I wish that I could claim credit for the idea I’m about to share, but it was really Beth Still who put the idea in my head via an exchange of Twitter messages and asked me to blog about it. ISTE is currently holding a vote to select the keynote speaker for ISTE 2010. The candidates come from a variety of backgrounds including President of the United States, co-founder of Apple, NY Times columnist, and high school principal. The diversity of candidates has lead to some debate as to whether or not the next keynote speaker should come from a background as an educator. There has also been debate in the blog-o-sphere as to the topic that the chosen speaker should address.

The diversity of topics and diversity of candidates for the ISTE 2010 keynote prompted Beth to say that it’s too bad we can’t have more viewpoints represented. One great way to have more ideas represented would be to host an Ignite series at the ISTE conference. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to make it happen this year, but it is a great idea for 2011.

For those not familiar with Ignite, Ignite is a series of presentations organized and hosted around the country. Speakers at Ignite conferences are given five minutes and twenty slides to share their best ideas. The slides automatically advance after fifteen seconds. One of the best Ignite presentations I’ve seen was given by Chris Lehmann. I’ve embedded the video of that presentation below.

By the way, Chris Lehmann is currently the leading vote getter for the ISTE 2010 keynote.