Yeah, Michael kicked ass and is now a rock star*. Other key speakers:

Bobby Martin. Jazz at Lincoln Center. Talked about his "When Jazz is Killin'..." campaign.
Key quote: "Creativity is not a service, it's a necessity."

Scott Williams. Starwood Hotels. Talked about the importance of research/ethnography (the study of how people/clients behave and interact).
Key quote: "Closed eyes leads to indifference."
Key point: It takes an outsiders point of view to get a new fresh perspective to the see the obvious and to get the obvious solution.

Ji Lee. The Bubble Project. Talked about his illegal campaign on attacking public advertising which turns cooperate monologue into public dialogue. Argues that traditional advertising is NOT working.

Sam Hecht. Industrial Facility. Explains about using Landscape as a means to fill in the gaps for the revolutionary design of MUJI.
Key points:The role of the designer is to introduce quality that was always there. The self is on the same level as everything else. Everything effects us. Limit the options. Consumers will not always use your products the way you intended them to.

Kierstin de West and Jason McCormick. Ci. Talked about The SHIFT Report: the shift to substainability and the leadership opportunities it presents to design and designers.
Key points: 4 Pillars of Substainability (Personal, Environmental, Spiritual, Social). 4 Barriers (Time, Price, Knowledge, Pressure). 5 Triggers (Locally Produced, Labelling & Packaging, Brand Affiliation, Product Design & Lifecycle, Marketing w/ Integrity i.e. Being Honest)

The rest of our time was spent eating great food, teaching the boys how to navigate the Big Apple (in which they did an amazing job), shopping, and hanging out with friends (including Paul and Peg's old friend from college, Derrick Cruz. Derrick is a web designer and fine artist whose company, Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons, makes beautiful handcrafted "charms".)

* Speaking of rock star, on the flight from La Guardia to Atlanta Drake sat next to Mike Mills of REM and didn't know it until we got off the flight. However, Paul and I did. In case you were wondering what Mr. Mills does during his flight time, he reads the New York Times and watches NASCAR and FOX News. Surprised? Us too.

not suprised at mike mill's perference of in-flight entertainment... you can take the man out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the man... am suprised, however, that he was flying coach... (unless of course, you guys flew first class...)

stinky,
since we had to switch flights due to delays the good folks at Delta moved us to first class. it was delightful.

Our very own rock star, Mr Hendrix did do a great job... You can read a smattering of what people thought at links like this: CORE 77 or this: TORCH IS WICKED. He is, needless to say, garnering more speaking and jurying gigs because of it. Kudos!

If they're going to call the conference "Design & Business", one would think they'd actually talk about the business side of things.

Really, they should just get Shel Perkins up there working his mojo.