This special opening plenary will quickly break the ice and barriers between participants. You will both relax and feel invigorated. You will feel the energizing effects of this session throughout the day, creating unity and camaraderie. If you don't attend - you will miss something very unique - an amazing learning experience.

Daniel Pink is a best-selling author and an expert on innovation, competition, and the changing world of work. Dan's most recent book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need is told in Manga – the Japanese comic book format. It is a story of a young man who lands his first job out of college. He builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work.

His book, A Whole New Mind, charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies and explains the six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced and automated world. Reviewers have described the book as "an audacious and powerful work," "a profound read," "right on the money," and "a miracle." A Whole New Mind is a New York Times and BusinessWeek best seller and has been translated into 16 languages.

His articles on work, business, and technology appear in many newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Wired, where he is a Contributing Editor. Dan has provided analysis of business trends on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR, and other networks in the U.S. and abroad. And as an independent business consultant, he's advised start-up ventures and Fortune 100 companies on recruiting, innovation, and work practices. A free agent himself, Dan held his last real job in the White House, where he served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore. He's also worked as an aide to United States Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich, an economic policy staffer in the United States Senate, a legal researcher in India, and a latrine builder in Botswana.

Accountants. Lawyers. Engineers. That's what our parents told us to be when we grew up. But were Mom and Dad right? Actually, the future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind, people like artists, inventors, storytellers, caregivers. These right-brained people are the next business elite – the women and men who will power your organization. In this entertaining and provocative presentation, best-selling author Daniel Pink surveys evidence from around the world to reveal how the forces of Abundance, Asia, and Automation are nudging us into an era defined not by traditional "knowledge workers," but by creators and empathizers. He explains what this transformation means for your organization – and he offers hands-on tools and tips, as well as real-life examples, for how you can navigate this new terrain. Pink will show you:

• Why "high tech" abilities are giving way to "high concept" and "high touch" talents;
• The six essential aptitudes necessary for thriving in this emerging world;
• Why the widespread search for meaning is perhaps the greatest recruiting challenge – and the largest business opportunity – of our times.

Bestselling author Christine Comaford is CEO of Mighty Ventures, an innovation accelerator that helps businesses to massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value. Bill Gates called her "super high bandwidth." Bill Clinton has thanked her for "fostering American entrepreneurship," and Newsweek has said, "By reputation, Christine is the person you want to partner with."

CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX Business Network, PBS and CNET have all featured Comaford, and she is frequently quoted in the business, technology and general press at large. Stanford Graduate School of Business has done two case studies on her and PBS has featured her in three specials (Triumph of the Nerds, Nerds 2.0.1, and Nerd TV). CNET has broadcast two specials covering her unconventional rise to success as a woman with neither a high school diploma nor college degree.

Comaford has led many lives: Buddhist monk, Microsoft engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Her triumphs and disasters are revealed in her New York Times (and USA Today, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Amazon.com) bestselling business book: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality. Entrepreneur Magazine named the book one of the Best Business Books for Summer 2007.

Comaford believes we can do well and do good, using business as a path for personal development, wealth creation, and philanthropy. She has volunteered for the Hospice of Napa Valley, Litquake, Lifeworks and Impact Online/VolunteerMatch. Her goal is to offer insights that enable people to discover both their personal and business potential, and her presentations reflect the human experiences that are funny, intense, thought provoking and poignant.

Renegade entrepreneur – and runaway success story – Christine Comaford has lived the kind of life most of us only dream about. From model to monk to multi-millionaire, she has always gone after what she wanted – and achieved significant results. She's won, lost, worked, played, and every step of the way, she's written her own rules.

Now Christine is ready to tell her story. In an excerpt of her ten outrageous life lessons, she'll show you how to make your dreams come true. Your way. Your rules. Rules for Renegades is the distillation of what Christine has learned as she succeeded (and failed) in business, built strong relationships (and some disasters), and evolved spiritually and professionally. In this session Christine will show you just how exhilarating, creative, and kick-ass business can be by revealing the triumphs and train wrecks of her incredible life.

Ultimately, she'll let you in on the greatest secret of all – how to build a fulfilling life while rocking your career. You'll learn the surprising truth behind her most offbeat rules, including:

• RULE: Everything's an Illusion, So Pick One That's Empowering.
• RULE: Rock Rejection and Finesse Failure.
• RULE: Learn to Love Networking.
• RULE: Work Your Money Mojo

Peter Sheahan has spent a decade teaching businesses how to flip their thinking and find opportunity where others cannot. He believes that the real money gets made in the cracks, and that the opportunity for mind-blowing success is all around us. The problem is we get conditioned by our experience, blinded by our business models and conned by the popular media to believe success is a product of the economic conditions. Peter's clients include Newscorp, Google, Hilton Hotels, GlaxoSmithKline, Harley Davidson, Cisco and Goldman Sachs. Many of which engage him on an ongoing basis to provoke their leaders to re-think their assumptions and challenge them to find innovative ways of doing business. He has been described by one of his clients as the "guy to call when you want your answers questioned".

Peter's success is driven by his ability to identify areas of untapped potential within organizations, develop the unique thought processes needed to profit from them, and then catalyze the key individuals to take the risks required to make it a reality.

Peter's fifth book Fl!p, an international best-seller available in 25 countries, emphasizes the need for leaders to have mindset flexibility. It explores the changing nature of leadership; evolving business models; and unpacks dozens of strategies for finding opportunity and making money in tough economic times.

Jeff Rubin first caught the attention of financial markets in 1989 with his now-famous call for a 25 per cent decline in Toronto real estate prices. Throughout his career, Mr. Rubin's work has often been the subject of national headlines and has been instrumental in raising key issues to the national spotlight. Abroad, he is best known for his work on global energy markets and has become internationally recognized for his prescient calls on oil prices and their economic impacts.

Mr. Rubin's opinions have been widely reported in the international media. He wrote a closely followed national column in the Globe and Mail, "Ahead of the Curve", and he has been a fixture on network coverage of the federal budget and other key economic events for almost two decades.

Jeff Rubin is a provocative speaker who brings unparalleled experience, insight and candour to his presentation. Whether speaking about the current economic climate or the impact of energy scarcity and rising oil prices on globalization, he paints a compelling picture of the future - exploring what the new global economy will look like and what it will mean for all of us.

Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry is a highly sought after thought leader on the subject of Emotional Intelligence to increase leadership and performance; delivering programs on five continents this year alone. He is one of the highest rated lecturers at the prestigious Kellogg Business School of Management's Executive Education Program.

As an expert with in-depth understanding of high performance, he now spends his time acting as advisor to the US Army and Navy, Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Mercedes Benz, and Pfizer, and as performance coach to NHL and NBA teams, and Olympic medal winning athletes, as well as researching and writing on the variables that drive performance and leadership.

His training includes Harvard Medical School's Mind Body Medical Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical Center Stress Clinic; and Queen's University.