I had the rare privilege to have been part of a panel arranged by the Edelman PR firm at the famous South By Southwest conference in Austin Texas a few weeks ago. My sister Katrine, who lives in Austin and has attended SXSW many times, continued to correct me each time I mentioned SXSW. She insisted that only “newbies” say South by Southwest. Everyone else calls it “South By.” Ok…so I was a newbie. Perhaps I will get the lingo right next year. Continue reading
Category Archives: Conferences and Events
In Florida Accepting the ISPA Visionary Award
Am currently attending the ISPA conference in Orlando, Florida. It was an honor to be named their 2012 Visionary Award recipient. While I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare remarks since my trip to India ended on Saturday and ISPA began on Sunday, I did jot down some thoughts and shared them with the audience. It was my first time using a teleprompter (thumbs up on that) and in order to do so I had to write out my remarks. So thought I would share them with you – plus a photo snapped by Sallie Fraenkel right afterward. Here then were my words…. Continue reading
Issue 4: Do you have a favorite TED talk?
This week’s burning question: Do you have a favorite TED talk? If you do, by all means, let us know! This issue is all about TED. I attended the 2012 TED conference this past week in Long Beach – one of the most fertile grounds for discussion about imagination and innovation. In this Weekender, we want to know the TED talks you feel the spa and wellness industry should listen to (I have a few in mind).
We’ll be sending a list of the favorites that people suggested in next week’s issue. Will yours make the A-list?
Meet TED
TED is a gathering of people, over 1,500 to be exact. With the tagline of “Ideas worth Spreading,” TED is an innovative nonprofit that started out (in 1984) as a conference to bring together three worlds – technology, entertainment and design. Since then, it has become massively successful, especially since it took on the innovative philosophy of “radical openness.”
TED Today (aka all-grown-up)
Today, along with TED’s annual conferences and regional events, the organization has all sorts of projects going on, including an award-winning video site that makes these inspiring and content-rich TED talks available to anyone for free. The website has had 700,000,000 views over the past five-and-a-half years, and the videos have been translated into 86 languages – talk about far reaching.
Lucky Number 18
What makes TED so special is the format: Each speaker talks for 18-minutes – no more, no less. There are no breakout sessions. According to TED.com, “Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected.”
So what does this mean for the spa and wellness industry? These 18-minute videos have the potential to be a huge help as we embark on understanding innovation and imagination. Take a look at TED’s video library, select a few in your area of interest and let us know the ones you love.
Also, check out the list below of our favorites, covering everything and anything about innovation: from medicine and wellness, to education and personal “genius.”
Daniel Kraft: Medicine’s Future?
Innovations impacting medicine and wellness.
Sir Ken Robinson: Bring On The Learning Revolution!
One of the most-viewed TED talks ever.
Elizabeth Gilbert: On Nurturing Creativity
We all have a “genius.”
Trust me – each of these 18-minute talks will be worth your time this weekend.
Check out the GSWS team’s picks:
GSWS team pick:
Daniel Kraft: Medicine’s Future?
A quick and encouraging glimpse at innovations impacting medicine and wellness.
Susie’s pick:
Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
One of the most viewed TED talks ever. It is about innovation in education.
Dulcy’s pick:
Elizabeth Gilbert: On Nurturing Creativity
Shares the radical idea that we all have our own, personal “genius.”
Lessons for Spa Industry from Clinton’s “Health Matters” Conference
I got lucky. Then I got super-lucky. I heard about the Clinton “Health Matters” Conference scheduled just prior to the Bob Hope Classic Golf Tournament (now called the Humana Challenge Golf Tournament) that was going to be taking place in Indian Wells, CA just a week before it was actually going to happen. Then I found out they were only giving out 200 tickets – yikes. Through a flurry of emails and phone calls, I was lucky enough to be able to attain one. Actually, it was two; I ended up attending with Deborah Szekely, founder of Rancho La Puerta and the Golden Door – my mentor and, in recent years, a very close friend. So we went together.
Oh yes, I should mention right up front, we did have a chance to chat with Clinton at the end of the day. Deborah gave him one of her Rancho La Puerta cookbooks which he loved, and I told him something that he could add to his story: that Bob Hope walked an hour a day and lived to be a 100. (Bob Hope also had a massage every day!)
There we were – Deborah almost 90 and the “godmother of the modern spa industry” – and me, feeling fortunate to have been part of the industry she ushered in for the past three decades. Both of us noticed that it wasn’t super well organized (they served a nice healthy buffet breakfast with fruit, eggs and such but provided exactly three tables with four chairs each to sit down). Very odd. However, we gave them a pass because it was their first health conference – a somewhat last minute idea I believe. Kudos for hosting the event however. They pulled in a slew of VIP’s:
- President Bill Clinton – personal health crisis, now vegan, has lost 20 lbs
- Chelsea Clinton – focus is childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes
- Dr. Nancy Snyderman – Today Show’s medical expert
- Jillian Michaels – former Biggest Loser drill sergeant
- David Satcher – former U.S. Surgeon General
- Billy Jean King – tennis legend
- Goldie Hawn – actress and advocate for Brain Health
- Notah Begay III – first Native American golfer to win a PGA title
- Dick Gephardt – Former House Democratic leader
- Reed Alexander – teenager and star of Nickelodeon’s iCarly
- Susan Dell – wellness advocate and “super-mom”