Ignite Boulder 3 was a blast. Although I didn’t get to present, my dear friends Ben Roberts and Efrem Rodriguez did — and they were amazing!

Ignite is a series of presentations in which the slides move every 15 seconds, and the presenter has only so many slides available — it makes for a crazy, fast-paced evening of technology, humor, and all-around fun. This was my second Ignite.

Ben Roberts presenting about the Zombie Apocalypse at Ignite Boulder 3

Ben (whose online moniker is “Ace Harmon,” though I’m not sure Andrew Hyde has picked up on that yet) gave us all the gory details of what humans should do in the event of a zombie apolocalypse. It might’ve taken the audience a little longer than usual to process his brand of humor, but all the better as some of the delayed “duh!” laughs just made the presentation funnier and funnier. “A gentleman does not eat brains and tell!”

It wasn’t long before dearest Ef (whom I’ve nicknamed Puggles) presented “How to Sing Your Way Out of Danger.” I had actually never heard Efrem sing before, though we are the best of friends and have been through plenty of adventures together (especially situations in which he probably should’ve tried singing us out of danger). If it isn’t already self-explanatory, Ef was teaching us how notes and music and lyrics could be combined into a life-saving tool. He brought along his guitar and some nifty tunes, made especially for the Ignite presentation. I must say that I am very happy to have finally heard my Puggles sing, and I hope I get to hear more of it (hopefully outside the context of danger, however).

Ef Rodriguez swoons the crowd with his singing!

The rest of the presentations were indeed wonderful. I’d have to say that Most Original goes to Tim Poindexter‘s “The History of the Mustache,” for which he groomed the most amazing mustache. Tara Anderson and Jeremy Tanner, as the stand-up champions of the Boulder tech community, broke the crowd down to tears of laughter with, respectively, “How to Piss Off People and Lose Friends in Boulder” and “What Business Development Can Learn from the Seduction Community” (oh yes, you’d better believe it!). I met some awesome new people like Brian Shaler (“How to use Twitter for Marketing and PR”) and Vikas Reddy (“Award Rules”). On top of that, I was able to see some of the coolest people I’ve met in Boulder present on things that relate closely to their fields or interests: Jo White used some of her media research to present “Breasts and Media’s Obsession With Them,” Brandon Whalen brought down the house with “How to Make a Rap Song,” and Ingrid Alongi — with the help of some of our friends and acquaintances — showed how the Boulder tech crowd can be resourceful in the face of a bad economy. Jen Mayer‘s presentation about healthy eating (she is just so cute!) opened some eyes and motivated us to create new eating habits while Grant Blakeman and Reid Phillips (of The Autumn Film) asked us “What Would a Crack Dealer Do?” (just check it out, you’ll get it!). If you want to check out some of the other presentations, you can find them at the Ignite Boulder webpage, which includes links to the presentation videos and will include info about the next Ignite.

I’m hoping to submit a topic again this next time, and although I’ve hinted at it with friends, it’s staying on the down-low for now. Needless to say, I’ve been inspired by this incredible crowd and I would be humbled to get to join the ranks of these guys in the next Ignite. Boulder has truly set the bar for Ignite, and I dare anyone else to beat it!