“We always want to focus on attracting amaz-

ing speakers and participants,” said Vishen Lakhi- ani, the man behind Awesomeness Fest. “The magic is really created by the mix of the people who attend.” Lakhiani is co-founder and CEO of Mindval-

+ON THE WEB For more information

about Awesomeness Fest, visit awesomenessfest. com.

ley, a company that “invests in businesses in the field of human potential,” according to its website. Awesomeness Fest was inspired by annual com- pany retreats that Lakhiani hosted for Mindvalley employees along with thought leaders, entrepre- neurs, and personal-growth experts, during which participants would gather in exotic locales to exchange ideas. Soon, word spread outside Mind- valley, and more and more people in the world of social entrepreneurship showed interest in attending the retreats. So, three years ago, Lakhi- ani created Awesomeness Fest, a place for spiritual leaders and innovators, teachers and entrepre- neurs, to meet and make crucial connections. To ensure quality interaction among attendees

and speakers, a certain amount of exclusivity is necessary. “Making sure that the right people are there is always a priority,” Lakhiani said. Attend- ees must apply for an invitation to the event, then make it through two rounds of phone interviews with Awesomeness Fest staff. “We generally ask people what they’re looking to get out of the con- ference,” said Caela Gillies, an Awesomeness Fest employee. “We answer any questions they have, and basically see if they’d be a good fit.” The types of people Awesomeness Fest organizers search for are those who are passionate about personal growth; whether they’re yoga instructors or inde- pendent filmmakers, if they’re working to make positive change in their communities, then they meet Awesomeness Fest requirements.

VISION, SELF-MASTERY, CONNECTIONS Each year, Awesomeness Fest — a mix of “learn- ing, presentations, parties, networking, and excursions,” Lakhiani said — encompasses three major themes: vision, self-mastery, and connec- tions. “We select the speakers and the elements of our program very carefully, to find the best angle for all our main themes,” Lakhiani said. “We incorporate TED-style talks on personal develop- ment and entrepreneurship with very powerful individual or group exercises that help improve self-mastery and build deep connections with the other attendees.” Past sessions have included “Change Your

120 PCMA CONVENE DECEMBER 2012

Hand Selected Awesomeness Fest isn’t the first event to discover the benefits of exclusivity. Laura Brunow Miner, founder of Phoot Camp — an annual invitation-only photography retreat and workshop held at various campgrounds, RV parks, and estates throughout the United States — requires potential applicants to submit a self-portrait and a short essay, giving her “a pretty good feel into the identity of the person,” Miner said. “The No. 1 most important thing to me is relationship building, so having an application process allows me to be pretty dang sure that the people who come are going to be amazing.”

Each year, Miner receives more than 200 applicants for the two-day, 35-person event, and from them she chooses roughly 10 to 15 new attendees; about two-thirds of participants are returning artists. “I Google them like crazy and do tons of research,” Miner said. Because of the number of applicants, she’s added a $20 application fee to cover processing time. Another reason it’s especially important that Miner be selective about delegates is that Phoot Camp is an attendee-led event. She said: “People who attend the event then volunteer to lead different sessions.”

A frequent speaker, Miner has seen this model work from the perspective of both organizer and attendee. This year, she spoke at The Do Lectures, an annual, invitation-only ideas festival at Fforest, a luxury campsite in West Wales, U.K. There are 100 attendees and 20 speakers at The Do Lectures, and all of them eat, sleep, socialize, and learn together over the course of three days.

“The difference between The Do Lectures, where people have to apply to attend, and a normal [conference] is I’d just kind of hang out with the speakers at a normal one,” Miner said. “There were probably plenty of interesting attendees there, but I didn’t have time to meet them or give them the chance to have a conversation.” By specifically choosing attendees, the value of networking skyrockets. “At The Do Lectures everyone there was really interesting. It didn’t really matter who you were talking to, you knew they’d be interesting because they’d gone the extra step of screening attendees.”

› For more information on Phoot Camp, visit phootcamp.com.

› To watch The Do Lectures, visit youtube. com/dolectures.

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