Sessions marked with [v] will be broadcast for Virtual Connect.
Opening Session
Monday, May 20
8:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. [v]
The Power of Peculiar Thinking: Problem-Solving Through Creativity and Ingenuity
Dr. Samuel Ramsey
Opening session and coffee sponsored by
As a young graduate researcher, Dr. Sammy Ramsey looked at an age-old question—“What’s happening to the honeybees?”—through a new lens to make a breakthrough discovery that turned the field of bee research on its head.
In this talk, Dr. Ramsey spurs audiences to think outside the box as he shares the story of what led him to connect a family member’s health issues back to his bee research to arrive at a powerful conclusion on the parasitic pandemic plaguing the honeybees. In this talk, he walks audiences through his process for using peculiar thinking that gets the brain processing ideas in new and unique ways and unlocks new outlets for pushing past stalls in thinking and productivity. The approach Dr. Ramsey shares gives people the freedom to dig deeper into all the ideas that they’re told are “too crazy” and “will never work” as they figure out how to tackle complex problems and innovate with impact.
Opening session and coffee sponsored by
Closing Session
Wednesday, May 22
3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. [v]
The Neuroscience of Innovation – and How to Develop New Insights
Dr. Helena Boschi
The human brain craves distraction and is constantly bombarded by sensory information, but we simply don’t have the brainpower to process it all. While our attentional system steers our perception, the brain has to make a choice about what it focuses on.
This stimulating session helps us challenge what we think we see in order to stretch our thinking and develop new insights. Because we tend to see the world through our own lens, we often develop a narrow perspective, based on the expertise we master throughout our career. But true innovation demands that we become more divergent and exploratory in our idea generation, turning accepted wisdom upside down and challenging our norms, even when they work. This session forces us to question what we think we see and take into account the fact that we rarely perceive the “truth.” This session also looks at how to increase cognitive agility, creative thinking, and openness – to become a constant, continual learner.