Opening Keynote Speaker

Robyn Benincasa

Founder of World Class Teams, and World Champion Adventure Racer

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Robyn Benincasa is the founder of World Class Teams, a world champion adventure racer, a CNN Hero, former corporate sales expert and a full time firefighter who advises organizations on building World Class Teams of their own. One of the highest rated female speakers who regularly shares the stage with world leaders and business icons, her customers include many Fortune companies like Starbucks, Deloitte, Aflac, Fast Company, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ARAMARK, Siemens, 3M, Coldwell Banker, Ameriprise, Microsoft, AT&T. With a background in marketing, she was previously in corporate sales with Baxter and Allergan and is currently a full-time firefighter. World Champion Eco-Challenge Adventure Racer, CNN Hero, Founder of the Project Athena Foundation (Survivors to Athletes!), 3x Guinness World Record Distance Paddler and proud owner of 2 metal ‘bionic hips’, Robyn definitely knows a thing or two about creating Human Synergy – “that magic that allows groups of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things together.” Her New York Times best-selling book How Winning Works, published by Harlequin has been reviewed as “an excellent resource for all business owners on approaching challenges with a team mentality.”

Plenary Session Speakers

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2018
8: 00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

“Connecting the Dots to an Effective Wellness Strategy: HR, Facilities and Finance”

Organizations face a growing health cost crisis that threatens to swallow profits and drain the vitality of their workforce unless we adopt a radically different approach to workplace health and well-being. The Cleveland Clinic projects that unless we change soon, health costs and taxes will double by 2025! These costs are just the tip of the iceberg. Absenteeism, disengagement, and turnover cost businesses an estimated $1.2 trillion a year. If you are a leader or employee you need to understand how work has become the 5th leading cause of death and what you can do to avoid becoming a tragic statistic. The good news! The strategies we share significantly improve health and well-being with little or no cost to your company. They do so by using workplace nudges, healthy design and reducing friction points in the workplace.

Awards Luncheon Keynote Speaker

Peter Hinssen

Co-founder & Partner at nexxworks

Friday, Oct. 18, 2018
2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

“The Day After Tomorrow”

Peter Hinssen is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, author of four bestselling business books, and keynote speaker on the topics of radical innovation, leadership and the impact of all things digital on society and business.

In this session: Henry Kissinger described a recipe for strategic disaster in his book ‘World Order’: “You cannot remain relevant by simply projecting the familiar forward”. Yet, that is what companies do almost every day. They look at tomorrow by what they know today, the extrapolate their comfort zone into the future, and hope for the best.

We spend most of our lives thinking about ‘Today’. We’d like to spend more time on ‘Tomorrow’. And then there is the ‘Day After Tomorrow’, the place where new ideas, business models, radically new technologies or concepts could change our business canvas forever. The Day After Tomorrow used to be far, far away.

Until now. Technology has accelerated the pace of change in society. Digital has gone from being ‘nice’ to being ‘nasty’ where all of a sudden we talk about ‘disruption’ and ‘radical change’. Business models change overnight, and the Day After Tomorrow comes faster than ever before.

How can companies prepare for the Day After Tomorrow ? How can they reorganize into patterns of innovation that allow them to be faster, more agile and more responsive ? How can companies follow the pace of change outside their walls, and refocus on being relevant to their customers?

In ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, Peter talks about an exponentially changing world and its consequences for organizations of Today. He introduces those pioneers who managed to move (way) beyond Tomorrow-thinking in innovation and were able to change the course of entire industries. Above all, he talks about the business models, the organizational structures, the talent, the mindset, the technologies and the cultures needed to maximize our chances for survival in the Day After Tomorrow.

Most of us focus on Today: on the meetings we will be having, the e-mails we will respond to, the price offers we need to send out while deadlines are breathing down or neck. And we should. Today is what pays our bills. We also think a lot about Tomorrow, about our future value and how our company will survive disruption. Tomorrow is what keeps us awake at night. But let’s face it, most of us don’t think (much) beyond that.

The truly great ones, the giants, those that dictate the market are the ones who dare to envision The Day After Tomorrow. Because that is where enormous amounts of long term value lie. The radical ideas, concepts, notions or inspiration that focus on The Day After Tomorrow are the ones that change entire companies, industries and even the world.