IgniteBaltimore #4 provided yet another entertaining, energizing Ignite success. I’ve already shared how much I love the Ignite events, so I’ll cut right to the recap. And this time, I even created a little YouTube video to go with it… (Go, me).

Click here to view my Ignite Baltimore #4 video on YouTube.

To begin, the Walters Art Museum proved a great venue for this event. True, the high ceilings and marble surroundings made for a literal echo chamber in ironic contrast to the virtual one often cited on Twitter, but I think it added to the grandeur of the evening and the overall ebullience of the atmosphere. (Besides, “grandeur” can be hard to come by in Baltimore, so when you come across it, you embrace it.)

First up was Betsy Gordon, a rogue museum pro who turned a question about a skateboard graphic into an art show on a world tour. Then Braddock “The Haddock” Spear chatted with us about sustainable seafood. Not sure which fish has too much mercury or whether farm-raised beats wild? Mr. Spear provided a few resources to help out:

• The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guide
• The Blue Ocean Institute FishPhone (Text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question. They’ll text you back with their assessment and better alternatives, if needed.)
• The Sustainable Ocean Project blog

We learned about green mapmaking from Janet Felsten and were inspired to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off by Jennifer Cohen. When Cheryl Taragin got to her slide showing the Baltimore Colts sneaking out of town in the middle of the night in her review of Baltimore’s historical moments, I heard a crowd hiss for the very first time. (I don’t get out much.)

Ryan Boddy gets an extra hat tip here because when he talked about the highly creative process of making beer — the mysterious and enchanting blend of art and science — I swear I saw a glimmer in his eye and a smile on his face that is the kind of glimmer and smile born only of a true, deep and abiding love. It may have been the spotlight in his eyes, but I’m telling you I’ve never seen a man express a deeper love for beer than this man. Don’t believe me? Go talk to Ryan for yourself. He’s over at BaltiBrew.org spreading the hops/love.

Jason Slanga, a Latin teacher in Baltimore County, killed with his lessons on how not to be a zombie. And then Shodekeh and friends Kate Porter and Ian Hesford brought down the house…er, museum…with some very cool “conversations without words” set against slides of various pieces of art.  You can give a listen to his unique hip-hop, beatbox stylings over on his MySpace page.

Adam Borden begged us to “unshackle the grapes” as he explained Maryland’s convoluted laws which prevent Marylanders from purchasing wines online or by phone from any vineyard outside of Maryland. While Maryland wines are getting better every year, Maryland houses only 38 out of the 6,500 wineries in the U.S. Just think of what our palates are missing or, better yet, take action at Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws.

Mary Spiro enlightened us on nanobiotechnology and Randy Sovich of RM Sovich Architecture looked back to 1984 to recap his look ahead to 2010. Helen Glazer, who’s looking at clouds from both sides now (borrowed that joke), shared her artist’s viewpoint of the clouds, which may further enhance our perspectives on what we see when we look up.

Kale in hand, Steven Mandzik walked us through a few simple steps for living a cleaner life and healthier eating:

• Eat quality food
• Eat 1/3 less
• Eat “real” food (the more packaging there is, the less “real” it is)
• Eat seasonal foods

Adam Meister stepped up in his tuxedo to warn us against hyper-consumerism. Consensus is he issued the quote of the night:

You don’t have to be cool. This is Baltimore.

No truer words…

To bring it all home, Tracy Gosson, @SagesseInc on Twitter, reminded us all that the fear of fear can — and should — be overcome. She asked, “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” And she reminded us all how vital facing our fears is to learning, growing and experiencing all that life has to offer.

It was a great night and I look forward to Ignite Baltimore #5, to be held on March 4, 2010. Want to read more about number 4? Click here to see what was said about #IB4 on Twitter.

Also might want to keep your eyes on:

• Ignite DC
• Ignite Annapolis
• Ignite Wilmington
• Ignite Philly

Or look for the Ignite event near you!

Not literally. Figuratively, of course.

The fact is, I don’t get out much during the week. Monday through Friday is a tumbler of parenting, working full time, managing two businesses, running a household and maintaining our zoo of domesticated animals.

So when I do venture out, I have incredibly high expectations.

Repeatedly, Ignite Baltimore has delivered, as has Ignite DC. And I’m counting on nothing less than total satisfaction from Ignite Annapolis (now in early planning stages).

The palpable energy at these events lights me up every time.

Haven’t been to an Ignite event? Let me quickly tell you what it is: a cross between a stage performance, networking event, block party, lecture series, improv show and a local mixer. More specifically, it’s a collection of 15 or so people from any given city, each allotted 5 minutes on stage with 20 slides behind them that are automatically rotated every 15 seconds, ready or not.

Who are the speakers?

Every man and every woman. Artists, technologists, thinkers, entrepreneurs, employees, personalities, professionals, unprofessionals and students, to name a few – and all of them brave enough to stand up in front of the Baltimore-DC-Annapolis-Etc. communities and share something.

Ignite events (started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis) are the most valuable organized events I’ve ever attended, professionally speaking. I’ve been to three and walked away from each equally energized and entertained by people who weren’t trying to sell me anything, but just had something cool to share.

It’s NOT all about social media – it IS all about your local community.

While the local Twitter population came out in force, there were plenty of non-twitterers amidst the presenters and spectators at the Ignite events I’ve attended. It’s amazing to have the chance to see what other people in the community are doing as opposed to hearing what someone is pitching, proposing, or otherwise “pushing.” These events are absolutely about sharing interests and ideas. They also avoid the awkwardness that can occur at more traditional “forced networking” events (you know, the ones that start with “Hello My Name Is…” badges and end with a pocketful of business cards that you’re unlikely to follow up on).

For example, I was fascinated at Ignite Baltimore #3 last week to learn about “The Archimedes Palimpsest,” now on loan at The Walters Art Museum, from Curator of Manuscripts, Will Noel. The guy and the topic that ignites him were fascinating. And Matt Castner, a blogger and recent college grad made “the case for being a generalist” with a polished, practiced and perfect delivery that also included one of the best impromptu and spontaneous laughs of the night. Jim Kucher, Melody Hildebrandt and Peter Corbett dazzled in their ideasharing about capitalism, the bailout-free web and crappy web apps (respectively), Amanda Schwarz has me rethinking my relationship with tea (black, green, oolong and herbal!), Debra Rubino encouraged me to do more eavesdropping, and Anne Draddy forever changed the way I’ll look at the tree canopy in downtown Baltimore.

It was a pot-luck of information and entertainment.

And it was an absolute delight to be exposed to such bright and interesting people in such a unique and lively format. Even the most “offbeat” presentation of the night was interesting in its, well, “offbeatness.”

Tickets are free. And you can do as much or as little actual socializing as you want.

To learn more about the Ignite event in your area, visit ignite.oreilly.com or wikipedia. Find out if your city has one and by all means give attendance some serious consideration. DEFINITELY worth your time, IMHO.

Local to me? Check out:

• Ignite Baltimore (Next event on 10/22 at The Walters)
• Ignite DC
• Ignite Annapolis
• Ignite Philly
• Ignite Wilmington

You can follow Ignite events on Twitter, as well:

• @IgniteBaltimore
• @IgniteDC
• @IgniteAnnapolis
• @IgnitePhilly
• @IgniteWilm

Oftentimes these events are webcast live, in case the workload, laundry and litter box keep you housebound. Just check their respective websites for the deets.

Bottom line? Ignite events are good for anyone’s gray matter.

I appreciate inspiration wherever I find it – I bring the energy from Ignite events right back into my work, into my personal interests and into my creative pursuits. So I want to issue a formal thank you to Mike Subelsky and Patti Chan, Ignite Baltimore co-founders, for lighting things up for all of those attending the event on June 25.

I look forward to getting lit again…hope I’ve adequately communicated why I think you should, too!

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• Ignite YouTube Channel (Best of Ignites from around the world)