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The Raspberry Pi 4 has been announced, and on paper, it’s impressive — especially when you that the starting price has stayed the same at $35. While specs won’t tell you the whole story, the Raspberry Pi 4’s numbers seem to put it on par with a laptop or smartphone that you (or your parents) may still have and may even still be using.

Here are the Raspberry Pi 4’s specs, side-by-side with those of the HP Envy 13 laptop (from 2009) and the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone (from 2013/2014). The Pi’s numbers are either at least as good as, if not better than those of the laptop and smartphone:

It may be an “Internet of Things” device in form and price, but in terms of what it can do, it’s a desktop computer.

The 1GB model sells for $35, the 2GB for $45, and the 4GB for $55, and for a little more money, you can get it in kit packages that include a case, keyboard, mouse, and more.

More reading

• Raspberry Pi Blog: Raspberry Pi 4 on sale now from $35
• TechCrunch: The Raspberry Pi Foundation unveils the Raspberry Pi 4
• TechRepublic: Raspberry Pi 4: This thing is a PC, says board’s creator Eben Upton. This article doesn’t compare PC specs to the Raspberry Pi 4’s specs, but extra context like this is why you’re here at Global Nerdy, right?
• Ars Technica: The Raspberry Pi 4 launch site runs on a Pi 4 cluster. That’s right — the launch site is powered by 18 Raspberry Pi 4 devices!

If you don’t know what Ignite Tampa Bay is, read this article first.

While you’re at Ignite Tampa Bay to hear people’s ideas — and see if they get them across in five minutes, with only 20 slides, and each slide auto-advancing every 15 seconds — the opportunity to meet and talk to the other people there is just as important. I’ve observed that some of the most important things I’ve learned at conferences didn’t happen at the presentation, but in the hallways, lounges, lunches, and social gathering, conversing with the other attendees. This observation is so common that it’s given rise to “unconferences” like BarCamp, whose purpose is to invert the order of things so that the conference is more “hallway” than “lecture theatre”.

It’s especially important to talk to people you don’t know or who are outside your usual circle. Books like The Tipping Point classify acquaintances with such people as “weak ties”, but don’t let the word “weak” make you think they’re unimportant. As people outside your usual circle, they have access to a lot of information that you don’t. That’s why most people get jobs through someone they know, and of those cases, most of the references came from a weak tie. The sorts of opportunities that come about because of this sort of relationship led sociologist Mark Granovetter to coin the phrase “the strength of weak ties”.

The best way to make weak ties at a conference is to work the room. If the phrase sounds like sleazy marketing-speak and fills your head with images of popped collars and wearing too much body spray, relax. Working the room means being an active participant in a social event and contributing to it so that it’s better for both you and everyone else. Think of it as good social citizenship.

If you’re unsure of how to work the room, I’ve got some tips that you might find handy…

Have a one-line self-introduction

A one-line self-introduction is simply a single-sentence way of introducing yourself to people you meet at a conference. It’s more than likely that you won’t know more than a handful of attendees and introducing yourself over and over again, during the conference, as well as its post-session party events. It’s a trick that Susan RoAne, room-working expert and author of How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections In-Person and Online teaches, and it works. It’s pretty simple:

• Keep it short — no longer than 10 seconds, and shorter if possible. It’s not your life story, but a pleasantry that also gives people just a little bit about who you are.
• Make it fit. It should give people a hint of the cool stuff that you do (or, if you’re slogging it out in the hopes of doing cool stuff someday, the cool stuff that you intend to do.)
• Show your benefits. Rather than simply give them your job title, tell them about a benefit that your work provides in a way that invites people to find out more. Susan RoAne likes to tell a story about someone she met whose one-liner was “I help rich people sleep at night”. That’s more interesting than “I’m a financial analyst”.

My intro will be something along the lines of “I’m a rock and roll accordion player, but in my side gig, I’m a mobile/AR app developer who helps design apps for Tampa’s coolest software company.”

How to join a conversation

At Ignite Tampa Bay, you’ll probably see a group of people already engaged in a conversation. If this is your nightmare…

Click the photo to read the Onion article.

…here’s how you handle it:

1. Pick a lively group of people you’d like to join in conversation. As people who are already in a conversation, they’ve already done some of the work for you. They’re lively, which makes it more likely that they’re open to people joining in. They’ve also picked a topic, which saves you the effort of having to come up with one. It also lets you decide whether or not it interests you. If they’re lively and their topic of conversation interests you, proceed to step 2. If not, go find another group!
2. Stand on the periphery and look interested. Just do it. This is a conference, and one of the attendees’ goals is to meet people. Smile. Pipe in if you have something to contribute; people here are pretty cool about that.
3. When acknowledged, step into the group. You’re in like Flynn! Step in confidently and introduce yourself. If you’ve got that one-line summary of who you are that I talked about earlier, now’s the time to use it.
4. Don’t force a change of subject. You’ve just joined the convo, and you’re not campaigning. Contribute, and let the subject changes come naturally.

Feel free to join me in at any conversational circle I’m in! I always keep an eye on the periphery for people who want to join in, and I’ll invite them.

More tips

Here’s more advice on how to work the room:

1. Be more of a host and less of a guest. No, you don’t have to worry about scheduling or if the coffee urns are full. By “being a host”, I mean doing some of things that hosts do, such as introducing people, saying “hello” to wallflowers and generally making people feel more comfortable. Being graceful to everyone is not only good karma, but it’s a good way to promote yourself. It worked out really well for me; for example, I came to the first DemoCamp (a regular Toronto tech event back in the 2000s) as a guest, but by the third one, I was one of the people officially hosting the event.
2. Beware of “rock piles”. Rock piles are groups of people huddled together in a closed formation. It sends the signal “go away”. If you find yourself in one, try to position yourself to open up the formation.
3. Beware of “hotboxing”. I’ve heard this term used in counter-culture settings, but in this case “hotboxing” means to square your shoulders front-and-center to the person you’re talking to. It’s a one-on-one version of the rock pile, and it excludes others from joining in. Once again, the cure for hotboxing is to change where you’re standing to allow more people to join in.
4. Put your stuff down. Carrying your bag or other stuff is a non-verbal cue that you’re about to leave. If you’re going to stay and chat, put them down. When you’re about to leave, take your stuff and start saying your goodbyes.
5. Show and tell. Nothing attracts our eyes like shiny, whether it’s an interesting pieces of tech, a new book, a new t-shirt you’re fond of, or even some local knowledge, such a new restaurant, cafe, or bar that just opened. It’s why I carry my accordion around; I think of it as a device that converts curiosity into opportunity (and music as well). Got an interesting thing or idea? Got a neat project that you’ve been working on? Whatever it is, park yourself someplace comfortable in the hallway, show it off and start a conversation!
6. Save the email, tweets and texts for later, unless they’re important.They’ll draw your attention away from the room and also send the message “go away”.
7. Mentor. If you’ve got skills in a specific area, share your knowledge. Larry Chiang from GigaOm says that “It transitions nicely from the what-do-you-do-for-work question. It also adds some substance to party conversations and clearly brands you as a person.”
8. Be mentored. You came to Ignite Tampa Bay to get exposed to new ideas, and as I said earlier, learning goes beyond the talks. One bit of advice is to try and learn three new things at every event.
9. Play “conversation bingo”. If there are certain topics that you’d like to learn about or people you’d like to have a conversation with, put them in a list (mental, electronic or paper) of “bingo” words. As you converse at the conference, cross off any of those topics that you cover off the list. This trick forces you to become a more active listener and will help you towards your learning goals. Yelling “BINGO!” when you’ve crossed the last item on the list can be done at your discretion.

The “How to work a room” poster

If you want to learn how to work the room and prefer absorbing your information from graphics, you may find this poster helpful:

Click the poster to see it at full size.

And finally…

Ignite Tampa Bay 2019 takes place tonight — Thursday, June 6th, 2019 — at the Palladium Theater in St. Pete (253 5th Avenue North). Doors open at 6:00 p.m., seating starts at 6:30, and the talks start at 7:00.

Tickets are $25 ($15 for students), and can be purchased either online or at the door.

There will be food trucks in the Palladium parking lot starting at around 5:00 p.m.. The Palladium has a snack bar that serves alchohol and non-alcohol drinks and snacks — be advised that the snack bar is cash-only (there’s an ATM in the lobby). The Palladium has a small parking lot beside it, and there are more lots nearby.

An annual Tampa Bay tradition returns tomorrow night: Ignite Tampa Bay, an evening of presentations where each speaker has to get the the point quickly — because they have only 5 minutes to do so.

What’s an Ignite talk?

An Ignite talk follows these simple rules:

• Each speaker has 5 minutes in which to deliver a talk on a topic of their choice,
• and must use exactly 20 slides,
• and the slides auto-advance every 15 seconds.

It’s one thing to describe an Ignite talk, and an entirely other thing to see one in action. I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and use this one as first my example: the one I gave at Ignite Tampa Bay 2015. It’s a defense of Florida Man and Florida Woman, and an explanation of why we need them:

Need another presentation? How about Barry Greene’s talk on emergency preparedness, delivered at last year’s event?

And because Ignite was started by people in the tech community, there’s always a (usually layperson-friendly) tech talk or two. Here’s Sourcetoad CEO Greg Ross-Munro talking about Startup Bus:

Here’s what the official Ignite site has to say:

Ignite Talks is a fast-paced geek event started in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since the first Ignite took place in Seattle [in 2006], Ignite has become an international phenomenon, with Ignite events produced in Helsinki, Tunisia, Paris, New York City and over 350 other locations in between.

Ignite’s mission is “Everyone Speaks”. We believe that public speaking builds confidence in individuals and that events like Ignite build community. Our goal is to make it possible for anyone, anywhere, to learn to present their ideas and their stories.

Ignite is also about having fun, and showing that presentations don’t need to be about “death by PowerPoint”.

Why attend Ignite Tampa Bay?

Judging by the traffic stats on this blog, if you’re reading this, chances are that you’re a techie, entrepreneur, or nerd living and working in and around the Tampa Bay area. Ignite Tampa Bay is one of those annual events where you’ll see the biggest concentrations of your peers gathered in a single place. Sourcetoad — with whom I work — will be there, as will the folks from KnowBe4, FairWarning, (ISC)², Tampa Innovation (a.k.a. “!p”), Suncoast Developers Guild, Full Stack Talent, Women Who Code Tampa, Technova Florida, Embarc Collective, and more. It’s your chance to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, share ideas, and make the connections that are key to turning Tampa Bay’s tech scene into a livelier, more robust one.

Ignite can give you ideas. Ignite events are all about sharing ideas, and the constraints of an Ignite talk force the presenter to not just present their idea, but also to distill it down to its core essence. There’s something to be said for the way that the Ignite format makes a presenter think hard about the concept that they want to promote and bring it into focus. I’ve found ideas and inspiration from Ignite talks, and I think you might too.

Ignite has a “recharging” effect. I’ve heard time and again from people who’ve attended Ignite events that hearing Ignite talks helped get them out of a creative or restless rut. It might be seeing people trying to get their ideas across in five minutes, the diverse array of ideas that get presented, or the conversations that happen before, during, and after the event. Whatever it is, Ignite is a great way to get new perspectives and inspiration.

Attending Ignite Tampa Bay

Ignite Tampa Bay 2019 takes place on Thursday, June 6th, 2019 at the Palladium Theater in St. Pete (253 5th Avenue North). Doors open at 6:00 p.m., seating starts at 6:30, and the talks start at 7:00.

Tickets are $25 ($15 for students), and can be purchased either online or at the door.

There will be food trucks in the Palladium parking lot starting at around 5:00 p.m.. The Palladium has a snack bar that serves alchohol and non-alcohol drinks and snacks — be advised that the snack bar is cash-only (there’s an ATM in the lobby). The Palladium has a small parking lot beside it, and there are more lots nearby.