Thursday, 26 July 2012

Plug from Ignite LEGO

You may have seen some of the Ignite LEGO photos on our facebook page.

If not, here are a couple of them:



At the end of Ignite LEGO, they very kindly did a plug for Ignite Sheffield.  Here it is:



Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Supporting charity

So with the idea of charging a small fee for Ignite Sheffield float around, our thoughts moved on to what we would do with the money made from the door sales.  We are absolutely not about making money, so we weren't going to keep it (maybe a small amount to help with costs for Ignite #2).

One suggestion was to have a ticket raffle and give back the money to one of the attendees.  I really like this idea and I think we will hold a raffle, but if we're raising all this money, I'd quite like to do something worthwhile with it.  Which brings us to the main point of this post.

If Ignite Sheffield were to give their proceeds to charity, which charity should it be?

I've narrowed it down to a few Educational/Scientific Charities which seem suitable:

1. MarineLife

Conserving Marine Wildlife through Research and Education

MARINElife is a UK based charity that conducts scientific research on whales, dolphins and seabirds in the oceans of North-West Europe through a core team of professional staff, trained volunteers and a network of supporters. Our core work since 1995 has been in researching the distribution, abundance and population trends for whales, dolphins and seabirds from commercial and small vessels in the Channel, Bay of Biscay, North Sea, Irish Sea and beyond. 

We use our research to inform decision makers on the status of the marine environment and conservation measures required.

2. Spacelink Learning Foundation

Spacelink Learning Foundation is dedicated to improving education through space. Space and space activities represent the modern world for students and forms part of their vision for the future. The Spacelink Initiative brings this vision into science education and other subjects. 

Students are fascinated by space and space technology. Spacelink provides lessons and space incentives to help secondary school teachers motivate their students to study science, technology, engineering & mathematics. And, as well as a wealth of information and news about space for teachers, our free access website will offer exciting activities and opportunities to stimulate young people in their own time.

3. Sheffield Astronomical Society

Our society's objective is to encourage astronomical observation, perform public education and promote interest in the science of astronomy. 
The major project for which we require substantial funding is the building of a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly astronomy and space education centre for use by all the citizens of South Yorkshire and neighbouring counties.

4. International Centre for Life Trust

The Centre for Life exists to:

Inspire curiosity in science through an imaginative programme of exhibitions and events, to raise standards in science education for young people and to engage everyone in contemporary science issues, such as climate change and stem cell technology

Provide substantial annual funding and state-of-the art facilities on site, so that world class scientific research in medicine can flourish.


5. International Polar Foundation UK

The International Polar Foundation UK communicates, educates and demonstrates scientific research in the polar regions and its contribution to understanding climate change and sustainability using exhibitions, workshops, schools talks, public lectures and websites

6. Field Studies Council

The Field Studies Council (FSC) is a pioneering educational charity committed to bringing environmental understanding to all. 

Established in 1943, the FSC has become internationally respected for its national network of 17 education centres, international outreach training projects, research programmes, information and publication services and wide range of fascinating professional training and leisure courses. We provide informative and enjoyable opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to discover, explore, be inspired by, and understand the natural environment. 

The FSC believes the more we know about the environment, the more we can appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations.


7. Science Alive

Science Alive exists to promote the excitement of Science Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Our target age-group is from 4-104 years of age, but we have a particular appeal for children and young people, who enjoy our hands-on approach to activities and to learning. 

We provide outreach activities for schools and community groups and run workshops and exhibitions at our learning gallery (opened June 2010). 
Our staffing includes volunteers, work-experience students, pro bono management and a small team of presenters. The gallery was purpose-built within a leisure complex with the support of countless individuals, generous company donations and grant funding, totaling over £1m in fundraising over the last decade. 

We aim to involve up to 50,000 people a year in experiences that change their view of science and engineering: our strapline is simply "Bringing Learning to Life! "


If you would like to vote on which charity we should support, please answer our facebook poll.

Monday, 23 July 2012

To charge or not to charge

There has been some talk among Ignite organisers this week about how to deal with the problem of audience no shows.

We at Ignite Sheffield have been thinking about this problem as well.  Ideally Ignite would be free.  We don't really want to charge people to come.

Registration seems to be one way people have tried to predict and restrict audience numbers for the event.  But without any money changing hands, it appears that many people are happy to not turn up, despite registering.  Then you get the problem of whether to stop allowing registration at capacity.  If you stop allowing registration, what happens if half the audience fails to turn up?  If you over-subscribe, what if they all come!

A few Ignites have started to sell tickets and then give the proceeds to a charity.  I'm starting to lean this way.  There are a lot of educational charities which could use the help in this climate.  You wouldn't have to charge much (£2 maybe) to make people much more likely to come if they said they would, but would you loose some of your 'its a free event' audience?

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Students Wanted

Ignite Sheffield are currently looking for University of Sheffield Students who would like to be involved in organisation of the event.

In particular, we are looking for a VENUE LIAISON.  Lots of the good possible venues for Ignite Sheffield are Sheffield University or union owned, which means to get the best deals, we need a student to be the contact.

It will be minimal work, contacting the venues will be your only chore, unless you want to get further involved.  You don't have to speak at Ignite to be on the committee.

Also, it will look awesome on your CV.  No matter what field you're in, or what job you'd like when you finish university, I can guarantee that having Ignite Committee on your CV will help you out!

Saturday, 14 July 2012

Ignite Sheffield, starting it's momentum

Despite only being up and running for a few days, we've started to get a few people wanting to come on board as speakers.

But we want lots of you! It would be better to have too many, so that we could be already halfway to Ignite Sheffield #2 before we've even run Ignite Sheffield #1.

So why not get involved?  You can talk on any topic that takes your fancy. I suspect I'm going to talk about the differences between how humans see colour and how bees see colour.

To give you a bit of an idea of what people have talked about before, here's a selection of talks from other Ignite events:


But, your talk can be totally different if you want.  The only criteria is that you have to use 20 slides which auto-advance every 15 seconds, giving you 5 minutes in total.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Giving a Talk

Would you like to speak at Ignite Sheffield?

We're currently recruiting speakers for our very first event.  If you'd like to be involved, fill out this form.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDhydXp2aVduYzdneU9wMXJUX0xuWUE6MQ 
This week Sheffield Ignite has come into being!

We're hoping to hold the first event on the 17th October 2012, but there's a lot to do before then.

If you would like to help bring this event about, or like to talk (Ignite is a really friendly, supportive atmosphere even if you don't like public speaking), please get in touch.

Providing all goes reasonably to plan it should be a fantastic event, what have you got to lose? Get involved!