Ignite Boulder. Oh, how it has grown.

From less than two hundred people in a smart room on the CU campus to a nearly sold-out show at the Boulder Theater (only 12 tickets were left when the sales ended), Ignite Boulder has become one hell of an event.

After Ignite Boulder 5 and its exceptional performances, I knew I had to try to submit another topic. I had gotten lots of suggestions from friends and plenty of reassurance that I couldn’t go wrong with another submission. This time, it was Ben’s suggestion to try some Swedish in my presentation that really got me going. Thus it was born: “Bork Bork Bork: Swedish 101 for Foreigners.”

I was beyond excited but nervous. Last time I spoke in front of no more than 500 people, and this time it could’ve topped 800. Thankfully, it went as well (if not better) than I had hoped for — people laughed where I wanted them to (and at some times, in places I didn’t expect), the crowd learned a little bit of Swedish, even my father came to watch, and I didn’t screw up!

I have to say that this was probably my favorite Ignite, and it was not because I felt like I succeeded — that’s just the icing on the cake. There were some fantastic presentations that exceeded my expectations and absolutely blew my mind. I laughed, learned, and overall, I really enjoyed myself.

It’s so hard to pick favorites, highs or lows, surprises, etc., from Ignite Boulder. I loved Ef Rodriguez’s Sacrificial Deck in which he showed the crowd that you can forget a line or two and still pull off an amazing presentation. Plus, he sang!

Ef wasn’t alone in entertaining the crowd with music. Mountain Standard Time played a few sets, and we were all happy to help them out a bit — turns out their equipment got jacked a few weeks ago. I hope we raised some cash for them.

It was nice to finally meet Jen Yu, who presented on “Food Porn: Behind the Lens,” but it’s too bad I didn’t get to talk to Sari Levi more because I thought her presentation on “The Alternative, Alternative Energy: My Million-Dollar Idea” — capitalizing on America’s obesity — was brilliant.

I laughed a lot thanks to Ryan Wanger (“Our Princess is In Another Castle”), Vanessa Schneider (“The Things They Don’t Tell You About a DUI”), Luke Tilsley (“Have You Kissed Like a Trobiand Native?”), Heather Clisby (“Screw Logic: An Unbelievable Look at Bizarre Beliefs”), George Smith (“How to Master Debate”), and Dave Burdick (“Everything I Need to Know About Journalism I Learned From Ghostbusters”).  From Blowseph and crude jokes involving Australia to video game nerds and how many people believe the sun revolves around the earth, I got my fair share of laughter from these presentations.

But we all learned a lot from Naomi Meredith (“Making Friends and Insulting People – The Shakespearean Way”), Cristina Sagray (“Classic Literature Through The Eyes of a Teenage Chick Flick”), Todd Berger (“Business Earth”), Kaley Sutton (who presented on Burning Man), and Michael Brown (“Reward and Risk”). It was dead silent as Michael Brown described life and death on Mt. Everest through his experiences as an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker — we closed with some clips of his work, a perfect way to end the best Ignite Boulder yet.

Oh yeah… and I almost forgot! The volunteers were great as always. They handled the huge line really well, and there were no technical problems. The whole thing went so smoothly!

“Sätter eld på Boulder” is how you would say “set Boulder on fire” in Swedish. And that’s just what happened at Ignite Boulder 6!

Some of you may know that I’m George Smith’s intern. (If you didn’t already, then you know now!) I get shoved, have to carry boxes when I should really be working, and I think they’re even trying to fatten me up (even more than I am already) for stew. But I have to admit, I really like it — I also get to learn a lot about working on social media in a corporate environment, and the “intern abuse” is a small price to pay. George loves me, really! Um, I think… no, seriously, I totally love George and he is actually quite good to me (read: he lets me hit back).

Anyhow, I thought I would start with a picture of my Intern Cube to show you where I work while I’m playing Corporate Intern (instead of playing Non-Profit Intern, Driver, or Dispatcher, the next items in my series). I have provided pictoral assistance in order to explain to you the significance of my workspace.

1. My computer. This is the most important part of my entire job. Since I’m doing a lot of work involving blogging, links to our site, website statistics and other intertubes-related information, I’m always on the computer. I prefer to use my laptop, as pictured.
2. Espresso. I discovered today that there is an espresso machine in the kitchen. I mean, I think I knew about it, but I was afraid to touch it. (What if I were to break it? I’m just an intern!) Caffeine is a requirement for me to work properly, however, as I also discovered today while having to read boring blogs and nearly falling asleep.
3. Water. There’s a water cooler right by my cube. I like it. The little things, right?
4. My iPod. I always have my iPod with me when I come to work, mostly because I charge it in the cube with…
5. George’s iPod cord. I happen to not know where my iPod cord is right now. So I just use George’s. And I return it!
6. Calculator. That I stole from George, and it’s probably still sitting in the Intern Cube. Oops.
7. The Cube Computer. It’s not the best thing in the world, but I use it when I am trying not to be distracted on my own computer. I eventually stop using it halfway through my day.
8. The comfy chair. Ah, I like this chair. George doesn’t think it’s comfortable, but I do.
9. Weird PR letters. I’m not the traditional PR intern, someone else is — so that isn’t my stuff, but it sits there and makes me curious. I wonder what’s in those letter addressed to us, because they look like class projects or something like that. Cute, but I’m glad I’m doing other things.
10. Contact list. I always think it’s so funny, because most of the info isn’t that pertinent for me — I can usually just walk to someone’s office/cube. Then again, I can see the usefulness in having it there.

Well, there you go. A boring, borderline inane blog post about where I work (and it’s only part one!). Next up: Where I Work, Pt. II: The Coffee Shop! Aren’t you excited? (Before you even think about answering that, it was more of a rhetorical question…)

In December, I posted a quick blurb about wanting to attend Chicks Who Click, a conference created by Gwen Bell and Denise Smith and brought to the web by Danielle Jackson. I hadn’t heard from anyone about it, so I just figured I’d make like any savvy social media junkie and do a Twitter search on it and call it a relaxing weekend. But by the time the weekend rolled around and a bunch of chicks had gone on the Eldora portion of the weekend, I had heard word about a tweetup of sorts at The b.side Lounge where Chicks Who Click were to converge. Naturally, I skipped on over and began to socialize.

I was very surprised and genuinely grateful to receive an invitation — a scholarship — from Doyle Albee at Metzger Associates to attend Chicks Who Click. I accepted, and suddenly my boring weekend turned into one about networking, social media, clicking, chicking, and loads more.

The day began with two very different speakers: Jenny Slade and Carole Billingham. While Carole taught us a method of meditation and gave her perspective on connecting with the world, Jenny gave a humorous and informative speech about women’s role in technology and social media.

We had the opportunity to hear from and interact with two different panels. The first panel included Wayne Sutton (who I had followed on Twitter for a while and was very anxious to meet), Lucretia Pruitt (who is a fantastic storyteller and all-around lively lady), and Tara Anderson (who rocks some stand-up comedy), all of whom I could’ve listened to for a lot longer — they just had so much information and insight into social media, technology, and how we — as motivated and interested women — can use these social tools and skills to the best of our advantage. The second panel included Zena Weist, Kit Seeborg and Barbara Jones, and basically consisted of wrapping up the day’s issues with our questions and with their stories and expertise. All three had been able to share stories involving projects or creations they had started, experiences which proved as excellent examples in business, networking, and strategy.

For a little bit of hands-on work, we competed to build the best social media plan for a particular situation. My group had a situation similar to the infamous Motrin problem, only that our inferred goal was to avoid this situation and market a product that was “non-sexy.” We won some medals for “Kicking Social Media Ass.”

Kicking Social Media Ass

We also heard from Trina Hoefling, whose advice about communication struck a chord with everyone in the room, regardless of situation. As a student, I felt particularly drawn to her speech because I felt that my journalism studies had lacked a comprehensive perspective of communications in general.

CWC did not go out without a bang. We raided the upstairs at The Rio and mingled over quesadillas, margaritas, and our phones and cameras! Some people also headed to karaoke, but I spent the rest of my evening having some heart-to-heart conversations and learning more about some of the wonderful chicks with whom I’d spent my day.

I must say that my weekend at Chicks Who Click was not entirely unexpected — I knew going into it that the conference would be absolutely amazing and that I would learn quite a lot. However, it was the magnitude of the learning and networking that really amazed me; I didn’t realize just how well all the ladies (and some of the ‘gents!) at CWC could meet on common grounds with so many different backgrounds and experiences. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to attend Chicks Who Click and all the connections and friendships I made that weekend. I also can’t wait to do it again — here’s to Chicks Who Click ‘10!

Read some other words about CWC09:

• by Gwen Bell [@gwenbell]
• by George Smith [@georgegsmithjr]
• by Aimee [@greeblemonkey]

Check out some pictures from CWC09:

• from the conference, taken by Aimee [@greeblemonkey]
• from the afterparty, taken by Aimee [@greeblemonkey]

The list is still a work-in-progress, but you can tell me about your posts/pictures either in the comments and I’ll be sure to add them to the list!