follow Matt on Twitter.

Alan Smith’s Ignite London talk is called Design + Business, A Real Life Friendship. He is a co-founder at the aptly named change agency The Movement, which has offices in Toronto, London and Geneva. He works with inspired clients to blend community knowledge, business logic and design thinking. The resulting strategy, communications and interactive projects feel like artefacts from the future but always connect to the people of today.  Learn more about Alan on his website or follow him on Twitter.

Andy Kervell – Our Ignite London MC!

Just a quick note to let you know that preparations for Ignite London are moving quickly along. We are still looking for sponsors, so if you know anyone, please do put us in touch. The deadline to submit talk proposals has now passed and we have a whole roster of new speakers to announce this week, and they’re a very interesting bunch.

And now a bit on our Ignite London MC:

Andy Kervell is a digital mapping specialist currently working in SW London. He has, until recently, been working overseas in Australia and Cambodia for the last nine years on a number of issues, including landmine clearance planning, land dispute reporting and land salinity issues. Andy loves standing up and talking in front of people, especially when hosting his annual Burns Supper, so if he breaks into strangely worded poetry this evening, this may be why!

Learn more about Andy on Twitter by following @andykervell.

Ignite London Talk: Craig Smith on the Upsides and Downsides of Standards (web, language and otherwise)

We are really pleased to announce that Craig Smith of O’Reilly has agreed to give a talk at the upcoming Ignite London!

His talk is called The Upsides and Downsides of Standards (web, language and otherwise).

Craig runs the GMT blog for O’Reilly where they cover what’s going on in the developer community this side of the Atlantic. He co-runs the iPhone and Smartphone Publisher and Developers Meet-Up in London, though he says his role is more of a cheerleader than anything else. Craig is something of a music geek, playing guitar with The Scaremongers, and he had a long poem published by Rue Bella called A Quick Word With A Rock and Roll Late Starter.

To learn more about Craig, follow him on Twitter.