The UP Experience Blog

The UP speaker lineUP for 2011 is complete!

We are so excited to announced Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since 1979, as our final speaker.

Ben is known around the world as both a guest conductor and a speaker on leadership, and he’s been known to do both in a single performance. He uses music to help people open their minds and create joyful harmonies that bring out the best in themselves and their colleagues.

In addition to conducting the Boston Philharmonic, Ben has been a faculty member of the New England Conservatory since 1966, where he conducts the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and has led the group on 11 international tours.

As an accomplished and inspirational public speaker, Ben employs music to convey ideas about transformation and change in the world of business. He has appeared as a keynote speaker for numerous Fortune 500 companies, the State of the World Forum in San Francisco, NASA, and the U.S. Army. His provocative ideas about leadership are rooted in a partnership with Rosamund Stone Zander, with whom he cowrote the best-selling book, The Art of Possibility.

In 1999, he was presented with the Crystal Award for his contributions to global understanding and peace. Ben is the subject of a full-length BBC documentary; was featured on a segment of 60 Minutes; and has appeared as guest conductor throughout the world and frequently conducts the London Philharmonic, with whom he was nominated for a Grammy.

Born and educated in England, Zander began composing at age 9 and studied with the United Kingdom’s leading composer, Benjamin Britten.

“Arguably the most accessible communicator about classical music since Leonard Bernstein, Zander moves audiences with his unbridled passion and enthusiasm.” Sue Fox, London Sunday Times.

To learn more about Ben Zander and understand why he’s been deemed “the Energizer Bunny of Classical Music,”  sign UP today.

As always, lots of news from our UP Alumni this week!

UP 10 speaker, Michael Eisner, and his new project social gaming company Diversion, (also backed by Shawn Fanning) raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Google this week.

Eisner’s fellow UP 10 speaker, Richard Florida, used his space on The Atlantic website this week to take a look at how U.S. cities rank  compared to countries around the world.

Image Courtesy of Flickr/lorenabuena

Katie Linendoll, who will be taking the stage at UP 11, took a look at the best video chatting technologies and applications this week. Check out her recommendations to see what’s best for you.

And, last but not least, UP 08 speaker, Shawn Achor, took to the Huffington Post to tackle the question, “When will I be happy?“

We’ve got another round of clues to our next great speaker today:

From the global impact of U.S.-China relations to surviving the new world disorder, our next presenter has his or her thumb on the pulse of it all. Our 13th speaker is someone who…

Is the youngest managing director in history of a strategic advisory firm founded by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Image courtesy of Wolfgang Staudt/Flickr

Has been called “one of China’s leading foreign-born scholars” and, as a best-selling author, offers a new model for managing and thriving in an era of unpredictability.

Was once a competitive aerobatic pilot, and was recently appointed to Starbucks Board of Directors, where he or she will help the company accelerate the growth of its international business.

Do you know who it is? Please leave us your guesses below and we’ll post the answer on Tuesday!