HARBORING GOODTHOUGHTS:The Nantucket Project’s sessions took place under a tent overlooking the harbor. During breaks, speakers and participants made the most of being out on the water.
MONEYTALKS: Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Invest- ments, one of the largest African-American–owned money-management andmutual-fund companies in the U.S., was one of The Nantucket Project’s speakers.
They were able to snag some impressive speakers—the
roster included X PRIZE Foundation Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel—by virtue ofScott’s “relationship with the Big Think,” Brosnan said. “We really love their website [http://bigthink.com] and the people that they get [to contribute], so they were a natural partner for us.” The list ofpresenters, she said, grew organically. Some
speakers, including former NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, are residents, and they in turn reached out to other people, Bros- nan said, adding: “But it is not a bad ask, right? Nantucket
ingful because she and the conference organizers had “kind of curated” the audience, which they capped at about 300. The Nantucket Project’s advisory board members provided a list of people who they thought would make interesting audience participants. In addition, a fellows program allowed for invi- tees who could not afford to come—“people who maybe would not be able to afford the ticket but would add some- thing great to our audience,” she said, “people that may be prone to make a difference in the world or have already made a difference.” The fellows list included local students and the heads of the local music school and hospital. Brosnan said she was not anticipating that the conference
“It is pretty organic what we are hoping will happen in a place that is 30 miles out to sea.”
at the end of September and early October.” Aside from its unique location, another thing that Brosnan
believed set The Nantucket Project apart from other confer- ences was the absence of breakout sessions. She wanted everyone to “have the same shared experience,” because it “makes for interesting conversation.” She said: “You know, I was out at the Ideas Festival this year in Aspen, and there were so many things to choose from—you’d sit at lunch and [wonder,] did I make the right choice? So we really wanted people to have a common experience. Ifyou are in a breakout session and I am at a breakout session, we are not connected.” Brosnan expected the connections to be especially mean-
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would have a particular outcome. “Who knows what hap- pens when someone meets somebody,” she said, “and then they kind of share ideas and thoughts? Our goal is to connect one another and to have some sort of shift in the way that we think after the conference. I think it is pretty organic what we are hoping will happen in a place that is 30 miles out to sea.We who live here year-round know about the importance of being interdependent on one another.”