Jeremy Gutsche: An Intellectual Can of Red Bull

Sponsored by Lockheed Martin

Jeremy Gutsche—an intellectual can of Red Bull, according to Association Week—is founder of and the brains behind Trendhunter.com, a top trend-spotting site. His forte: showing audiences how to use methodical innovation to generate ideas and spark creativity during times of change.

Join Gutsche on Wednesday, June 5, for “Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During a Time of Change” and learn how to gain an edge by harnessing the creativity that will help your organization survive and flourish in any economic climate.

Coupling his widely respected trend-spotting abilities with expertise in exploiting “what’s cool,” Gutsche shows how you can create a culture of innovation in your organization, maximize the exposure of your marketing message, and think big while acting small. Find out how to stimulate creativity and unlock the powerful strategies of trend-hunting to help your organization thrive!

Anna Deavere Smith: Explore Race, Community, and Character

Sponsored by Stryker

Playwright, actor, and professor Anna Deavere Smith uses her singular brand of theatre to explore issues of community, character, and diversity in America. 

On Thursday, June 6, Smith presents “Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change,” exploring race, community, and character in America. Smith has been listening to people across the country from all walks of life for the last several years, and slips in and out of character to recreate a diversity of emotions and points of view on controversial issues. 

Smith is the author and performer of award-winning plays that deal with social issues in America. She has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship. Her play, Fires in the Mirror, about the 1991 Crown Heights riot, was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize and took home Obie and Drama Desk Awards. Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 won Drama Desk, Theater World, and Obie Awards and received two Tony Award nominations. 

A tenured professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts teaching performance studies, Smith also founded the Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue at Harvard University. Known as the Anna Deavere Smith Works (ADS Works), it unites artists and performers and “cultivates artistic excellence that embraces the social issues of the day.” She won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship in recognition of her contribution to advancing civil rights.

Currently, Smith appears on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, and her television credits also include The West Wing and All My Children. She has appeared in films including Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia, and The American President. 

Smith is the Artist-in-Residence at the Center for American Progress, and is researching and writing a new play called The Americans.

David Spector: Recruitment and Technology—The Journey So Far

Cap your conference experience with this thought-provoking keynote address!

The impact of technology on recruitment is undeniable. Whether it is for talent attraction and engagement, the application process, assessment, or any number of back-office functions, there has been some technological solution developed or used to expand reach, improve efficiency, save time, and provide greater return on investment. But is the full potential of technology as a recruitment enabler being realized?

Join David Spector, head of mobile, TMP, on Friday, June 7, from 11 a.m. – noon, to discuss how far we have come and how much further we could go, not only by using globally ubiquitous current technologies such as mobile and social media, but also by considering the need to shake up legacy recruitment processes in general.