3 Must-see Fall Events for Personal Growth

This fall, three standout events are guaranteed to ignite your personal-growth engine

The world is coming to Vancouver for personal development, with massive events like TED setting roots here. Without leaving home, we can benefit by learning from, being inspired by, and gaining valuable tools from the locally grown and internationally renowned experts who share their insight in our beautiful city.

Click through for a preview of these must-see events…

The Art of Leadership Vancouver

When | Friday, September 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where | Vancouver Convention Centre East Ballroom ABC, 999 Canada Place

What | The Art Of Leadership Vancouver is a one-day conference, providing opportunities to network with over 1,200 leaders in attendance, offering “cutting edge thinking and real world experience on today’s most critical leadership strategies,” and featuring five international thoughts leaders:ŸŸ

ŸŸ•Tom Peters, global business management guru and bestselling author of In Search of Excellence, named one of the “top three business books of the century” in 1999

•Sir Ken Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of The Element, education advisor, creativity expert and acclaimed TED speaker

•Neil Pasricha, director of The Institute for Global Happiness, TED speaker and New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation

•Tammy Heermann, senior vice president of Strategic Solutions at Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge, a talent development and transition company

•Michael Bungay Stanier, founder of Box of Crayons, a manager development company, and bestselling author of Do More Great Work and The Coaching Habit

Why | “For anyone interested in growing as a leader, The Art Of Leadership is an unparalleled opportunity to broaden your perspective and be challenged by a carefully curated collection of world renowned thinkers, bestselling authors and speakers,” says The Art Of co-founder Scott Kavanagh. “Too often we keep our nose to the grindstone, never looking up to see if we’re headed in the right direction. The Art Of Leadership is your compass.”

Register | Online (Use promo code TLD20 for $50 off a single registration or $100 off per person when you register with 3 or more people.)

Heart-Mind Conference

When | Friday, October 21 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 22 from 8:30 a.m to 3:00 p.m.

Where | Bell Performing Arts Centre, 6250-144 Street, Surrey, B.C.

What | “This is such a fascinating conference!” says The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education‘s president and CEO, Fiona Douglas-Crampton. “We bring together renowned experts with the most up-to-date research on Heart-Mind Well-Being, and they make the link to how it plays out in our lives. The experience is not only informative, but inspiring and strengthens us emotionally. If you have children in your life, whether you are a parent, family member, educator, community service worker or counsellor, this event is an invaluable resource for both personal and professional growth.” Experts include:

•Maria LeRose, Heart-Mind Conference moderator, adjunct professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, award-winning television producer, and interviewer of world leaders including the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev

•Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, applied developmental psychologist, Human Development, Learning and Culture professor, and director of UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership

•Michael Ungar, bestselling author, international resilience expert and Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience at Dalhousie University   

Why | “A growing body of research is demonstrating that balancing education of the mind and the heart – by consciously teaching our kids social and emotional competencies, as well as academic ones, in school – can significantly benefit overall academic performance,” says The Dalai Lama Center’s communication manager David Samis. “Emotional well-being and cognitive function are clearly interdependent.” 

CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, reports that “students receiving quality SEL [social and emotional learning] instruction demonstrated achievement scores an average of 11 percentile points higher than students who did not receive SEL instruction. 

Register | Online

TEDxGastownWomen – Saturday, October 29

When | Saturday, October 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Where | The Imperial, 319 Main Street

What | TEDxWomen events are independently organized but must run within 24 hours of the official TEDWomen conference in San Francisco October 26-28 and feature a selection of simulcast segments from the TEDWomen event. Both events “celebrate the power of women and girls to be creators and change-makers,” says TEDxWomenGastown founder and executive director Brittany Whitmore.

“For our second annual event, we’ve chosen the theme of Power. All 10 speakers and performers will explore the concept of power from a variety of angles – personal power, to be powerless, to reclaim power, the myths surrounding power, how one gains and loses it, and what it means to have it, especially in various cultures, professions and circumstances. Our speakers will be announced and tickets will go on sale later in September.”

Why | “I believe that it’s important to explore the concept of power, especially as women, because we need to realize how powerful we can be and the incredible impact we can have on our communities, families and the world,” says Whitmore.

“Research has shown that when women are provided with capital for a business, they are better shepherds of this capital and can make more thoughtful and fairer decisions. Even female politicians deliver greater resources to their districts and pass more bills. And women are responsible for nearly 80% of all consumer purchasing, giving us incredible power to vote with our wallets. It’s too often that women give up their power or believe that they’re not powerful. We need to change the stories that young girls are told.”

Register | Online