I’ll bet you’re wondering how my presentation, Resumes in the Raw –A Report on Ridiculous, Erroneous, and Otherwise Regrettable Resumes went at Ignite Missoula v.3.
When I last updated you all, I hadn’t yet composed the slides or organized my thoughts for the event.
What is Ignite?
Ignite is a community forum that began in Seattle in 2006, and has been adopted by several cities worldwide including Helsinki, Paris, New York, and Missoula, MT.
The form is part of the fun: Speakers are given 5 minutes (no more, no less) to speak about their passion, must have 20 slides which forward automatically every 15 seconds, and mustn’t sell or plug. They submit their topics in advance for a community vote to determine who presents on the night of the big event.
Am I funny?
I had never presented with a comedic intent, so I was a bit intimidated. I do try to speak in a fun-while-informative tone whenever I talk about resumes, interviews, or job searching–I know folks are often fearful or overwhelmed about these topics. My humor is usually off-the-cuff, though, so I didn’t know if I could do it intentionally.
It turned out I had so much fun creating the slides that I gained confidence in my comedic chops! I presented resume bloopers and how to avoid them, with 20 silly slides that earned lots of laughter from the supportive crowd. (This picture captured the only un-fun slide, I swear!)
Proof
I promised you video, but unfortunately this time Ignite Missoula wasn’t recorded. The best proof I can offer is this dark photo taken by one of my friends in the audience. Her name is Jen Slayden and she’s a contributing blogger for Make It Missoula. Here’s her post about the event: Ignite–A roomful of pigs! Check it out and be sure to comment on her post. While you’re there, by all means check out the rest of the Make it Missoula site–I’ll be joining the team there soon, myself!
Thanks again, Everyone, for your support as I prepared for my first foray into funny! I had big fun–as did the crowd, if I can judge from their uproarious response. Did I Ignite Missoula? Well…I didn’t see any combustion, but we all had a great time.