TURN ON

Friends,

I attended the TURN ON conference this week in the city where young people go to retire, Portland, Oregon. TURN ON is the Lollapalooza of conferences. It was an eclectic event hosted by the creative branding agency, 1000watt, and featured a wonderful lineup of speakers sharing thought-provoking ideas on culture, innovation, leadership, and more.

This was not your traditional conference. There were no sponsors, no trade show, and no infomercials. They held the event in the historic Gerding Theater in the heart of the Pearl District and opened with a belly dancer. A live Didgeridoo player introduced each speaker. Seriously. It was super cool, and as an attendee, you truly felt the love that went into producing the event.

The speakers included CEOs, copywriters, real estate agents, active and retired military, and even a poet. Each one of them shared an intimate story of their journey. A few highlights included Biologist Carin Bondar, who explored the parallels of the animal kingdom and real estate agents. It was a fascinating metaphor. Her thesis: Humans aren’t the only animals that need help to move. 

Diane Glass, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Chicago, gave a heartfelt talk about her leadership journey. Diane isn’t Tony Robbins. She’s not a motivational speaker. In fact, Diane is an introvert who enjoys reading and listening to music. She leaned into her natural personality and it worked. I absolutely loved her presentation.

Matthew Ferrara shared the origins of his wildly popular Good News Friday, a weekly social media post that focuses on positive things happening the world. Think of it as the superhero who battles Doomscrolling every week. Matthew shared the intimate details of how an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator saved his life and was the catalyst for the initiative. He is now half Cyborg, which is pretty cool.

Here are some photos of the event.

Have a great weekend!

-Tom

P.S. Put a Bird on It.