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Republic ignites innovative thinking Who would ever think that stealing ideas would lead to more ideas? Employees of The Arizona Republic held their first Ignite Republic Media event Wednesday, July 22 in downtown Phoenix. According to The Arizona Republic’s Allisence Chang, the Ignite concept originated in Portland. Phoenix stole the idea, then the Republic stole it. “And we hope someone steals the idea from us, so that the fire keeps spreading,” said Chang. The Ignite concept has spread to cities like New York City, Denver, Boston and Orlando.
The purpose of Ignite is to share what people are passionate about, learn about new things and make connections. Its initiative is to spark engagement and innovation through building workplace community. The Ignite experience brings together a group of speakers who each present 20 PowerPoint slides that automatically rotate every 15 seconds. According to IgnitePhoenix.org, it is “a rapid-fire experience that aims to inspire, educate, and entertain”. A few weeks beforehand, a call for submissions was sent out. Everyone in the company
Hundreds of Gannett employees attended the Ignite Republic Media event.
JULY 2009
was invited to submit a topic that they wanted to talk passionately about. Ten dynamic presentations were selected. The fast pace of Ignite keeps boredom at bay and gives people the opportunity to speak about what interests them empowered both the speakers and the audience to think beyond the status quo. If you only had five minutes on stage to talk about what you’re passionate about, what would you say? Speakers at Ignite Republic Media had no shortage of things to talk about: the importance of community service, marrying social media with advertising, using wikis in the workplace. With titles like “From Dock to Driveway: How the newspaper gets to the customer”, and “What Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and Van Halen can teach you about headlines”, speakers kept the audience entertained and informed. Jeff Moriarty, co-founder of Ignite Phoenix, helped bring the Ignite concept to The Arizona Republic. “The point of Ignite is to break down barriers,” Moriarty said. “Ignite is an engine for innovation.” “I’m happy to see we have people inside the building who can think outside the box. It’s comforting,” said Robin Phillips. After attending an Ignite Phoenix event, Andrew Long brought the idea to a newsroom innovation group, and then he, Phillips and Chang, along with Chris George, continued on page 2