All the World's a Stage: From Exclusion to Inclusion

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

• BD Wong, award-winning actor

The lessons that versatile actor BD Wong has learned in order to survive and excel in a vocation fraught with rejection, stereotyping and racism have given him a keen perspective on diversity and empowerment. In this Feature Session, BD will use humor and personal stories to address the issues of racial self-image, race-based rejection and Asian-American parental pressure — and their relationship to his journey as a gay man in the entertainment industry. From struggling with inequity to breaking down barriers in his professional and personal lives, and embracing his multiple identities, including fatherhood, BD will reveal the man behind the roles.

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Alzheimer's: Fighting Back

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Sponsored by wowOwow.com in collaboration with Pfizer, Inc.

• Joni Evans, journalist and publishing legend, CEO of wowOwow.com
  
• Dr. Rachel Schindler, Vice President, Clinical Disease Area Expert in Alzheimer’s disease for Pfizer Inc.
  
• Liz Smith, “the 2,000-year-old gossip columnist”
• Lily Tomlin, award-winning actor and comedian
• Jane Wagner, award-winning actor, writer and director
  

Legendary actor and comedian, Lily Tomlin, Emmy award-winning playwright Jane Wagner, and gossip columnist (aka "Queen of Dish") Liz Smith, join Dr. Rachel Schindler, neurologist and Vice President, Clinical Disease Area Expert in Alzheimer's disease for Pfizer Inc., to have a frank discussion around Alzheimer's disease and discuss the importance of creating a plan to face the disease, which afflicts someone new in the United States every 69 seconds. Joni Evans, CEO of wowOwow.com moderates.

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Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Sponsored by: Walgreens

• Tim Gunn, Chief Creative Officer, Liz Claiborne, Inc.
  

On the runway of life, Tim Gunn is the perfect life coach. He mentors talented designers on the hit television show Project Runway. Now, let him help you design a happy, creative and fulfilling life that will never go out of style. He believes there are no shortcuts to success in careers, relationships and life. This popular speaker on fashion and lifestyle design emphasizes the importance of hard work and down-to-earth guidelines. Texting at the dinner table? Wearing shorts to the theater? Not in Tim's world. Living a well-mannered life of integrity and character is hard work, he admits, but the rewards are many.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spike Lee: In Conversation About the Documentary On the Shoulders of Giants

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Sponsored by: UnitedHealth Group

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, author, filmmaker and NBA legend
• Spike Lee, director, producer and author

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spike Lee – giants in their respective fields – will team up for a compelling on-stage discussion about basketball and the players who forged a path to this professional sport as we know it today. Kareem played for 20 years in the NBA, and is the all-time leader in points scored. As a director of Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and Inside Man, Spike is well-versed in illuminating race relations, urban crime and other political issues. They will discuss Kareem's stunning documentary, On the Shoulders of Giants, which honors a group of nearly forgotten sports pioneers on whose shoulders today's players stand.

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My Generation with Leeza Gibbons

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Leeza Gibbons, former host of AARP's My Generation
  
• Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing champion and TV personality
  

Get a sneak peek of AARP’s Emmy Award-nominated lifestyle TV show, My Generation, with host, Leeza Gibbons. Sit down with Leeza as she talks to boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard about his career and his life’s challenges. Join in on the excitement,  hear the story behind the story and get to know inspiring people profiled on the show.

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Reimagining Your Life

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Sponsored by: UnitedHealth Group

• Chris Gardner, Bestselling author and AARP's Ambassador of Pursuit and Happyness

In his bestselling autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, and the blockbuster movie of the same name starring Will and Jaden Smith, Chris Gardner shared his courageous story of overcoming homelessness and becoming an entrepreneur while remaining a devoted single father to his son. Now the CEO of his own successful business and a speaker traveling the world, Chris will share his path to accomplishment and fulfillment and provide concrete advice for helping you set your own course. Chris will tell you in this inspiring session that YOU can achieve what he has achieved. He will share powerful stories of people who have reimagined their lives and help you begin to reimagine yours. Get inspired. Begin your Pursuit of Happyness with Chris Gardner.

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The Ageless Appeal of Sesame Street

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

• Gary Knell, president and CEO, Sesame Workshop
• Grover

For over four decades Sesame Street has been engaging children, parents, grandparents and caregivers to play and learn together, with the help of some furry friends. Through television, radio, books, online, video games and community outreach, Sesame Workshop is providing a variety of ways to have fun learning letters and numbers and also important health, safety and socio-emotional lessons. Most recently, outreach initiatives have tackled such issues as childhood obesity, economic hardship and military deployment. Gary Knell, president and CEO, along with special guest Grover, will share some of the latest ways Sesame Street is helping children learn and encouraging multigenerational connections and engagement, including a special look at some of the Workshop's newest digital games and apps.