I've been wanting to make an Ignite event for a long time. The planning and crowds have always discouraged me. When the fabulous Silicon Florist announced a golden ticket contest, I had to enter. And I won!

The absolute best speech was by "cyborg anthropologist" @caseorganic. As I wrote at the time, "the ultimate funny smart geek chick: @caseorganic #ip8".

The worst talk was by a somewhat mean-spirited woman later in the evening, titled "5 Behaviors That Will Keep My Hot, Smart Friends From Dating You". An earlier presentation by Kristin Webb-Tomson was about "ugly is the new beautiful"; knowing that, the best description of the worst talk was given by @maxticket, who said: "What I learned at #ip8: Ugly is the new beautiful, and cocky, overdressed blondes in heels with a chip on their shoulder are the new ugly." Beverly, the speaker, posted a response perhaps giving some of the motivation behind it.

By the way, all of the videos are online now. I'd recommend watching Amber Case (caseorganic)'s "An Introduction to Hyperbolic Geometry", Steven Walling's "Why Wikipedians are the Weirdest People on the Internet, and Beverly Field's "5 Behaviors That Will Keep My Hot, Smart Friends From Dating You".

@StevenWalling did a well-prepared speech about why Wikipedia is important. There were plenty of geeky inside jokes, LOLs, and poignant moments. The speech was a real hit on Twitter.

After Ignite, there was an afterparty, and the Portland Werewolf folks held a special gathering and game. I watched one, then jumped in and played a few. Apparently grinning gives me away.