Reggie Leach, adored by Canadians and Philadelphians for his NHL hockey fame, said “Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion.  You must light yourself on fire.” On Thursday, June 30, a group of Cincinnati young adults set out to do exactly that.  They gathered in the Know Theatre, spilling out of its theater hall into the downstairs floors and bar area, ready to be inspired by the third meeting of the aptly named Ignite Cincinnati.

Ignite Cincinnati is somewhere between an entrepreneurial social/power hour and a think tank. The premise is simple, a slew of presenters are given exactly 5 minutes to present on whatever inspires them and go through a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation, giving them exactly 15 seconds per slide. It certainly helps to create an electric atmosphere, and the crowd of 300+ that gathered to watch could not help but feel the energy of the moment.

The group of presenters set out to follow the meetings namesake and, real flames thankfully set aside, prepared to give their speeches, hoping that the sparks they kindled in those few minutes would be fanned by the excitement of the room.  Given that previous Ignite Cincinnati’s were responsible for everything from launching a women’s micro-lending fund to helping create a new leukemia outreach program, their hopes were perhaps not in vain.   

Now on a slightly different note, Jews, according to US census data, make up a no more than 2.1% of the US population.  Best estimates of Cincinnati’s Jewish community place us at around 1% of population.  All other factors accounted for, our representation as two of the fourteen presenters (14%) was at least what we have come to expect from our motivated, active and civic-minded young-adults.  Not only that, but the quality of both of our presenters certainly was nothing short admirable.  Not one, but both Jewish speakers put forward an ambitious goal to change the way Cincinnatians interact.  And not one, but both Jewish speakers were mentioned in the subsequent day’s enquirer article as stand out presenters.

Zipcar, one of the larger car-sharing companies

Dan Sharff in his 5 minute presentation set out to accomplish the near impossible: convince a Cincinnati audience that the city needs a car share.  What is a car share?  Exactly what it sounds like - instead of buying your own car (or in addition to buying your own car) members join a car sharing agency, from which they can borrow cars whenever needed.  National companies like Zipcar have been very successful in other cities and have proven popular among students and urban dwellers – two groups which are a growing percentage of Cincinnati’s population.

Mr. Sharff himself seems like an unlikely oracle of car shares.  While it is true that he is a bit car obsessed, having attended formula racing school, and possessing a long-term goal of owning a Ford GT supercar, he appears to be the type that is more at home in a Hummer (which he has driven) than a hybrid (which he has not).  Perhaps this is contradiction helps make his case so compelling.  More than any of the other speakers, he argued using facts, figures and logic; showing with his maps and bullet points his background in finance and banking. It didn’t hurt that he had the polished humor of a seasoned speaker or that he played up on our local Cincinnati pride.  His most compelling argument: “even Pittsburgh has a car share.”

While Mr. Sharff talked of putting Cincinnati on shared motor speedway, Keara Schwartz helped lend credence to the Cincinnati nickname, “the cradle of brands,” by creating her own.  A Senior Design Manager at P&G, she knows how to catch people’s eyes and imagination.  And that is exactly what she has done with her startup company, Share Some Sugar (www.sharesomesugar.com), which was featured in David’s Voice in this article.  The idea is simple: why buy your own ladder, hacksaw or pink golf clubs (yes, there is a set of pink golf clubs on the website) when your can borrow one from a neighbor?  Her website lets people search for items to borrow or rent instead of buy.  It helps people unclutter their lives and save money all while connecting with their community.  

At Ignite, Ms. Schwartz launched, with great poise, the second phase of her war on unused stuff – social networking.  Schwartz propounds that community extends beyond simple geography.   You might be ten-times closer to a coworker you see everyday than to the person in the house down the street who spends most of their time traveling.  Therefore, she has extended Share Some Sugar onto the world’s largest social networking site: Facebook.  You can now create your own sharing groups and share some sugar (and everything else) with any and all of your  friends (Facebook or otherwise).  You can even join Ms. Schwartz’s own Facebook sharing group, knowing that by doing so you are helping save the environment and a little money all while helping young Jewish entrepreneur get her Cincinnati startup up and running. 

As you walk through the Gateway Corridor in Over-the-Rhine, attend an event in the renovated fountain square or slip into one of Cincinnati’s new music or art hotspots, know that none of the things were the result of spontaneous combustion.  Each of these started as an idea: a mere spark like the ones presented at ignite Cincinnati.  They were good enough ideas and had strong enough advocates (perhaps advocates like Mr. Sharff and Ms. Schwartz) that they spread like wildfire. 

Even better, now knowing about these ideas, you can go beyond being a causal observer.  Follow the links below and help Mr. Sharff and Ms. Schwartz spread their own ideas.  Help light Cincinnati on fire.

You can support cincy car share by joining their facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=103651096352726

You can share some sugar by going to: http://www.sharesomesugar.com/
or www.facebook.com/sharesomesugar

A video version of the entire presentation can be found here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7998197 Daniel Sharff speaks at minute 1:18 Keara Schwartz speaks at minute 0:19

To learn more about Ignite Cincinnat, click here: http://www.ignitecincinnati.net/