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Gel 2009 conference: initial speaker list
I'm happy to announce the initial speaker list for the Gel 2009 conference coming up on Thursday-Friday, April 30 - May 1, 2009 in New York City.
Initial Gel 2009 speaker list (see headshots):
• Graham Hill, founder of the wildly popular TreeHugger.com, will offer his refreshing perspective on the need for less of some things, and more of others, in our quest for good experience.
• Robin Nagle will share her story of being anthropologist-in-residence for New York City's sanitation department. Fascinating case study of empathy and authenticity.
• Fred Kent, founder and president of the Project for Public Spaces, has a unique eye for the design of physical space... in particular, which public spaces create a good experience, and which don't, and why. Universal patterns throughout.
• Marion Nestle, NYU professor and author of the outstanding book Food Politics (among others), is a hero of mine for her clear and direct explanations of how food is marketed to consumers. Shenanigans you wouldn't believe (unless you've read her books).
• Barry Schwartz, Swarthmore professor, spoke at Gel a few years ago on his book The Paradox of Choice. This time, though, he will speak on wisdom - the subject of his forthcoming book - and how it relates to good experience.
• Jamy Ian Swiss is a leading sleight-of-hand magician I've written about in Good Experience multiple times. A true expert in deception, though that hardly describes what he'll do at Gel...
• Yours truly, hosting the event once again.
• And: the visual creator; the musician; the visionary; and several others... as always, we're planning on having 15 or more speakers throughout Friday.
This, of course, is all the day after we run 20 or so Day 1 events all across New York City. (See last year's Day 1 selections.)
Why you should be at Gel
If you enjoy Good Experience, you should come to the conference.
Here's what past attendees say about the Gel experience.
Attending Gel also allows you to meet creative leaders from hundreds of companies. Here's who came last year.
Other notes on Gel 2009
• Our Friday venue remains the TimesCenter, where we held Gel 2008 - a new theater in the New York Times building with a great layout, lots of space, and a clean modern design throughout.
• Lots of Gel '09 tickets have already sold. Last year sold out, so if you want to be with us, please do sign up soon (especially before the ticket-price jump next month).
• As always, we assign Day 1 events based on your ticket-purchase date. The earlier you buy, the better chance you'll have at getting your first-choice event.
• For the first time, we are allowing ticket transfers until the date of the conference. Transfers are free through April 20, and incur a fee thereafter - see details. (This change is based on attendee requests at Gel '08 to transfer tickets closer to the event.)
• We're preparing Gel 2008 videos for online posting. Stay tuned for an announcement on that soon. (If you buy a ticket now and want another year's DVD, drop me a note..)
