Presenters
Charles Fishman
Charles Fishman - Reporter and Author
Presentation: Cracking Open the World With a Silly Question
"Asking questions (and listening to the answers) is one of our most under-rated tools — it’s a way of learning about the world, connecting with other people, surprising yourself — and I love the chance to underscore the simple power of curiosity."
Curiosity got Charles Fishman admitted to the only bomb factory in the United States. It got him into the busiest maternity ward in the U.S. For a while, curiosity got Fishman a job as a tugboat deckhand on the Mississippi River. And not too long ago, Fishman spent two years thinking about curiosity fulltime, to write the #1 New York Times bestseller, ‘A Curious Mind,’ with Hollywood producer Brian Grazer.
Fishman is an investigative reporter and bestselling author, which is to say, he’s turned curiosity into both a passion and a profession. He asks questions for a living, and he knows that even the simplest questions, even the most obvious questions, have the power to bring adventure and insight, joy and connection to your life. You just need to have the courage to ask them. And remember to listen to the answers.
Did you know: Charles Fishman started out as a newspaper reporter at age 10, typing a newspaper for his block in Miami with his family’s typewriter. He has also worked as a deckhand on a tugboat on the Mississippi River and has been to the bottom of the second deepest mine in the world.
For more about Charles Fishman:
“A Curious Mind: The secret to a better life”
“The Big Thirst: The secret life & turbulent future of water”
“The Wal-Mart Effect: How the world’s most powerful company really works”
“5,200 Days in Space,” The Atlantic
“Message in a Bottle,” Fast Company
Twitter: @cfishman
Kimberly Jameson - Principal Designer and Co-Owner of K Studios
Presentation: More information coming soon!
More presentation information coming soon. Keep checking back!
Kimberly Jamerson
Kelly Leonard
Kelly Leonard - Exec. Director of Insights & Applied Improvisation at The Second City
Presentation: Strategic Discomfort - Improvisation as a Practice in Positive Change
"I believe that improvisational practice can change you and it can change the world."
In his time overseeing Second City’s live theatrical operations, Kelly Leonard has hired Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Keegan Michael Key, Rachel Dratch, Adam McKay, Jason Sudeikis, Aidy Bryant, TJ Miller and more.
Kelly co-directs an initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago that looks at Behavioral Science through the lens of Improvisation.
Kelly Leonard has worked at the intersection of creativity and business and education his entire adult life. In his time overseeing The Second City, he has worked with some of the world’s most gifted comedic minds. He has also led forays into collaborations with everything from opera companies to Fortune 100 businesses; modern dance ensembles to the world of caregivers. Currently, his work with the behavioral science community has given him insights that provide a deeper understanding of why improvisational practice has proven to be such a springboard for success across organizations and for individuals both onstage and off. In this talk, Kelly tells of his own personal journey of reinvention which led him to understand how successful transformations only come when we develop resilient habits that allow us to use failure and make discomfort a strategy rather than a liability.
Did you know: Kelly’s first job out of college was as a dishwasher at The Second City.
More about Kelly Leonard:
“Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City”
Kelly Leonard - "Learning Lessons Through Improv", TEDxZumbroRiver
"Getting to Yes, And…" WGN Radio Podcast
"Tales From The Comedy Trenches: What It’s Like To Manage A Bunch Of SNL Stars," Fast Company
Jorge Latre - Flying and Endurance Explorer
Presentation: Where might you go if you let curiosity be your North Star?
"Peering over the edge is where we find freedom to create our own life and get the resources to pull it off."
When Jorge Latre toed the starting line of the 1100-mile Iditarod Trail races last winter, he was curious to experience a really long ultrarun. It turned out to be a journey of self-discovery punctuated with bigger-than-life hamlets and characters, during a particularly harsh Alaskan winter. Most runners stopped before mile 250. Only two of runners (Jorge being one of them) were still in the race after mile 400. Curiosity frees us to pursue the impossible, and yields the mastery to overcome it.
Curiosity for space drove Jorge from Spain to NASA, where he supported Space Shuttle missions and led AI research. Baffled by organizational obstacles, he learned to address them at MIT and co-founded strategy innovation firm Strategos. Inspired by his clients’ extraordinary achievements, Jorge draw lessons from endurance journeys in remote northern regions, including a combined self-flown and human-powered science expedition north of the Arctic Circle last year. Jorge Latre shares his insights through Thrive at the Edge.
Join him in this fairy-tale of a remote northern country, both harrowing and enchanting.
Did you know: Last year, Jorge Latre trained to fly as a suborbital mission specialist in noctilucent cloud research, and was a centrifuge test subject to fly Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two flight profiles.
You can read about Jorge Latre's science expedition to Baffin Island here and here.
Jorge Latre
Jane Rigler
Jane Rigler - Assistant Professor at UCCS, Flute/Composition/Improvisation
Presentation: More information coming soon
More information on this presentation coming soon! Check back.
Prasad Boradkar - Design Lead at Google ATAP and Professor in Design at ASU
Presentation:
Prasad Boradkar is professor in Industrial Design at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. He is the Director of InnovationSpace, a transdisciplinary laboratory at ASU where faculty and students from design, business, sustainability and engineering partner with corporations to develop human-centered product concepts that hold societal benefit and minimize impacts on the environment. He also serves as the Co-Director of the Biomimicry Center at ASU, an organization dedicated to the exploration of biologically-inspired solutions to problems of sustainability. Prasad is the author of Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects, and is currently working on a book on Indian design.
For more about Prasad Boradkar:
more information coming soon.
Prasad Boradkar
The River Arkansas
The River Arkansas - Country, Blues, Folk and Americana Band
More information on this presentation coming soon! Check back.
