Jesse Harding is an organizer for Ignite Salt Lake, in which 16 speakers are given 5 minutes and 20 slides (which automatically advance after 15 seconds) to answer the question "What ignites your passion?" These free events are held about four times a year, and this local chapter of the worldwide movement is run entirely by volunteers. Jesse's co-organizer is Andrew Shafer, who is also the MC. The third installment of Ignite Salt Lake will be held on Thursday, Aug. 20 from 6 to 10 p.m. at The Murray Theater (4959 S. State Street in Salt Lake City). Presentations will range from Josh Awtry's "Critical Hit: How to host your own role playing game" to Drew Tyler's "Cats Make Lousy Business Consultants."

What made you want to organize Ignite Salt Lake? I saw a tape of a friend speaking at Ignite Portland and thought, "That is the coolest idea ever! We need that in Salt Lake." I did a little research at http://ignite.oreilly.com and started spreading the word that I wanted to do it, and a bunch of people got involved.

What do you find fulfilling about it? Salt Lake is cooler than we sometimes give it credit for. Ignite is a great way to display the awesome things that are going on here. I love giving talented people the stage to talk about ideas they are totally pumped about. Listening to excited people has a way of making you get excited yourself. I've heard from a lot of people that Ignite helped inspire them to finish a side project they had shelved or start up a project they had always wanted to do.

What was the most unexpected presentation you've seen at Ignite? The thing with Ignite is you have to expect the unexpected. Since there is no theme other than "What ignites your passion?" the presentation could really go in any direction. I loved when Greta DeJong got a few slides behind her presentation and had to speed-talk to catch up. Benjamin Kimball's hand-drawn slides of Internet Explorer's demise were a nice deviation. Robert Marc's joke about one of our more sensual senses being more fun than social networking was great. The amount of info Angie Jantz gathered for her "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" presentation was impressive. Oh yeah, and when Jeremy Hanks started his presentation on entrepreneurs with a prayer to the rock gods. Yeah, that one caught me off guard. I couldn't stop laughing.

What are some of the challenges about organizing an event like this? At first we had to sell the idea. It's kind of an interesting concept so it was hard to explain to venues, speakers, etc. Plus, since the event is supposed to be free, it was definitely tricky to get sponsors on board to foot the bill. Luckily we have had some great sponsors which have made that part quite a bit easier. Then there are always last-minute surprises or fees popping up. I guess it's all part of putting a semi-large event together. But with each event we learn a lot and it gets a little easier to pull off.

How do you think it benefits people? People come away from Ignite with their own passions ignited. The creativity is contagious. It's also a great way to learn about new topics because if the topic isn't interesting to you, you only have to listen to it for five minutes before another one is up. Ignite always starts with an ice breaker event to spawn networking. We try to do all we can to encourage people to reach out of their shells and meet others. The benefits are threefold: Learn; be inspired; meet new people.

More info: www.ignitesaltlake.com