From 7|31 – 8|1, Loews Hotel in the heart of Hollywood became the playground of some of the world’s most innovative, inspiring, and influential minds. Brought together by the invite-only PTTOW!‘s face man Roman Tsunder, these world-leading minds mingled with aspiring marketers, entrepreneurs, leaders, change-makers, and risk-takers with a sole purpose: Make the World a Better Place.
Unlike any other professional conference, WORLDZ blends topics spanning from the creative arts, leadership, philanthropy, marketing, holistic care, and cutting edge design and throws it all together for the purpose of redefining play, rediscovering wonder, and losing sight of the shore (a proper theme borrowed from Andre Gide).
2017 marked the event’s second chapter and saw an increase from 800 to 1,200 attendees. Yet, the group felt like family – made clear from Roman’s opening remarks on Radical Inclusion and how looking out for one another is the highest order. Perhaps the most remarkable takeaway from the conference is the amount of people who were willing to thrust themselves into the ever-changing ocean of culture – though filled with fear, confusion, and doubts – hoping and knowing that coming out on the other side will prove fruitful. The type of positive energy this amalgamation of risk-takers gave off was, in short, contagious.
In itself, WORLDZ stands out solely for the culture it attracts. The event draws together a wide-ranging group of professionals with the common factor of an ever-willingness to help. The “brain dates” (self-organized 1:1s or small group sessions) feature made this all the more evident. One of the brain dates we attended had the topic of: “How do we save the world?” that quickly delved into philosophical territory of what is the biggest problem with our society and ended with creative brainstorming on how to support failure as it pertains to learning, inspiring people to listen to their heart and passions, and bringing those concepts into reality. If nothing else, we all came to the conclusion that there are things in life we still want to do and the only way to be happy is to do it (as opposed to hoping tomorrow will have better set plans).
From forward discourse on entrepreneurship and playing to your strengths with Gary Vaynerchuk; to techniques for how be a better leader with Jim Kwik; to discussions on actionable alternatives across the spectrum of environment, racial awareness, gender equality, and gun violence hosted by the Young Turks; to creative mind-play for leadership growth with In-Q and Perestroika; to expert case studies on how to reach the masses with Raja Rajamannar; to navigating a sea of controversy for a greater purpose with MedMen and Cannakids; to inspiring ideation on designing with social awareness with Parley; and to informative remembrance of what it means to truly be human with Daniel Flynn and Deborah Dugan; the workshop and discussion package that WORLDZ brought to the its attendees was thoroughly curated and poignant to our time. Most of all, it was refreshing to be a part of a culture hellbent on saving our world in the midst of the turmoil and crassness we are bombarded with thanks to modern tech and media.
It is hard to boil WORLDZ down in terms of its scope and reach because the information dispensed can really apply to anything, but it is easy to say: don’t miss the opportunity come 2018. The nature of WORLDZ is something entirely new; the speakers have all pushed the envelop of what it means to live in our time and are willing to share all of their techniques (better read as: saving the planet is our call to action, and WORLDZ is at the ready to help instill that for generations to come). Roman Tsunder hinted at 9 total chapters in this voyage. There are 7 more left. We’re just getting started. We hope to see you along the hero’s journey to our better world.
Worldz//
