Ignite is a global event series that turns big ideas into five-minute sparks. Ignite Philly is the hometown edition — 20 auto-advancing slides, 15 seconds each, and a stage full of Philadelphians sharing what they’re building, questioning, and dreaming up next.
Next Ignite Philly
Monday, June 29, 2026
Johnny Brenda’s
Doors 6 PM · Talks 7 PM
The People Behind It
Co‑founder & Curator
Geoff co-founded Ignite Philly in 2008 — a collaboration between his design studio P’unk Ave, Indy Hall, and The Hacktory — and has helped curate every edition since. A designer, educator, and serial civic instigator, he teaches entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
Curator
Christine led the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability from 2016 to 2022, directing the Greenworks framework and the city’s first Climate Action Playbook. She has spent her career at the heart of Philadelphia’s environmental and civic life, from PennFuture to the Philadelphia Water Department.
Curator
Claire is the founder and executive director of ImpactED at the University of Pennsylvania and Faculty Co-Director at Penn’s Fels Institute of Government. A lifelong champion of civic engagement, she is a co-founder of PhillyCORE Leaders and former board chair of Young Involved Philadelphia.
Since 2008
Ignite began in Seattle in 2006, and Philadelphia answered two years later with one of the first spinoffs anywhere. The first Ignite Philly packed Johnny Brenda’s in 2008, and the crowd’s question on the way out the door (“When’s the next one?”) turned a one-night experiment into one of the city’s longest-running traditions. Hundreds of speakers later, the format hasn’t changed: five minutes, twenty slides, and a room full of people who love this city.
“Perhaps the most interesting thing about the evening was that these important players in Philly’s advancing creative communities didn’t get on stage to show off their resume and reel. They used the forum to talk about what others are doing to make a difference… The fundamental takeaway from IgnitePhilly is that that the ability to change the world is more real than ever.”
— Brian James Kirk, writing in Philebrity after the first Ignite Philly, 2008
2006
Ignite is born in Seattle. The 5-minute, 20-slide format spreads worldwide.
2008
The first Ignite Philly lights up Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown — and sells out. By fall, there’s already a second one.
2009–2011
The early years set the tone: anything goes. Drew Olanoff’s “My Cancer Is Social,” the Berley brothers of Franklin Fountain, teens building hybrid cars, and the launch story of a scrappy news startup called Technically Philly.
2012
Ignite Philly 10 sells out weeks in advance. More than 150 speakers by edition ten — from the Opera Company of Philadelphia to “A Brief History of Herringbone.”
2013
A future curator takes the stage. Christine Knapp teaches a packed house “How to Karaoke” at Ignite Philly 11.
2014–2016
Ideas that became institutions. Patrice Banks pitches Girls Auto Clinic, Ariell Johnson previews Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Crazy Aaron explains Thinking Putty, and bike share comes to Philly.
2018
Ten years of Ignite Philly. Edition 21 celebrates a decade of ideas, with talks spanning accessibility, democracy, goats, and beyond.
2026
Ignite Philly 25. The milestone 25th edition returns to Johnny Brenda’s on June 29.
