As regular attendees (not to mention current curation partners and co-founders with Behance back in 2009) we are excited to announce this year’s line up for 99U’s annual
The speaker line-up for this year’s 99U conference—which we helped co-found with Behance in 2009—was announced earlier today. The conference, set to be held on 2-3 May 2013, will feature talks by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque, Hosain Rahman of Jawbone and returning speaker Charlie Todd…
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Tickets are now on sale for the conference on making ideas happen
Tickets for the 2013 99U Conference (held in New York City 2-3 May 2013) are now on sale. The conference, formerly known as 99%, is inspired by the famous Thomas Edison quotation “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” As always, the focus is on making ideas happen, with…
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The conference on idea execution continues
Based on the Thomas Edison quote that “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”, we founded the 99% Conference with Behance four years ago to help inspire idea execution. As day two of this year’s conference is underway, we just heard a bit of entrepreneurial insight from Jonathan Adler and Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal and are now anxiously awaiting the words of design mastermind James Victore and Radiolab’s host and creator Jad Abumrad later on today. As well as the premier of more Cool Hunting Videos.
While we’ll continue to be on site at The Times Center through the end of today, those out there unable to make it can follow the inspiration as it unfolds via the CH twitter feed, the 99% Conference feed or by searching #99conf on Twitter and Instagram.
Day one of this year’s conference on idea execution
Today marks the first day of this year’s 99% Conference, our annual ideas-focused event we co-founded with Behance four years ago. For the 2012 conference we’re looking forward to hearing from inspirational speakers like design legend James Victore, co-founder of Warby Parker Neil Blumenthal and StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp, to name a few, as well as events, workshops and an exciting round of Cool Hunting Video premieres.
While we’ll be on site for the next two days, those out there unable to make it can follow the inspiration as it unfolds via the CH twitter feed, the 99% Conference feed or by searching #99conf on Twitter and Instagram.
The first step toward making your ideas happen
Tickets for the 2012 99% Conference (held in New York City 3-4 May 2012) go on sale today, 19 July 2011.
The conference, organized by our friends at Behance, is inspired by the famous Thomas Edison quotation “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Unique in the conference circuit, it features speakers and workshops dedicated to making your ideas happen.
Tickets for the 2011 conference sold out over five months in advance, and with such an intimate size—just 400 attendees— tickets for the 2012 conference are sure to go quickly as well.
We’ve worked with Behance since the first conference in 2009 and are looking forward to another great session full of speakers, events, workshops, Cool Hunting Video premieres, and more. If you’re not familiar with the conference check out our coverage of the 2011 conference, featuring speaker recaps from both day one and day two, or the 99% Conference site.
Our day one overview of the idea-making conference
Now in our third year, the 99% Conference speakers are a group of hard-workers at the forefronts of their fields, carefully selected by Behance and Cool Hunting for how they manifest Edison’s notion that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
The 2011 line-up features 16 thought-provoking leaders taking the stage over the course of two days, including designer Yves Behar, Google Ideas director Jared Cohen, partner at IDEO Diego Rodriguez, Pixar’s Dr. Michael Johnson and more. In other words, there’s no shortage of information on how to break a creative sweat, and yesterday started things off with some of those great ideas on how to produce ideas, which we’ve recapped below.
Author and leadership expert Simon Sinek spoke to the group of nearly 400 people about the importance of trust, providing several examples on how the concept stems from an authentic set of common values. Sinek explained its significance lies in the fact that trust encourages confidence in experimentation and exploration. Proving the premise that “as a group we’re pretty damn amazing,” Sinek showed the power in numbers and delved into how much more successful an organization can be when they are consistent in their beliefs and authentic in their actions. The professor and communications strategist also touched on how much generosity impacts action. While there’s “no equation” for this selfless sentiment, Sinek left us with the thought, “If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.”
Giving the audience a sigh of sleep-deprived relief, President and CEO of The Energy Project, Tony Schwartz explained the importance of shut-eye. Describing how you should “live life like a sprinter,” Schwartz broke down some common myths about being a workaholic, explaining “human beings are designed to pulse” and that intermittent breaks yield far greater capacity for doing quality work than marathon all-nighters. Also emphasizing the importance of focus, his approach isn’t to be confused with multi-tasking (or shift tasking as he calls it) since the brain actually can’t do more than one task at once. Shift tasking actually disrupts the work flow and, according to Schwartz, you need to skillfully manage technology and focus on one task at hand for an extended amount of time. Summing it up with “sleep is the most important behavior in your life to get right,” he advocates practicing renewal and recovery to align you with a natural rhythm that will give you the capacity to do better work.
Rounding out Schwartz’s pragmatic approach to making ideas happen, Mien Shiang Institute founder Patrician McCarthy demonstrated how analyzing personality types can affect how you work. A professional in the Taoist technique of facial diagnosis, McCarthy gave an array of face shape examples, linking them to behaviors and explaining how to use them to find more a productive balance in the workplace. Understanding a face based on her classifications of Water, Wood, Earth, Metal and Fire helps better collaboration with colleagues by knowing their work habits.
If you weren’t lucky enough to snag one of the now sold-out tickets, make sure to keep up with the action on Cool Hunting’s twitter feed, the official 99 Percent feed or catch it all at the #99conf.
Photos by James Ryang
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