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Chip Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard and Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Do you wonder why some ideas stick and others don’t? Chip will examine why certain ideas—from Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to business strategy myths—survive and prosper in the social marketplace of ideas. These “naturally sticky” ideas spread without external help, marketing dollars, PR assistance, or the attention of leaders. Hear how his theories apply to the arts and how to make your own creative experiences stickier.

Chip Heath is the Thrive Foundation of Youth Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Made to Stick has been translated into 29 languages, the last of which was Slovakian, and it was retired from the Business Week best seller list after a 24-month run. Chip is also a columnist for Fast Company, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Nike, the Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, and Ideo. Chip's latest book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, written with his brother Dan, was released in February 2010 and is already a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller.

Chip’s research has appeared in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Cognitive Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Strategic Management Journal, Psychological Science, and the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. Popular accounts of his research have appeared in Scientific American, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, Business Week, Psychology Today, and Vanity Fair. Chip has taught courses on organizational behavior, negotiation, strategy, and international strategy. Chip taught at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He received his B.S. in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford.

Susan Medak, Managing Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Susan will show how nonprofit arts organizations can bridge the worlds of mission-driven art and commercial enterprises to achieve desirable results for organizations and communities. She has served as Berkeley Rep’s managing director since 1990, leading the charge to establish a stable business model for the future of arts engagement and audience building. She has managed the successful development of many new theatrical works, most recently Green Day’s American Idiot and Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking.

Susan is also the president of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the management association that represents 75 of the nation’s largest nonprofit theatres. She has often served on program panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and chaired two panels for the Massachusetts Arts Council as well. She served two terms on the board of Theatre Communications Group, including three years as the organization’s treasurer.

Closer to home, Medak chairs the Downtown Berkeley Business Improvement District. She is the president of the Downtown Berkeley Association and the founding chair of the Berkeley Arts in Education Steering Committee for Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Cultural Trust. Medak serves on the faculty of Yale School of Drama and is a proud member of the Mont Blanc Ladies’ Literary Guild and Trekking Society.

Chip Conley, author of PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow

What is the hierarchy of needs for the arts consumer? Chip Conley, founder & CEO of Joie de Vivre, turned to famed psychologist Abraham Maslow and his iconic Hierarchy of Needs theory of human motivation at a time when his hotel company was struggling. He reinterpreted Maslow’s Hierarchy and applied it to his company and all organizations in his best-selling book, PEAK. Arts groups across the country have been fascinated by how Chip’s theory applies to employees, customers, and donors.

Chip’s experience on the Board of Directors of five cultural nonprofits has given him a keen appreciation for the challenges that face the arts community. His keynote will focus on creating a transformative experience for the arts in this discussion—a unique combination of business wisdom, psychological theory, and cultural anthropology.

Joie de Vivre is California’s largest boutique hotel company consisting of more than 40 award-winning hotels, spas, and restaurants. Chip and his company’s time-tested techniques and transformational leadership practices have been featured in Fast Company, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal. Honored by the San Francisco Business Times as the “Most Innovative CEO” in the Bay Area, Chip is the founder of San Francisco’s annual Celebrity Pool Toss fundraiser, which has raised more than $4 million for families in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. Chip received his B.A. and M.B.A. from Stanford University and was bestowed an honorary doctorate in psychology from Saybrook Graduate School in 2009.