These are the criteria, values, and guidelines that Ignite Athens will try to follow. Without them, the core things we care about, it would likely become just another conference/event.
Open and Community Based
Anyone who wants to can participate. As long as you have something interesting to share and stick to the format (20 slides for 15 seconds each), you re good. If you don t like something about the way Ignite works and want to change it, let us know. We ll listen to you. But we re not going to accommodate every request for change. If that s not okay with you, you should probably find another event to attend or present at. We re not the perfect match for everyone.
Make it interesting
When and if it becomes necessary to pick and choose who gets to present, we want to judge ideas and presentations on how interesting, innovative and sustainable they are, and not much else. That is, we want to avoid any other subjective criteria, like how well an idea fits with the theme or feel of the event, or of Athens itself. Putting up subjective barriers, even if couched in a positive way (like trying to focus the presentations) is a surefire way to kill this event. We, the organizers, are not smart enough to know what will end up being interesting and valuable to people who attend and what will not. If your idea fits the format, and is interesting to at least one person (e.g., you), you re in. If we get more people who want to present than we can handle, well, we ll figure out a fair way to deal with that problem.
No Keynotes, only presenters!
This isn t your father s tech event. All presentations will be given equal standing/billing. Let them differentiate themselves on their own merit and interestingness. We don t want to have featured keynotes. Is there someone/some company that you really want to see present at Ignite Athens? Great! Get them to present. Nothing in your way.
Sponsors
Since we re on a volunteering base, we need sponsors to pay for or otherwise provide the necessities of the event. Like a place to have it. Extras, like food, drinks, badges, and schwag are totally fine, if someone wants to sponsor them. If you sponsor something (and we can certainly find something you can sponsor, if you re interested, no matter what your budget!), we ll happily thank you for it no anti-commercialism here we love sponsors! And that leads us to
Bias/Pitches/Spam
We want Ignite to be about promoting and sharing burning innovative ideas. If those ideas happen to take the form of the company you work for, the startup you re trying to get funded, the Spin-off you are trying to leverage or any other self-serving commercial interest, then so be it. We re fine with it, really. But whatever you present had better be interesting, because that s what it s going to be judged on in people s minds. if you re going to market to people, to pitch, you d better be smart about it. Because if you re not, it s likely to blow up in your face, and end up making people hate you. Don t say we never warned you.
The Rest of the Rules
I guess there have to be some real rules in here, somewhere. So, here they are. Don t do anything that s going to get you or us in trouble. In short, I guess the only real rule is Don t Be Stupid. That seems to cover pretty much everything, doesn t it?
