Videos of passionate intellectuals talking about the random topics they care about have made quite a home for themselves online (ahem, TED). That’s because, at least according to Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Media, “What geeks crave more than anything else is details — they love to get into the nitty-gritty, the step-by-step processes.” Indeed, that quirk of geek culture seems to have led to the popularity of O’Reilly’s Ignite series.
An “open source” event organized by volunteers on a city-to-city basis (upcoming cities include Boulder, Co., Cardiff, Wales and Sydney), the rules are simple: Speakers get five minutes to talk and show slides, but the slides automatically move forward every 15 seconds, meaning that talks must be carefully planned out and coordinated in order to keep in sync.
Until now, individual talks have only been available online through unofficial uploads. However, yesterday O’Reilly released the first episode of the official Ignite series, which edits together the talk footage with the slides, adding a countdown timer for additional tension. Because each video is a fast-paced five minutes, with the slides adding some visual pizazz, the format is incredibly well-suited to the short attention spans of YouTube viewers.
The first episode features Jason Grigsby presenting the story of Cup Noodle’s invention, which was a surprisingly big challenge for the Nissin company. Grigsby manages to keep calm and coherent despite the ticking clock element, making use of illustrations from a manga chronicling the process behind creating the design for Cup Noodle while also discussing the cheap and quick meal’s role in disaster relief. Cup Noodle cups, as he explains, are actually empty at the very bottom (the noodles rest in the middle of the cup, allowing the hot water to seep through to the base of the cup and cook the noodles thoroughly). If you think that sort of information is cool, then this series is definitely for you.
So far, all the videos are polished versions of presentations delivered at Ignite events (event organizers are responsible for filming the talks, which are then submitted to O’Reilly’s Forrest for consideration). And while he doesn’t rule out shifting from the “concert film” to the “music video” approach, he sees it as being an exception to the rule. “There’s an energy that comes alive when the talks are being performed in front of a crowd; there’s an adrenaline rush to not having your slides under your control,” he explains. “You have to be ready to roll with the punches. It adds a sense of urgency that you wouldn’t get with bluescreen.”
Beside the obvious needs for good video and audio, the two main criteria for inclusion in the series are broad appeal to geeks, and some sort of a hook. The Cup Noodle talk, for example, is not just a story of innovation; Grigsby also encourages startups to learn from the choices made by the Cup Noodle team in creating their product as a model for their own development. Next week’s episode focuses on using sensors used for monitoring plants to foster inter-species communication. I expect all you nerds to tune in.
