Cate Huston had me a bit worried. Kicking off our event and minutes to launch with no signs of her. Apparently car troubles had her running late but she made it in, gave a slam dunk of a presentation, and then quickly retired to the bar for a tall glass of vodka.

As predicted Kevin Magee absolutely killed it with his Brantford 2.0 talk. Even working within the confines of the Ignite format (and pushing the boundaries of that a bit) he managed to deliver a hilarious session that snapped the crowd to attention. I can’t believe I’m the chump who has to follow him at Tweetstock when the kid gloves come off and he gets to put on the “full Magee”. I feel like the Lawrence Welk orchestra coming on after Metallica brings the house down.

Shelly Steffler just broke my heart! Our directive of no animation never made it to her and she handed in a presentation rife with transitions and builds. She had timed it to perfection so we couldn’t say no. I ran through the final deck several times at home just to make sure it went off fine. Of course the night of something happened midway and it just puked. Died for no reason and there was no bringing it back. What a pro – she powered through and the audience was gracious and patient. It was an incredible talk and I can’t believe I got in the way of that.

Amal Isaac gave me a hug afterward and thanked me for nudging him to commit to a talk. Despite having to be talked down off the speaker ledge earlier in the week he truly delivered the goods and as promised left the stage with a huge speaker high.

I thought it was one of our strongest sessions yet with some absolutely fantastic talks that struck a nice balance. Honestly, I love the crowd that comes out and I’m only sad that I don’t get a chance to meet and talk with everyone there.