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Salman Khan
From hedge fund analyst to provider of free online education to anyone, Salman Khan tells the story of how he became founder of the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org)—a not-for-profit organization that offers self-paced software and videos to over one million unique students every month. At the Professional Convention Management Association’s Convening Leaders convention in Boston in January, he told the heartwarming story of how he tutored his niece, who lived in another state, online because she was struggling with middle school math. It was 2004 when he was living in Boston. The rest is history. He tells inspirational stories of children who dropped out of school because they couldn’t keep up, later to become star students by learning the Khan Academy way. His self-deprecating humor and recounting of the evolution of his noble cause—to positively change the lives and learning capacity of millions of people around the world—is one of the best speeches we’ve ever heard. www.khanacademy.org
Erik Wahl
Erik Wahl, a graffiti artist, author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, wowed the crowd at the Cvent Corporate and Association Summits in Las Vegas in June with a high-energy, high-engagement keynote that incorporated flying paint and a message as indelible as the finished paintings he created on stage. “The left brain is necessary, but it is no longer sufficient,” he said as he encouraged the audience to find ways to ignite their creativity through their work. We gave him a standing O. theheartofvision.com
Heidi Hanna
Heidi Hanna, PhD, CEO of Synergy, is a stress expert who offers presentations and workshops designed to help people escape chronic stress by organizing their daily lives around a rhythm that balances times of being fully engaged followed by time and space to recharge. At the Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Education Forum in New Orleans in June, she suggested meeting planners organize daily agendas around this principle. We loved how relatable she was, describing how most people “flatline” their way through the day, neither fully engaged nor fully restful, and how her small tips can have a huge impact. synergy programs.com/heidihanna
Chris Heeter
Chris Heeter, who before becoming an award-winning speaker and business owner was a wilderness guide and has led a dogsled team for years, brought an amazing energy to the stage for her Flashpoint session and later “deep dive” at Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress in August in Minneapolis. Founder of The Wild Institute, she also brought her dog, Tuu Weh, who wandered through the crowd spreading love as her person drew metaphors between running her sled dog team and working with members of a human “pack” in the office. Her focus is on helping people learn to build teams that are creative, courageous, and collaborative, and her use of humor and insights both human and canine really rang true with us. thewildinstitute.com
Steve Gross
Turns out Life is Good isn’t just a T-shirt company. Steve Gross, executive director & chief playmaker of the Life is Good Kids Foundation, steers a nonprofit that works with kids globally, striving to help them keep their natural optimism, creativity, and playful, loving spirit despite poverty, trauma, and other obstacles. Gross shared his passion for playfulness in an authentic, non-clichéd presentation at IMEX America in Las Vegas in October, connecting his work to the work of meeting professionals—or anyone who brings people together to change the world. We loved his originality and how his South Boston accent slowly got more obvious as he went through his talk. content.lifeisgood.com
Eric de Groot
Eric de Groot, managing partner, MindMeeting b.v., The Netherlands, describes himself as one of the first “meeting designers.” He also happens to be a very good story weaver. He led a plenary session at the November International Congress and Convention Association’s annual congress in Turkey called “Monday Morning Wake-Up Call” that was designed to “shake delegates out of their day-to-day ways of thinking, and to open their minds for the coming three days of interactive education, exchange of ideas, and creation of new knowledge.” We liked how he stood in the middle of the ballroom, surrounded by attendees, his own way of shaking things up a bit.
Felix Finkbeiner
Felix Finkbeiner, age 17, is probably the youngest general session speaker we have ever heard. While in the fourth grade at his school in Germany, his environmental passion took hold as he developed the idea that children could plant a million trees in every country in the world. They heeded his call and Felix founded the Plant-for-the-Planet initiative. He also wrote a “polemic paper” (now a little book and a convenient leave-behind) called “Everything Would Be Alright.” His three-point plan can be shortened to four words: Stop talking. Start planting. At his speech to the ICCA congress in November, he chastised the attendees, who had flown to Turkey from dozens of countries around the world, as being “part of the problem.” But who could stay angry with this multi-lingual TED-talking wunderkind. Twelve billion trees have been planted so far and counting, thanks to Felix and thousands of children around the world. www.plant-for-the-planet.org
Eddie Obeng
Eddie Obeng, professor at the School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Henley Business School, U.K., and the founder and learning director of Pentacle, The Virtual Business School, might win an award for speed drawing and talking. At the ICCA annual congress in November, Obeng spoke (and drew diagrams) of his theory of management, “New World Management,” that focuses on adaptation to change and embraces the virtual lecture hall/meeting room. He warned the audience—mostly representatives of brick-and-mortar convention halls and hotels—that Airbnb might just wipe them out. You won’t fall asleep during this one. www.pentaclethevbs.com
Magnus Lindkvist
Fortunately for ICCA, Denmark sponsors a presentation on the last day of the annual meeting, the Denmark Lecture, and this year the tourism and meeting mecca found a champion in Magnus Lindkvist. He is a trendspotter and futurologist from Sweden who weaves together important current trends to forecast what life, society, and business might look like in the future. But it’s his fantastic timing, story telling, and politically incorrect humor that will keep the audience—a global audience—laughing and talking well after his talk ends. magnuslindkvist.com
Robert X. Fogarty
Robert X. Fogarty was both a keynoter and the catalyst for an amazing networking experience at the November Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Annual Conference in Hawaii. Fogerty is a photographer who began a series of portraits in New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. He asks his subjects to write a message on themselves in bold black ink. “I take people’s portraits, but they are not just any portraits,” said Fogerty. “I ask people to share one message about someone or something that matters to them.” After his speech on the opening day of the conference, Fogerty set up a studio on the grounds of a resort during the evening reception. As attendees waited for their turns, and wrote on one another, many experienced the power of sharing the stories behind their messages. www.dearworld.me
2 bonus portraits, samples of Robert X. Fogerty’s work, follow
Photograph by Robert X. Fogarty
Daniele Menache, AllianceBernstein, photographed by Robert X. Fogarty at FICP
Photograph by Robert X. Fogerty
Silvia San Martin, Omni Nashville Hotel, photographed by Robert X. Fogerty at FICP
