Our biggest event of the year took place on September 16th at KINGS (14 W. Martin Street, Raleigh). Watch videos of the presentations below:
Presenter lineup:

Mor Aframian (presenting with Mallory McConnell & Caroline Cockerham)- www.morlove.org – @magicmor

I Design Ethically has emerged from an NTC funded project to study sustainability in textile industry. The research will develop a ‘checklist manifesto’ that maps the sustainability of new textile products before they are adopted for production. As new products change from the Ideation stage through the research, design, development, approval, and product launch stages, many different corporate and customer requirements are infused. I Design Ethically will create a database that will have an organized plan to asses the ‘sustainability’ of new textile products throughout the value-chain and the new product development stages.

Josh Johnson – www.jnjosh.com – @jnjosh

Life lessons from bad movies

Not just boring or dumb movies. I’m talking about that special class of film that is so bad, so horrible, so unbelievably bad that you laugh your butt off. What can you learn from these movies? How can they change you?
I am a Mac and iOS Developer, a Web Developer, and a CAD Developer and sometimes a Designer. I am a filmmaker and most recently, a podcaster. I spend a night a week on The Bad Movie Night Podcast talking about that special class of enjoyably bad film.

Dave & Kim Turnage – @kimturnage @davidturnage

Local Focal

Local Focal is a step-by-step account of how we committed one month to consuming local foods. How? Convert front yard into edibles, seek local producers of staple items, and commit to resources grown within a 60 mile radius of our home in downtown Raleigh. We purchased a home in downtown Raleigh in September 2009. Since then, we have converted our grass lawn into a micro-farm with the intention of becoming more self-sustaining. There is corn in the front yard, a coop in the back, our neighbors think we are crazy, but we don’t think so. We grow food, not grass.

Deborah Ross – www.deborahross.org

NC House of Representatives District 38 and lawyer specializing in renewable energy discusses what she learned from her district.
To truly represent people, I am inspired by creativity, diversity and style. Understanding and appreciating the people you represent is like putting together a puzzle or beautiful mosaic.
I see the best in the people and places I represent and use that to inspire and try to make positive difference. Putting these pieces together is not always easy (sometimes they do not fit).
But there are common themes – education, creativity, appreciation of history and open space. The key is appreciating the fabric of people, places and their unique natures.

Christopher Sopher – www.youngerthinking.com – @cksopher

Younger Thinking: myths and reality of young people’s involvement in news media and politics

There are two kinds of young people you usually hear about: juvenile delinquent graffiti artist and spoiled multitasking text messenger. There’s a bit of both in each of us?at least in me, anyway?but as in so many things the reality is more nuanced and more interesting than the stereotype. We can learn a lot about the future of journalism and politics through a better understanding of the millennial generation’s habits and attitudes. Young people are rarely experts, but on these topics they have much to teach?and in a time of such change, it’s worth listening. I’ll suggest some of these lessons and some ideas for how to build better news media, better campaigns and better policies.

Christine Choi – theocasanova.com – @ask_theo & @crchoi

Ask Theo Casanova

Theo is a puppy, but first and foremost, he is a canine Casanova. A total Romeo. And he has enough charisma to charm an auditorium full of Miss USA contestants–and their mothers, too. So why wouldn’t he put his expertise to good use? Dog by day, blogger by night, Theo embarks on a new chapter as a relationship advice columnist.

Katherine Droujkov – @tweetingkat

For the past twelve years I’ve been trying to describe myself, and I fail to do so without going on a lengthy rant every time. So, to put it simply, I have a fascination with pretty much all of the arts and enjoy being a Linchpin. And such is the inspiration for my talk: Change. Imagine breaking down the barriers between work and schooling, between the life of adults and children. How can we facilitate this? What will it change? Where do we start? Think of this presentation not as an answer to these questions, but an invitation for you to answer them yourself.

DesignKompany – www.designkompany.com – @designkompany

How to Pick a Name

We’ve all been there. You’re about to register your business, or you have to commit to a final decision on a birth certificate. The pen is in midair and you’re second-guessing: But is this really the right name? How do I know?

In helping companies locate the essence of their brand identity, Design Kompany is often asked, “Guys, so be honest. Should we change our name?” DK’s Akira Morita and Dipika Kohli will walk you through the process of how we renamed a software company “Matchbox Mobile“(1) midstream in a rebranding process, as well as how we struck upon the names “Million Monarchs“(2) for a renewable energy company, and “Hindsight“(3) for a veterinarian who wants to do more alternative medicine. We’ll share with you the behind-the-scenes criteria we use, why it matters, and how you can find your own perfect name.

For more information, please contact Dipika Kohli at 206.778.5136 or dipika.kohli@design-kompany.com. You can also reach Akira Morita at 206.778.5136 or akira@design-kompany.com

Paul Reimel – (Downtown Raleigh Alliance) – www.YouRHere.com

Paul Reimel, Economic Development Manager at the Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA), will present ?retailSPARK? at PechaKucha Night/ideaSPARK, as part of the DRA?s efforts to recruit entrepreneurs to start retail businesses downtown. Several types of retailers that could appeal to downtown?s creative class such as unique vintage and vintage-inspired clothing stores, cool street-wear boutiques and hip food and drink concepts will be showcased to encourage business partnership opportunities in downtown Raleigh. If you are interested in either opening a retail business or supporting partnerships to bring certain concepts to downtown Raleigh we welcome you to participate in the event.

George Smart (Triangle Modernist Houses) – www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/2010 – @georgesmartTMH

Mayberry Modernism

North Carolina is famous for, among other things, basketball, barbeque, and Clay Aiken. Not quite so public or famous (yet) is a well-kept secret ? our incredible residential architecture. The Triangle has the third largest concentration of Modernist houses in the US — behind only LA and Chicago. We have more than 700 incredible homes by some of the state?s best architects. With a mission to document, preserve, and promote Modernist residential design, George Smart?s groundbreaking nonprofit Triangle Modernist Houses is now the nation?s largest archive for Modernist residential architecture and conducts house tours several times a year, including nine Raleigh Modernist houses on September 25.

Justin Goeres – justingoeres.com – @JustinGoeres

Tuva or Bust

This is the story of the “last journey” of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Near the end of his life, Dr. Feynman spent over a decade struggling to reach a tiny, remote, little-known country in Asia called Tannu Tuva, simply because it had a funny name and sounded like an interesting place to go. Along the way he battled a forgotten language, the Soviet bureaucracy, and even abdominal cancer, but never wavered from his goal: to create “reality out of nonsense” and to experience the pleasure of finding things out.

Ashley McClelland – http://trianglehackers.com – @trianglehackers

Triangle Hackerspace

I’m currently working towards getting a hackerspace started in the Triangle. Currently, we are working towards establishing a core group of people interested in starting a hackerspace in the Durham area, with hopes to establish a location further east in the Raleigh/Cary area as well. So far, attendance to our meetings has been great. I really look forward to the continued enthusiasm for maker and hacker culture within the Triangle, and I’m excited to be a part of that growth.

Jay Dolan – http://theantisocialmedia.com – @JayDolan

I will explain why small online communities focused on a single idea or goal are more engaging, successful, and creative than large, catch all communities such as Facebook. I will also discuss why Facebook and other giant social networks kill creativity.