Photo Courtesy of La Tur via Flickr

When it comes down to it, Ignite events are basically TED talks for audiences with severe ADD.

The series started in 2006 in Seattle, and the events allow speakers five minutes and 20 slides each to expound on an idea. Our local arm, Ignite D.C., will make its fifth go at knowledge-bombing tonight at Town Danceboutique.

Tonight’s program features 16 local speakers—-artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs, dreamers—converging at the murky nexus of creativity and science to present their visions of “The Future.” Think geeky, think creative class—-the geekier and more creative the idea, the better. That imperative gave birth to the first Ignite four years ago in Seattle. There are now 100 chapters in cities ranging from Beijing and Paris to Mumbai. The D.C. chapter’s organizers are appropriately geeky: blogger Jared Goralnick and former NASA researcher Jessy Cowan-Sharp.

Goralnick says there is no single, cohesive vision of the future, but that he and Cowan-Sharp believe that “bite-sized predictions” will “seed their own unique permutations in our minds.” Tonight’s speakers will address topics ranging from the “last (tidal) wave” of feminism to what storytelling will sound like in the future. The event starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are $15.

And luckily, tonight’s prescriptions for the future won’t include any zombie survival guides. Phew.