One of Orlando's most-followed local voices, Ken has spent two decades studying what makes people fall in love with a city. He argues Orlando is ready to shed its tourism-capital label and claim its place among America's great cities.

Since founding UFCF in 2014, she's driven $47M+ in economic impact and mobilized 300,000 volunteer hours across Central Florida. Her talk makes the case for trading reactive fixes for intentional leadership development in young people — before crisis forces the issue.

A psychotherapist who's served as Medical Officer on NASA-backed space missions, Sharife explores why awe — from a rocket launch to a night under the stars — is one of the most underused tools for resilience and mental health.

Founder of the AdventHealth Orchestra, Richard has spent decades using music and creative engagement in healthcare. His talk argues that healing means more than fixing what's broken — it's about restoring wholeness, connection, and hope.

Living with multiple sclerosis, Sylvia built a career documenting how people experience the world differently. She unpacks what happens — for all of us — when we stop fearing disability and start seeing the people that fear causes us to overlook.

A journalist who's interviewed 350+ WWII veterans and reported from wartime Ukraine, Benjamin makes the case that as history's last eyewitnesses disappear, their firsthand lessons on division and conflict are more urgent than ever.

A stage 4 HPV-related cancer survivor turned advocate, Jason argues that stigma and silence — not the disease itself — are often what keep people from seeking care soon enough to survive it.

Steve Harvey personally named this Army veteran the Grand Prize Winner of the Standup Spotlight Competition. Ken makes the case that laughter isn't just entertainment — it's how we survive hardship and rebuild purpose.

After losing the rights to her own name, Hayley turned the fight into a movement for creative ownership. Her talk is about what it really means to own your identity — and your next chapter — in a digital world built to monetize both.

In "The Diaspora of the 'No Sabo Kid,'" this Orlando-born consultant reflects on the quiet shame of growing up in a Spanish-speaking community without speaking Spanish — and what it took to reclaim that identity on her own terms.

Drawing on research spanning 50,000 U.S. monuments and Orlando's own reckoning after Pulse, Jose (they/them) makes the case that monuments don't actually tell our history — people, and the memories we choose to keep alive, do.

Co-discoverer of a newly identified giant sea reptile, Jimmy brings hands-on paleontology to kids who'd otherwise never see a fossil dig. His talk reframes science not as a body of facts, but as a process anyone can join.

This global strategist and former humanitarian diplomat has a favorite interview question: "How would you spend $40 billion to solve a global problem?" Her talk shows how the answer reveals — and can transform — how we hire, lead, and parent.