300 Seconds of fame

From Pumping Station One

2nd Tuesdays of each month at PS:One, you! yes YOU! get to hear your fellow members, geeks, and other associated community-minded people present to whoever wants to show up, but only for 300 seconds apiece.

You've got five minutes. Use it wisely.


What is it?

300 Seconds of Fame (300SoF) is a combination/alteration of PS:One's separate lightning talks and Pecha Kucha night, taking in elements from Noisebridge's Five Minutes of Fame, which in turn is an adaptation of CCC's Lightning Talks. The idea is that we hold about an hour's worth of 5 minute talks. Talks can be shorter, but not longer, than five minutes.

Within those parameters, what is it? Glad you asked.

It can be a presentation, a musical number, a demonstration, a debate, a run-through of a proof of concept, performance art, live circuit bending, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Will it fit into five minutes, be feasible for the space, and be appreciated by an audience? Go for it.

When and Where does it happen?

Second Tuesday of every month at 8pm, at PS:One. (doors open at 6)

This means the next event will be on February 9th, 2010 at 8pm.

Why are we doing this?

  • Easy way to find out what's going on at PS:One -- no need to sit through long lectures.
  • Some people are working on projects that are not ready for a full 30 minute or hour long talk, but they want to get their ideas out. Maybe they need help, maybe they want to propose an idea to the PS:One community.
  • Some people are shy to public speaking and want to practice without giving an "official" conference talk, which can be daunting. This is a great way to try it out, in a community of peers.
  • These days, many of us are becoming entrepreneurs to one extent or another. If you're trying to sell your idea to someone, you need to be able to explain it in five minutes or less.
  • "The Law of Fives"

How can I participate?

Easy - sign up to give a talk! Contact Anne (@onthelevel on twitter's the easiest way) or Laurie.

Include your name (or handle), talk title, your website/url (optional), and a short description.

If you're doing slides, right now we'll have to ask you to bring your own equipment. The space doesn't have its own projector at this point.

Right now, we're running this off-the-cuff, as lightning talks were when Anne ran them after meetings. Once we have a community and/or find ourselves pushing the hour limit, we'll be restricting sign-ups and/or scheduling people for later months.

How can I attend?

Just show up!

If for any reason you're unable to attend, you can usually watch it live on our UStream Channel.


Current 300SoF

1. Peoplehacking II: A Numerically and Biologically Intensive Solution to Losing Weight or: The Engineers' Guide to Weight Loss or: Four Formulae For The Reduction Of Operational Mass - Sacha De'Angeli


(sign up for these available spots!)

Past 300SoF

(archive will begin once we get this rolling)


Creative Commons licensing and attribution

Content is available under Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, cribbed generously from the wiki about Noisebridge's similar event.