When American film director John Waters took the stage a couple of years ago at the Rhode Island School of Design to give what should have been the usual “go get ‘em” commencement speech, the crowd grew quiet with the wrong kind of anticipation.
“Go out into the world and [mess] it up beautifully,” he said, to an instantly revved up and highly engaged audience. Speaking to mostly millennial graduates, videos of the speech, whose words somehow gathered more momentum and meaning as time went on, quickly went viral. Like many artists (we would venture to say that many of you could fall into this category), Waters leveraged a sense of the unexpected into his commencement address, much like many of you are leveraging disruption in meetings. It was something his audience should have expected from a man most known for breakthrough films like “Hairspray.” So just why was the moment so stirring?
Disruption was all the rage last year, and we asked for your input on what makes for a truly memorable and engaging event. Not surprising, you spoke of Waters’ own tactics; not just harnessing the element of surprise as he did, but the idea of changing things up in a creative way to really leave a mark.
We’re building on the foundation of positive disruption and kicking off our first issue of 2018 with deep dive into how hotels, resorts and destinations are amplifying authenticity in meetings, incentives and conventions. For more on that, check out our digital edition.
