Ignite London is back with the snappily titled Ignite 4 on February 8. Challenging the notion that Powerpoint presentations are a cure for insomnia, Ignite organises annual events around the world where a series of short presentations selected from public submissions are given. The emphasis here is on brevity and pace: presenters are required to stick to a rigid format of 20 slides, each of which changes automatically after 15 seconds, ensuring that each presentation is exactly 5 minutes long.
Last year's presenters discussed (amongst other topics) sneezes, psychiatry, farmyard animals and the decimalisation of time. A definite highlight was Tom Scott's vivid description of a London flash mob gone wrong:
This year's topics include cake, Underground maps, libraries, Facebook security and Silicon Roundabout. It's too late now to enter your own ideas but tickets to attend are free and, based on last year's takeup, will likely go faster than hotcakes on rollerskates. They will be available on Jan 29 and Jan 30 - see the official site for details.
