- James Carse
- Author
- Posted: 05/27/10 | Recorded at Gel 2010
James P. Carse taught at New York University for thirty years as the Professor of the History and Literature of Religion, and Director of the Religious Studies Program. He retired from the University in 1996. He is a writer and an artist, and lives in New York City and Massachusetts.
Three of his books are Finite and Infinite Games, Breakfast at the Victory, and The Religious Case Against Belief.
See also: jamescarse.com
- Barry Schwartz
- Professor, Swarthmore College and author, "The Paradox of Choice"
- Posted: 03/15/10 | Recorded at Gel 2009
A fiasco like the Wall Street meltdown could have been mitigated or avoided if more people had acted on principles of practical wisdom, Barry Schwartz argues. Here he gives diagnosis and prescription for a society that has, in part, lost touch with wisdom.
See also: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, by Barry Schwartz
- Jamy Ian Swiss
- Sleight-of-hand magician
- Posted: 02/05/10 | Recorded at Gel 2009
There is one key ingredient in all good magic tricks, and Jamy Ian Swiss reveals it before taking the audience through a magic trick as shown from the magician's perspective. This is one of the most thought-provoking and talked-about presentations from Gel 2009 and should be required viewing for anyone in the business of creating good experiences. (Hint: the key ingredient is also the essence of good listening.)
See also:
• Pomegranates and empathy (and another reference in Deception considered helpful)
- Steven Heller
- Author, "Iron Fists"
- Posted: 11/05/09 | Recorded at Gel 2009
- 2 comments
Building a strong visual brand is not always good for the world. Exploring the themes in his book Iron Fists, graphic design legend Steven Heller shows how totalitarian regimes of the 20th century consolidated their power through strong visual imagery.
- Bill Gurstelle
- Senior Producer, Make:television; author, "Backyard Ballistics"
- Posted: 08/12/09 | Recorded at Gel 2009
- 1 comment
Taking risks is vital to your health, argues Bill Gurstelle. Not a constant stream of life-threatening activities, but just enough to keep you from eating your own brain. (You'll learn what that means when you watch the video.)
- Chip Conley
- CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality; author, "Peak"
- Posted: 05/27/09 | Recorded at Gel 2008
- 2 comments
As the CEO of a boutique hotel company, Chip Conley knows something about creating good experience - both for guests and employees. In his recent book Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, and in this Gel talk, Chip explains how to understand good experience through Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
See also: Chip's interview in Good Experience
- Danny Meyer
- Restaurateur, author
- Posted: 04/14/09 | Recorded at Gel 2007
Hospitality is the key element of success, argues New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. He should know: his restaurants are consistently the highest-ranked in Zagat's New York survey. Go to Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Shake Shack, or any of Danny's other restaurants and you'll have an opportunity to see how hospitality forms a good experience.
After watching this Gel video, take a look at Danny's book Setting the Table, where he explains his thoughts on hospitality in more detail. Recommended.
See also: Two very different types of good experience (and Cipriani)
- Linda Stone
- Writer and consultant
- Posted: 02/19/09 | Recorded at Gel 2006
Having coined the phrase "continuous partial attention," Linda has many thoughts about the effects of pervasive digital technology. She was previously an executive at Microsoft and Apple and has seen the technology landscape develop for over two decades.
- George Vaillant
- Author, Spiritual Evolution
- Posted: 02/03/09 | Recorded at Gel 2008
- 1 comment
A psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School, George Vaillant shares thoughts on "spiritual evolution" (the title of his recent book). A compelling, and rare, argument for the intersection of science and faith.
See also: George Vaillant on what makes us happy
- Marc Salem
- Mentalist
- Posted: 12/02/08 | Recorded at Gel 2006
- 9 comments
Marc focuses on "how the mind creates reality and meaning," according to his site, and this presentation shows how. Chiefly by observing non-verbal communication, Marc is able to distinguish truth from falsehood in a very engaging exercise with audience members.
- Kelly Dobson
- Artist and technologist
- Posted: 11/21/08 | Recorded at Gel 2008
- 5 comments
After communicating with Blendie, her custom-built voice-activated blender, Kelly starts with a great first line - "I work with machines" - and goes on to describes her unique vision for human-machine interaction. Kelly's genius is building machines to respond to natural cues, like the frazzled screams in ScreamBody (this footage is also in her Gel talk) or normal breathing, as with the empathic Omo device. User interfaces this elegant are incredibly rare; it's worth considering how these patterns - natural cues, radical empathy - could be applied to other experiences.
Kelly's website shows more of her work.
