← The Dylan Gemelli Podcast
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast
Episode #60 Featuring Sean Hoess! Creating Eudemonia, The Allure of the Eudemonia Experience, Bringing EVERYONE together, Providing Integrity to conventions, Gathering Epic Speakers and more!
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Foreign.
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Hey everyone, Dylan Gemelli here today with an extremely exciting announcement. I am now on the Manect app as an expert. That is Patrick Bet David's app. So you can hire me today. You can ask me questions about hormones, peptides, neuroscience, cardiology, cellular health, finances, faith, religion, whatever it may be. I am there. You can book me for your podcast and you can also apply to be on mine. But go over, download the Manect app, find Ylan Gemelli. I will answer either by audio, by text, you can get video responses, you could even book a phone call with me. I'm extremely excited to be available to work with all of you and I thank you all for your support. So check me out on Manect today. Today's episode is sponsored by Apollo Neuro. Apollo Neuro is the leading doctor Recommended wearable technology. Apollo's award winning Smart Vibes AI works effortlessly behind the scenes, automatically integrating into your life to deliver gentle personalized vibrations that activate your vagus nerve, helping you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and wake up balanced, focused and ready each day. Not only that, but the Apollo Neuro is the first and only wearable that improves your hr. Apollo is effortless. Simply wear it throughout the day and night and let it do the work for you. It's safe for anyone and everyone with no side effects and is the only wearable that can be worn anywhere on your body. Optimal health requires both the mind and body to be in line and Apollo is the key to establishing that connection. Check the description below to save 90 with my special discount. Take control over your health today with Apollo Neuro. All right everybody, welcome back to the Dylan Gemelli podcast. Now today's an extra exciting episode for me and I'm gonna give my man here a really good intro that he deserves. But I found him at the first ever biohacking convention that I ever went to last year and it turns out that this is of all the ones I've been to, it's my favorite. And that's why I have him here, because I want to talk about it. So we're going to get into that. But first, he is the founder and CEO of the Eudaimonia Summit, which is what I speak of and that is the world's leading gathering of health and wellness experts. And he's also the co founder and CEO of the world's very first wellness festival, which I'm sure many of you have heard of, which is Wanderlust. Now just a quick brief. Wanderlust had combined world class yoga and meditation instruction with outdoor activities Lectures, music and the arts. He launched that in 2009 in California and that grew to 65 annual festivals in over 20 countries. Absolutely amazing attendances of 80,000 plus. Now, when he left Wanderlust, he launched the Health and Wellness Summit that I referred to as Eudaimonia in West Palace, Palm Beach. And that was last year in 2024. There was 2,750 participants in a three day summit. It was a wide range of talks from leaders on the frontiers of wellness. It was amazing. I can tell you firsthand, being there, sitting there and experiencing it. And it's coming back this year. And that's one of the things we want to talk about today, November 13th through 16th, once again in West Palm Beach. My man here has also received his J.D. and his master's degree and his B.A. from Columbia University. So without further ado, I'm happy to call him my friend now. Sean Hess.
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Thanks, Dylan. Wow, that's quite a, quite an intro. I really appreciate it.
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Hey man. Known for my intros. That's, that's all I'm good at.
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So work. You're done. We've done your research.
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I do.
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That used to be so hard to do too. And now of course you can plug in, plug anybody into AI. Not to, not to steal your thunder, of course, but that, that was, yeah, that was very well done.
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I appreciate it man, thank you. You know, I, I take it very serious and I'm, I'm, I'm very honored to have you here. I will tell you, you know, the experience last year was something new to me because I'm used to the bodybuilding, you know, scene and everything and transitioning into this and feeling it and the way that you made it feel and your presentation, because I didn't know who you were when you started talking. Then I put two and two together as things went on. But you spoke very eloquently and I could see the passion and the drive behind what you were doing. And I just. Before we get into everything, I do want to say thank you for what you're doing for the community and putting this on and making it something different. And we'll get into what I mean by that. But it is different. It's a real experience. It's not just a big expo of brands selling a bunch of stuff. You put so much time and effort to this. So thank you first and foremost for what you've done here.
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Well, thank you. It's nice of you to say. I mean, I, I personally, I guess just for me, experience is Always king. It's like it doesn't matter how interesting the subject matter is, doesn't matter how deep your personal passion is. If the, if the event you're going to or attending isn't also fun and exciting, if there are moments of surprise and delayed, if there isn't a community around you, then it's still going to be lousy, even if you love the subject matter. So, you know, for me, I think that's sort of the, you know, I guess to some degree it's sort of like we. We wrap a, I think a kernel of wisdom and knowledge in a very delicious container of, you know, fun and festival and excitement. And that's really the whole goal. It's like, you know, you could think of. It's the. The pill approach, the sugar pill.
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Right?
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It's like there's. In the video, there's a lot of knowledge, except for that's not really a bad thing. But, you know, the knowledge sometimes is, you know, there's like, there's sweat involved, there's learning involved in all those things. But, you know, I think what it really needs to be first and foremost, just a lot of fun. So that's what we're trying to achieve.
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Well, you definitely got off on the right foot last year, and I literally cannot wait for the one this year. I'm counting down the days and you know, the, the. The group that you've put together and the amount of different types of people that just don't speak that often throughout the year, it's. It's truly a testament to what you are doing there and having that capability. It's. It's one of a kind and that something that I want to convey to everybody as we get into it. But you know, let me before, because we're going to focus a ton on that. But I'm curious, you know, you. You started with Wanderlust, huge success, started from nothing. What, what inspired you to. To start there and then has driven you into the direction you've gone?
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Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think it was a very gradual process for, for me, I mean, I really started before Wanderlust. My first real startup was actually a music company that I founded with Jeff Krasna, who became my partner in Wanderlust and also symboled in Eudaimonia. Jeff. Jeff and I were musicians and really excited and, you know, sort of be part of that, you know, late 90s music scene that was burgeoning in New York and I basically quit my law job and he opened A recording studio that we worked on together and we ended up sort of starting in music. And so. So, you know, I suppose from that really came not so much the wellness because it definitely wasn't, it wasn't a lifestyle that was steeped in wellness, like 3am Clubs with lots of drinks. But, but you know, what I did learn from that was just, you know, I think, you know, the importance of, you know, I suppose entertainment and community because I mean the band scene that we were in were, you know, these were touring bands, bands that, you know, really built their, their careers on live events which is gathering people and gathering people around a shared passion for, in this case, a band. But I suppose that was the first thing that kind of led to this. And then, you know, the rest of it is a little bit of, you know, sometimes I think of life. I mean, we all tend to pat ourselves on the back. I do it all the time too, like how much wiser we've gotten with age. And like, oh, now I know that I shouldn't be out until 4am having six drinks. Well, the thing is a lot of it is just your body and age tells you that, right? It's not actually that you got any wiser at all. It's just you literally can't do it. You feel like crap. And so, you know, for me, I got into my, I started my first, my record label and artist management company with Jeff that was in, you know, 1999. So I was already 29 at the start of that, you know, got into my mid-30s that, that label ran for 10 years plus. And so, you know, I started getting into my 40s and then, you know, as that was happening, a bunch of other things are happening. Jeff's wife Skyler was deep. She became a founding member of Wanderlust as well. She was really deep, became an extremely accomplished yogi and yoga teacher, opened a studio right above our record label offices. So personal interest, kind of cross pollinating with availability and just the scene of wellness. And you know, for me it was sort of a natural thing because the other thing that I was watching was like all of these music festivals that were being founded in the early 2000s, mid 2000, Bonnaroo, you know, there was a lot of other ones that we were going to in the context of music. And you know, the backstage VIP scene was great, but I never wanted to be in the front of a house. It was like packed and crushed and you're treated kind of like an animal and it was muddy and dirty and some 18 year old was peeking on your shoes and like, basically, you know, I didn't want that experience anymore. And so, you know, really Wanderlust was kind of an amalgamation of all of that. The need to build community around passion points, identifying a passion point and people that burgeoning wellness scene in the, you know, 2009, 2000s, like 10, 2000s. And then the need for an experience that was elevated in a mass participation gathering, like being in nature. No fences, just an open, beautiful canvas to celebrate with. And yeah, we threw all that together and that's sort of what led to Wanderlust. And you know, I'd say that in some ways, you know, Eudaimonia is a evolution of that. I would say the big distinguishing factors of Eudaimonia is really just that there's obviously a bigger canvas of experts and talent speakers. You know, we didn't have speakers of the caliber that we do here. The, the big headliners at, at, at, at Wanderlust were, you know, yoga teachers and musicians. And here it's really like your Huberman and your Hyman and you know, Halle Berry and people that are, you know, much more, I suppose, celebrity and media figures. But the other one is really just, I think, a much more of an emphasis on science and evidence as a, as a kind of tool for talking about the truth. And obviously, you know, science and evidence in human health is something that there will always be debates, there are always contradictory studies. I don't think it's like science in, even in physics, not that that's either perfectly determined either. But the point is that it's not, it's not an exact science, human health. And I think in some ways, you know, we're trying to reflect that while having intelligent conversations based around what people know. So, you know, there's a lot more focus on that at Eudaimonia. And I think that's also just where culture has gone. Like wellness culture started, I think came very much in that early phase, was coming very much out of a lot of eastern practices, a lot of, you know, traditional medicine, a lot of, you know, stuff that many, much of which has turned out to be evidentiarily supported by science, and some of it hasn't been. And so now there's like a more of a focus on, like what are the practices that not only have a rich cultural tradition or, you know, it's called ancient wisdom, but also are proven to work. And so that's, that's sort of where we're trying to, to sit anyway. That was a long winded Answer. But that's the best I can do.
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No, no, no, that's what I need. That's what I want to hear. I want to convey this to people and I want them to understand the mind behind the product. And you know, it's always important to understand the why people don't, don't always get to see all of that or understand it. And I think it's very important to understand and know that and see where everything's coming from. So I, I've got several things that I would like to dig into about this. How difficult is it to piece something like this together and put it together, Explain how much effort and like not only money, but thinking, thought process, structural. This all has to come together to, to really flow together. And especially when you're doing it over a several day period, that cannot be easy. That has to be well thought out. So obviously a testament to you and the people that you have surrounded yourself with on your team, but just kind of get into what exactly goes into this and what it takes to put this together.
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Yeah, well, that's a good question. Also I would say that a lot. I mean, I wouldn't want to have just started this and had to produce something of the scale of Eudaimonia if this were my first event. I mean, it's over. You know, I've done over a hundred wellness festivals with Wanderlust over the years. And so, you know, there's been a lot of practice. But some of the things that, I mean, listen, we've chosen a very particular kind of experience, right? It's like it's as big of a wellness conference as you will find anywhere. In terms of me. We have 40 stages. I was just looking at this the other day. I mean, I counted them up. There's 40 stages ranging from small, you know, wellness or, or let's call it movement stages to you know, 2,000 person, you know, main stage. And each one of these things at any given moment, 15 or 20 of them are operating simultaneously. And so, you know, you're wandering around, wandering into this experience or into that experience. And, and, and you know, there's just such a amount of richness and sort of what it takes I think is, you know, it's two things. I mean there's, there's like the incredible team I have and it's like all sorts of different kinds of people. My wife does a lot of the programming of talent and she's just amazing in terms of networking and bringing together different people who, who are in some ways in conversation Greater than the sum of their parts, which is, which is an art form. And then there's the production side of it, which is, you know, the sound, the stage, the lights, the access, the systems, the scheduler that allows you to schedule this advance the capacity tracking so that each little venue isn't over subscribed. Because we didn't want an experience where you've got to run to the next venue to make sure you get in before the line gets in. Because otherwise you're not going to get your. That's not a wellness experience. That's not going to be fun.
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No.
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So we try to design it where, you know, we take the stress away. We probably add a little stress in the front end because you have to schedule your sessions in advance. But that means that by the time you get there, you know what you want to do. You're still free to change, but you're, you're, you know where you're going to go. You know, your spot's guaranteed and you can really take advantage of this entire canvas of, of what we put together. But yeah, I mean, you know, we swell from, I don't know, I mean a full time staff of about nine people to, you know, several hundred people to produce the event, plus another 100 or 200, actually 200 volunteers. So there's like 400 people that are engaged in producing the thing when it's actually on site during the, the three days. So it is quite a, it's a. It' circus quite, quite literally to put it all together, man.
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But it's so fun and to be able to go and see so many different people speak. And I personally love the ability to set it up and schedule it. I think that's tremendous. I wish they all did that. I understand that you, you know, with the amount of speakers that you have and the types of speakers, it's really important. But it's nice to have that structure and to know where you're going. And the whole setup is so precise. I mean, the precision that you do everything with is, is something else. You know, like I was talking about before. It's, it's not just a convention. It's the experience, it's the setting, it's the tranquility, it's the comfort. I was kind of talking to you off camera that I just kind of needed a nice little reset for this. It doesn't seem to me some of the conventions I go to, it's such a hustle of networking and it's, you know, it's, it's not Even fun almost to a point. And you almost get lost in the. All of the different people selling everything and the pressures here to be here and to be there, and you kind of lose the whole point in being there. And, you know, why do you feel that yours is so different and how it's set apart?
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Yeah, I mean, that's, I think, a function of a few things. One is that I think that inherent to a wellness, you know, for lack of a better word, whether you want to call it wellness or biohacking or whatever you want to call it a health conference, it's all those things, I think inherent to that is a little bit of self selection. So people who come tend to be on a path. They're looking to heal, they're looking to improve their lives or be sharper. They have loved ones who maybe are sick and they're looking to better take care of them. There's a lot of goals, all of which I think are just kind of inherently positive. Right. You're starting from a place where people are seeking a positive thing, a personal transformation or helping someone else. And, and so that's, that's, that's one thing. And I think that just means that the audience that comes is in some ways, you know, already primed to be human and to be kind. And so that, that shines through, I think. And that's not something I do. I think it's inherent to the, to the, to the, to the type of person who wants to come. I think beyond that, it's like I, I've always felt really strongly. I mean, the thing that Even in my 20s, that used to bum me out about, you know, the classic music festival model was that there was kind of no way to get away. You were there and you're kind of jammed in with all these people and there's loud noise everywhere until three in the morning. And like, you never had these moments where you could go into this quiet area and decompress or you could wander away from the crowd and be alone. I mean, maybe I'm too much of an introvert. So you're, you're learning more, maybe, but that, that's true, you know, and so, you know, we very consciously curate Eudaimonia so that, yeah, sure, there's some really peak high experience moments in this comedy. And it's art and there's like fun stuff and there's like lectures of people, like, amped up. But there's also, you know, the sound bathroom and the meditation class and, you know, these moments where you can really get away and escape. And I think, you know, we try to curate both, so I think that that's representative of the human condition. I don't think anyone can be all hype all the time. At least I certainly can't be. And. And I think that's true with. With everyone else, too.
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So.
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Yeah, I mean, I think it's a mixture of those things. Yeah, yeah.
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I think it's important to convey, like you've said multiple times, it's a wellness convention, and it's a time to be well, to get well, to learn how to be well. And I think that if people get that message conveyed to them more and they don't feel like it's just this big auditorium of people trying to hawk them and sell them the whole time. I love the brands. I love going and talking to them and seeing new things, but I also. Sometimes it can be a little too much, and it seems like it's more of a marketplace than an actual place to go to learn and to. To get yourself better, to learn how to heal yourself and different concepts and ideologies that people have. And I think that that seems to me to be one of the main goals of eudaimonia. And that's what I would like to ask you. What is your goal with this? I mean, why. Why do you do this and put so much of your time and effort into it? What do you ultimately want to accomplish here?
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Yeah, a few different things. One thing for sure is that, I mean, like every American, I mean, this is where I do align with the Maha movement, for lack of a better word, is like. Like every American. I've just been watching the rise of, you know, obesity and the resulting diseases, you know, diabetes, and you can go down the list. And I've been watching this happen in my lifetime very much because it's actually. I mean, I'm 55, and, you know, when I was a kid, if you look around at the statistics, I think obesity was at about 16 or maybe 20%, something like that. And now it's at 41%, or at least was right before they had. Which is a pharmaceutical solution. Again, I'm not actually even critical, but I'm just saying it's a pharmaceutical. So to. To a problem that was very clearly you know, the result of some sort of external factors. Human biology didn't suddenly change from 1970 to 1990. So obviously, obviously something changed, you know, in. Right. In the diet or in our exercise, in our lifestyle. There's many, many factors. So. So, you know, I want to be part of the solution to that. That's absolutely. But then you get into the how. And, you know, there's a lot of people that have, you know, I think a lot of public health experts that kind of have thrown their hands up. And one of the reasons they throw their hands up and say, well, zempic is a godsend, is because, as an example, you know, they've tried so many different interventions to get people to eat better, to get people to lose weight, and guess what? It doesn't work. One can have a million. You know, there are a million reasons why it doesn't work. But one thing that I actually firmly believe does work is, you know, empowering individuals to, you know, and by that word, empowering is the key word. It's empowering individuals. And that's like, starts with knowledge, and it starts with community. There's two things, like, you have to know what you want to change, and then you need to be in a supportive community of people that actually support that change. And it's very hard to do alone. There's a million studies that show that. So. So the question. So for me, I'm trying to address both. It's like, okay, we are gathering a wide range of diverse experts. They don't all even agree with each other, but. But they are people who, you know, have strong voices and some of whom will definitely resonate with you as an individual, some of whom will have practices that will be helpful to you. Then we're bringing together people who are, in themselves, you know, kind, supportive people. You're going to make relationships, you're going to have friendships, you're going to find that buddy to go running with or whatever it is. And, you know, those are the little steps that people take, I think, to effect real change in their lives. And, you know, I think that that's where a lot of the solution lies. I also think we need reform of Big Food, and I also think we need to, you know, exercise more as a country. And like, you know, I think there's many things that are part of the solution, but I guess one small part of the solution for me is empowering individuals to feel like they can make a difference and they can actually make a change in their health and have positive outcomes. And then to do that in the context of a community which is supportive and shares those goals, and I think that's what really makes these good habits stick. So I guess, you know, that's sort of what I'm hoping to achieve here.
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So who would you say that Eudaimonia is for. Like, is there a. Because some people, they get, they get scared when they hear the word biohacking or even wellness. I, I think that it gets in people's heads and they think maybe it's not for them. Who is this for?
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Well, anyone who's alive. I, I, like, I'm just teasing. Still alive. If you're still alive, that's pretty good for you. No, I mean, I, I honestly think that this is the thing. Like, we're not a biohacking conference. We're not a conventional medicine conference. We're not, you know, a OG wellness conference. What we really are is I am trying to find practices and protocols and tools that work. And not every tool and not every protocol is going to work for every person. We're a bio individual. We all have different things that resonate with our bodies and our. I mean, there's so many different factors, right? There's, there's, there's habits that might be easy for you to adopt that are very hard for me to adopt. I mean, there's so many different factors that go into this. And so the way I think to get people to find things that work is for them to be exposed to a lot of different options, all of which will fall on the spectrum of generally being good for your health or your mental health or for weight loss or for whatever condition it is that you're trying to address. And so, you know, I think that's, that's, that's how I see it.
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Anyway, so what I find, you know, being particularly here and one of the things is the speakers that you have and the amount of information. A lot of these people, you know, they charge a lot to speak and to do and, you know, they have courses that you have to pay for. And you're, when you go to these things, you're getting all of that information in a, in a large setting there. I mean, that's just part of what you're doing. It's free of charge. It's the ability to learn, but also the groups of people to engage with one another once it's over to go.
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Did you hear that?
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Or. You know what I mean? Like what I found when I was there and, and the Loins Web chat.
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Yeah. After the event. Yeah, totally.
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Yes. You build all of that and you build more of a community. And when I say that, I mean it's like this ability for people to find common ground. Like, we're working together on our health. And it, it, it almost, it alleviates some of the everyday friction that has been put out there so often. And when you start talking about, wow, this, this diet concept, or, wow, you know, this concept that Huberman threw out, or, you know, there's a lot of neuroscience things I'd never heard about. And even last year, you and I joked, like the whole GLP1 debate. Yeah, I got a little fiery. But you know what? I actually learned a ton in that moment. And I paid more attention because it was so fiery. So, you know, hearing these, like, even disagreements and being able to hear both sides, and then it kind of makes you think, wow, you know, I thought one thing. Maybe I should go look at what so and so said and, and take a different look. And it gives you the ability to have different perspectives from people that are considered geniuses and professionals in what they're doing.
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A
Yeah, well, that's another thing I didn't really touch on, you know, before, but I. I mean, I guess the larger picture of why American health doesn't improve. One other belief I have is that it's also because the same reason a lot of things are not improving unrelated to health in America, which is that we are paralyzed by tribalism in this country left and right. And, you know, and, And I think that, you know, if you could step back from the tribal belonging, and of course it's extremely human and natural to want to belong to our tribe, we'd all, you know, we wouldn't have made it out of the Stone Age if we didn't have tribes as a species. So it's not. It's not to knock that, but it's to say where. Where that becomes so. So ideologically charged that you're no longer able to consider good ideas from the other side. You know, I think that's really to the detriment of everyone. And so, you know, I've watched that to some degree in health as well, and it's honestly a trend that I really hope that Eudaimonia can play some role in reversing.
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We.
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Human health is perhaps the one thing that is, you know, truly shared in common for everyone who is still indeed alive. And, you know, and the need to. To. To preserve that experience and to make life as. As meaningful and as rich and as long as possible. And. And so there should be no politics to it, but obviously there is, and there's an incredible amount. And, and, you know, that's just because we're human. And so the question is, can we have meaningful discussions and take good ideas from people we don't otherwise agree with? Because there are lots of good ideas in Maha and there are lots of reasons why you might criticize Maha. And like, the point is like both can be true and we can have a dialogue and see if we can agree on the things that we hold in common and move the country forward that way. And so I, I hope that, I hope that there's some small element to which Eudaimonia plays a positive role in that as well, which is, I guess, kind of healing some of the divisions of society in general. I'm not a fan of what's going on in the country in general. I mean, just that I feel that, you know, it's very difficult to see progress happen because usually there's just massive resistance by tribe on any issue you can pick in this country. And it's just like you can't find a middle ground and move forward. And that to me is very disappointing. So hopefully, hopefully there can be some positive outcome from, from this as well.
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B
I could not agree with you more. And look, real health, real wellness doesn't have a political side. You, you know, and, and I, I think that it is so important to leave that trash at the door and just realize that we all need each other to stay healthy, to help each other, to learn from each other. It's a constant group effort. Dude. I got some beliefs about some things just like you do. And you might have completely different ones and I could care less because I care about you. Like what you have in your heart, what you're teaching, what you're conveying and what your mission is. And if you got a great mission, I can get on board. You know what I mean? We don't have to have, you know, the same basketball team or the same like, of foods. I don't give a. I care about you.
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A
Yeah, totally. Well, I think that's really the, I mean, and that's the point of the in person gathering, right? Like, I think it's easy over the Internet to sling hate around over text message or whatever it is because it's like it's faceless and it's anonymous and you don't hear the human story behind the person. You don't know what's motivating them. Why are they angry and upset? Why are they triggered by what I just said? You don't know any of that. And context matters and human interaction matters. And again, that's why like we've always remembered, resisted this being, you know, streamed or a virtual version. Like we don't want that. It's not because we're trying to extract money from people. It's actually would be probably profitable to put it online. It's actually. It's actually just that I don't think you get the value. And the value is not just the ideas and the information. The value is the interaction. And you don't have that in. In the online version.
- [30:14]
B
And, you know, it's. It's. It's everything. When you see somebody talking in person, you really feel what they're saying there. And. And you have that experience live. It hits way different because you can really feel what they're saying, what they're conveying, and it's just more engaging and real. I mean, not that it's. I mean, this is great what we're like, what we're doing here. We got to do what we got to do. But when you got that amount of people together with those kind of speakers making that kind of impact, man, that stuff resonates forever. And that's what's so important about these conferences and what you're doing and the speakers and the groups, because it just. It brings all of that together that we're missing. And I think that that's part of what is important about this. It's. It's just a whole combination of everything. And, you know, I think that you've really put that together well now. Why Palm Beach? What. What is the. Because I find it. You know, I know. I think I know why. But you tell us why.
- [31:14]
A
Yeah, well, I mean, it's a mixture of things. There's a little bit of luck, which I suppose, or just happenstance, which is that I. I had long had a relationship with the good folks who run Discover the Palm Beaches, which is the tourism group for Palm Beach County. And, you know, their mission is to basically drive really interesting, cool events to. And that. That attract visitorship to the county. And I've had a good relationship with them, going all the way back to my. My wanderlust days. And they were always very interested in. In collaborating on a health and wellness event. So that was part of it. But, you know, once I arrived there, I would say that, you know, I've gone. I used to go to south by Southwest in Austin a long time ago. I go to, you know, Jazz Fest and nola, and I've sort of been to these kind of events that you could think of as takeovers of a city, for lack of a better word. I mean, stuff, by stuff really just takes over downtown Austin. And obviously, Jazz Fest does the same in New Orleans. And I. And I. And it's really interesting because you can see, first of all, how transformational they are. But. But also, you know, there's this sense of, like, what's the city like before and after? And I've been feeling like there's a change of foot in West Palm beach, which is sort of hard to describe, but there's a energy, there's a whole youth culture, people who are very passionate about health and wellness. There's a whole entrepreneurial culture coming in. There's related and a lot of big money, you know, developers and, or, you know, hedge funds on the other side of it thing who have come and made it their headquarters. And there's this weird thing about the city, which is that it's got all these empty lots and all these areas that are still not built like the rest of Florida, which is like, you know, just building, building, building everywhere you go. And there's this sense that it's sort of like waiting to happen. There's an energy to it. And I. And I really do feel like, you know, it's the. As a town and community, West Palm beach is going to grow into a really, you know, special place over the next 10 or 20 years. And there's a lot of people who have a very, very, you know, large vested interest in seeing that happen. And I think, you know, other things, super interesting, Cleveland clinics moving. There's obviously all the major, you know, hospitals and sort of of traditional medicine, you know, purveyors are. Are opening there. And there's a huge, you know, culture on that side growing, too. So I think. I think just over time, West Palm beach is going to become quite an interesting place. And, you know, for us being a relatively blank canvas, I think it allows us to grow into the downtown area. One of the visions I have for the event long term is that not that it's just at the. The current location, but that it begins to, you know, almost south by Southwest style, become like a wellness takeover, for lack of a better word, for the entire city. And the whole downtown area has tons of open area and outdoor areas and other hotels and other things going on where you could expand the footprint. So that's where we would like to also go and sort of create this palpable sense that you've walked into Wellness Mecca and you are here for a week and this is what you're here to do. And I think that again, you know, just expanding the power of community by bringing more community together. That's. That's a lot of the goal there. So final thing is, you know, the airport is Six minutes from the door, the Bright Line train stops and you can walk to the convention center in five minutes. And that's connecting, you know, Miami and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando to West Palm Beach. So there's, like all these other little, you know, technical reasons why it's great. So, yeah, I could go on, but I think it's. I think it's a great home for us, and I'm excited to grow there.
- [34:48]
B
Well, I can tell you right now, I'm not complaining about going to Palm beach in November.
- [34:52]
A
I don't. There's no way.
- [34:55]
B
Hell, I'm complaining about that.
- [34:57]
A
Yeah, it's not bad either.
- [34:59]
B
No, it's. It. It's really a tranquil area. It's very beautiful. It's not too wild or crazy. It's not, like, overpopulated. It's a. It's. And I just asked because I find it to be. I don't know, man. It's just a really comforting area too. It. It feels like it fits the mold perfectly, like it just kind of aligns. And I feel like that that's part of what makes it such a cool event is it's just everything comes together and. And it's. It's an impactful part of, you know, every year now, and I hope it continues. And I. I want to continue to help you. I. I want to talk to you about the speakers that you've put together for this, because last year was very impressive and I was newer. Yeah, newer to the scene. And. And I comprehend now what I experienced last year, but this year is even bigger. Now, let's talk about a couple things, and one is kind of the selection process, and then I'll expound upon that. But let's talk about the selection process first, and then we'll kind of get into the difficulty of getting all of these people to come together.
- [36:03]
A
I guess here at first, there's an opportunity to win points by. With my wife, by saying how amazing she is, because she is pretty amazing. She has. She is the lead programmer of the event. I get involved in some. Some capacity in some ways, and we also bring some talent in through our partners and our. And our sponsors. So there's a sort of mix of ways will come in, but I would say probably 85 or 90% are. You know, we reach out to them and, you know, basically pitch them on why we believe they should be speaking at Eudaimonia. And so that's, you know, it's an art form. And particularly last year when no one had heard of us, you Know, I think it, it was, it was a lot of work. I put a lot of work into it. Karina put an incredible amount of work into it. I mean we're talking about, you know, it's like hundreds of phone calls, outreaches, letters, you know, connections. Oh, you know, ritual. Great, can I talk to your friend who knows ritual? And you know, we just sort of go through the, go through the network to get there. But you know, that's the, the connections and sort of building trust to get these folks to be willing to come. And then I'd say beyond that it's like, then there's a whole separate set of like the programming itself. Like what are they speaking about? What are we, you know, asking Hebrew to speak about? And what, you know, when you have somebody who's like a celebrity, like Halle Berry, why is she there? And what, what is, how is her voice relevant and interesting to people in the health and wellness context? So you know, that is another whole massive thing. We have a team of Karina and a couple other people, but really it was Karina and her, her colleague Emily who put a lot of that stuff together. And then of course we solicit feedback from the talent. So it's a multi step process, is the booking process, there's the programming process. You know, this year I would say we were least, you know, when we would reach out. Most people at least would have heard of Eudaimonia at this point. So that makes it a little bit easier than, than being literally a random event in West Palm Beach. But still, you know, obviously everybody, all these people are really busy and, and the question is like why do they want to be here? And you know, I think what we're hoping to do is really, you know, I, I think the, the key thing is in contrast, and I don't, there's, I have no bad things to say about any wellness conference. And I think they're all performing in a important role. But I mean, one of the things we've tried very hard to do is to make sure that we represent integrity on our stages. We do have three stages where we allow commercial talks and you know, product pitches, which I think by the way are very valuable and very informative. But we, we do that on three stages. All the other stages, you know, we're asking people to present information. I don't care if you're connected to a brand, that's great. But you need to be presenting pure information, not, not sales pitches. And that's always a gray line. And I know everyone walks it but, but that if you kind of take a step back, a lot of conferences depend, you know, for getting their talent, on the talent's ability to pitch their products. And that's how this works in a lot of ways. And so, you know, we pay our talent and we do that because we also want to ensure that we have the ability to say, yeah, we're paying you and we're going to cover your costs and we're going to put you up, but you're going to present as an expert, not as a representative out there to sell a product. And so I, I do think that makes a difference and I think that over time people will respect that. And you know, that's always a lofty goal. Obviously at any given moment, you know, somebody might break the rules and you know, our only recourse is really to not invite them back. But I mean, I think over time the goal is to establish that, you know, we're not here, at least with our, the vast majority of our stages. You know, you're not going there to be sold to, you're going there to be hopefully informed and also to interact like Q&As are really important and answering questions from the audience because, you know, it shouldn't be a one way deposit of information. We're trying to really create a dialogue also between attendee and speaker.
- [39:59]
B
And that was music to my ears and that's what I wanted to get out of you was how that whole process went. Because there is nothing more like bothersome and irritating when these people will get up there and instead of helping people and conveying the information that they're blessed to have, they just want to go up there and do everything to point right back to what they're selling. I, I mean you can do that on ads, on Instagram. That's what social media is for, man. That's not what the stage at a convention is for.
- [40:28]
A
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I also think that, you know, listen, I mean, I'm, it's very interesting, this whole conversation between, you know, commerce and, and integrity and science and products and health and wellness products because I mean the vast majority of the people who are selling a supplement or whatever, they really believe that the supplement is helping people. So it's not like I don't think there's many, I actually don't believe there are many charlatans like true people who know they're selling snake oil and do it anyway. Like, I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is that, that there's a more subtle thing. And it's the same subtle thing that often gets, you know, big pharma gets critiqued for. It's like we, we had talked about this once, but I think it's worth just raising again is just that, you know, people say, oh well, you know, big pharma's incentives to, you know, treat, you know, conditions that are chronic and therefore you take a drug for life and they're not there to cure you, they're there to get you to take the drug forever to maintain a condition without curing you. And I think that's all true. And then they're financing studies. And which studies do they finance? Well, they finance the ones where the most lucrative drugs can be happened, in other words, chronic conditions. And their incentive is to keep you on this treadmill. Okay, fine, that's actually a valid criticism. But now apply that same logic to the wellness influencer standing on your stage, you know, talking about a supplement that, oh wait, you have to take it every day forever to maintain the benefits of the supplement. And you know, when you look at it, it's actually in the same category. And again, I don't think either of those groups are necessarily acting maliciously or in bad for bad faith or bad motives. All both of them. I believe actually fundamentally the vast majority of people involved in both big pharma and in the wellness industry want to help people and want to make them healthier and make them live better lives. But there is an incentive for certain kinds of behavior. And I think that that incentive we just have to be aware and recognize. Recognize it. And, and you know, if we're aware of it, we're recognizing maybe there's a little bit of skepticism that we all have to apply all to all claims in both wellness and in conventional medicine, at least with respect to products that are being sold to you. You know, I think that's good and that's healthy and we should have that skepticism. But anyway, I, I guess I don't want to create it. Like I just, this is where I sort of depart. I try to be very non conspiratorial in my thinking. And I just, I don't believe that there's a large conspiracy against this, but I do believe the incentives are set so that it skews towards sort of non optimal outcomes sometimes. But I want to be aware of that in wellness too, because I'm probably seen more as a member of the wellness industry than I am as seen as obviously the member of the conventional medicine industry or certainly big pharma And I think it's really important that we behave with integrity and that we represent, you know, the best evidence, you know, evidence based claims that are made for the, the, the products that we're recommending to people.
- [43:22]
B
Well, if I want an infomercial, man, I'm going to stay up till three or four in the morning and wait and watch it then. I don't want to do it at a convention. I want, I. You know what I mean?
- [43:29]
A
Like I want, yeah.
- [43:32]
B
And go to those particular things to really dial in knowledge and things I'm missing and piece it together. And you know, it's, it's one thing though, if you get somebody up there that's, you know, explaining their whole life's work and that's why I developed this product and leaves it at that. Okay, cool. That, that's, that's good because then I know, you know, but leave it at the door and focus on what's needed because you, like I said, you've got your social media, you've got every, you've got platforms everywhere to sell things. All of these people are big names. I mean your lineup, I mean Halle Berry alone, that's a huge deal. And score it. And what I like about that, it's not so much the celebrity name, it's the fact that somebody that is well known is taking the time to come here and speak on health and wellness. That's what I'm excited person, you know, it's the Voice.
- [44:21]
A
Yeah, it's like, I mean also there are, you know, we've, it's funny, I used to do this at Wanderlust. We would, you know, when we look for our musical headliners, we are always looking for people that had a demonstrated interest in health and wellness in some ways because that would align them. I mean one classic example was Moby who DJed our, our events a number of times. But the guy's like passionate about neuroscience. He's a meditator, he's a vegan. He's like so deep in this stuff. And he gave two lectures at Wanderlust during the day, you know, talking to people about veganism and one another one where he talked about music and the effects of music on the neurobiology of the brink. I mean really interesting stuff. Right. But that's Moby and then it. Moby at night is like on decks, you know, people jumping up and down. And I think and, and, and, and I think, you know, in some ways Halle Berry is a good example of that in as applies to speakers. I mean she's obviously celebrity, but she's passionate about starting a whole company on, you know, women's menopausal and post menopausal health and hormonal health. And she's become an expert in that. She's partnering, you know, with a number of companies to, to really educate, you know, people on menopause and how to, how to live through it in a, in a, in a better way. Excuse me, I had a. I realized that my phone is not on. Silence. Sorry for ruining that, but. No, you're fine. Anyway, so that is, you know, I think. Let me just cancel this. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, that's really the goal is to find people who are. To find people who have, you know, a personal. If you're a celebrity, you're on a stage is not because you're a celebrity, you're on your stage because you're a celebrity with something really important to convey. And so, you know, in Hallie's case, that's, that's clear. She's. She's a passionate advocate for, for, for, you know, hormonal therapy and, and, and educator on menopause. I think, you know, we've looked at a lot of other people that I don't want to disclose now, but I mean, there's a lot of conversations with, you know, professional athletes and other folks who have a story to tell. And maybe that's a recovery from injury or maybe that's a, you know, maybe that's. They've managed to extend their career for longer than anyone else has in history because of certain, you know, wellness optimizations or diet or other things. I mean, there's so many interesting stories to mind from people who are celebrities, but who have achieved something specific in health and wellness. And so as time goes on, we're hoping to bring more, more of those voices into the event.
- [46:47]
B
And I think that's important in, you know, I personally have always been more on the side of the fitness side, the nutrition side, and more recently because I had partnered with Timeline for now, for a year because of my desire to learn about the cellular side of things in the mitochondria side. So that's been my area. But recently I've really started to focus on the neuroside and the neuroscience, the mind body connection. And that's. Actually, I'm coming with Dr. Dave Rabin to, to the conference there because I'm working with them. And well, I mean, he's my new partner now for many years. So I mean, I'm vested in neuroscience. My whole thing now is putting that, piecing it together. I went and enrolled in Arizona State to study neuroscience. But my point is, is that these places we are able to learn the connection and put it together at a conference like yours. And that is so important because there's so many facets and areas of wellness that I think people lose sight of. I mean, even myself that's been doing this for 20 years that I, it's so. So called expert. Not really, because I never. You're only. The only way that I find myself to be an expert is because I understand what I don't know and I surround myself with the people that do. And that's what makes me an expert because I'm smart enough to know that and I pray that people do that. And that's why they come to these. Because you have the ability to learn from so many of the best and brightest people around the world. And if you come in there with that mindset, I mean it's like limitless on what you could obtain from a conference like this with the people that you've put together. And so I want to convey that to people that this, this time it's, it, yes, it's supposed to be fun and you're supposed to talk and network, but you're supposed to like come here to really piece your life together, right?
- [48:36]
A
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think one of the great things about the event is that, you know, the talent tend to, I call them talent to speakers, whatever you want to call it, like, they tend to be very, very accessible because it's again, that group, there's a vibe in the audience and there's a vibe in, in the air where you know, that people are, you know, they're not going to mob you and they're not going to be disrespectful and they're going to come up and ask you, you know, interesting and meaningful questions about, you know, what you recommend and what you have learned as an expert in XYZ field. And so, you know, what you see is a crazy amount of, you know, conversation in the halls at the event. And I love that part. You know, it's like casually you're having dinner and oh, there's, you know, whatever a doctor sitting next to you that was speaking earlier on some topic, you know, it's Chris Palmer right there and you ask him a question. And like the point is that, that, that that type of interaction I think is, is really awesome. The other thing that, that I think is really cool is that, you know, we do, we have you know, we have master meditators and you know, lifelong yoga teachers that are just in attendance. We have tons of medical doctors who just come and attend. They're not speakers, but so at any given moment, you know, the attendee you're talking to might be, you know, like, as I said, it might be a meditation master, you know, qigong master, or they might be, you know, a medical doctor and you never know. And so there's all of that, you know, sort of interchange of ideas and information that can then can cross pollinate, which I just think is super cool, honestly. And, and I agree with what you said. I mean, I see myself in the same way. I'm a, I'm a, you know, I'm a jack of all trades and a producer primarily of events. I'm not a medical expert. I pick up what I can learn from the people that are around me. And I think the key for me is to just know enough to know who the real experts are and be able to apply filters to make sure that we're bringing really quality people to the event. But yeah, that's, yeah, know your place, right?
- [50:30]
B
Always, man, that's, it's the best that I could ever offer to somebody is to be as well rounded and versatile in your knowledge base as you possibly can. And you can only do that by listening and learning from the best in their specified fields and, and then culminating it all together into one. And I think that's what's so important about these events is you actually have the ability to do that and that's what you're providing.
- [50:54]
A
We're honored to, we're honored to have that many people there. I think the, the next thing to do is to like, figure out a little bit about, we're trying to think a little bit about how even though we want you to only have access to the media if you were there, we're trying to figure out how to, to maybe ingest, for instance, ingest all the videos and all the transcripts into AI and make that a kind of searchable knowledge base that we can give to attendees. You can't obviously attend every session while you're there because there's a lot going on at the same time. And so it's a way to do that. So there's a lot of things we're thinking about like that too, where it's sort of can become, a, become a valuable tool for attendees to, to dive into after the event as well. But yeah, no, I, I, I love that part too. It's like sometimes my Partner. My partner Jeff used to always say it's like, talk about, you know, the best moments happening in the spaces in between. In other words, you spend all this time programming for your headliner, and there's Huberman's talks or, you know, wanderlust days, there's Moby's performance, but it was actually the 15 minutes before Moby took the stage where the most meaningful interactions would sometimes take place. And I think that that's very much the case here.
- [52:01]
B
That's my only criticism, man, is I was trying to go through and schedule everything, and I'm like, okay, cool, lock that in. And like, okay. Oh, like, wait, wait a minute. Like, what am I going to do here? How am I going to get a vote? That's the only problem I had is I, I ran into that a couple times. So that would be, that would be nice because I understand your hesitation about just throwing it out to the public. So I do. I see both sides of it. But it would be awesome if, like, we had the capability when we were there to see what we missed, too. But, you know, you. I think we're all, you know, so.
- [52:29]
A
My, My, My head of content, Rob. Rob Coro, is just absolutely passionate about finding a AI solution. We're, we're recording this year, we're really recording every single talk and lecture, at least audio, but probably with video. And we'll be able to ingest that into some system, I think, to allow for people to, you know, query. Our. Our hope is that it's actually like a queryable AI product, like where basically all that gets ingested and then maybe the AI pulls from additional sources related to the speakers, but you, you end up with something that's actually fairly comprehensive. So that would be really cool. And it's fun to play around with some of these new technology tools.
- [53:06]
B
Well, I know we're getting low on time. Why don't you do this? Why don't you kind of give a short little rundown of what people can expect when they come? Like just an idea of what the day is going to look like there?
- [53:16]
A
Yeah, sure. It is kind of hard to imagine sometimes. I think our website doesn't always do the best job, but it's, it's a, It's a complicated thing. I mean, I, I always think of it in the arc of a day. So, you know, what happens is you wake up in the morning, maybe there's like a sunrise meditation or a beach run you drop into. There's usually two or three other fitness or movement or mindfulness. Experiences you can drop into in the morning. So could be everything from like Phil Daru doing some ass kicking, sweaty, you know, body weight resistance class or something, intense cardio. We have like trampled trampoline, you know like a trampoline fitness routine. This year we've got aerial yoga, we've got all sorts of different things. And so the idea is to kind of wake up, you know, engage in some mindfulness, engage in some either workout or at least movement. And then you know, somewhere around 11 o' clock, the, the day begins. There's you know, the 11am through basically 5pm there's just an incredibly wide range of talks and lectures you can drop into. But there's a lot more experiential things as well in those time periods. So you know, throughout the day we have these kind of chill out zones where there's like, you know, quadraphonic surround, you know, sound bath experiences. There's also you know, treatments throughout the day. We've got hyperbaric chambers, we've got full body MRI scans on site, we've got red light therapy, we've got a whole contrast therapy set up with a 30 person sauna and 30 persons, you know, cold plunging. All of this stuff you can drop in throughout the day anytime you need to take a break. But in between all that there's lectures going on. And then last but not least, there's the Expo itself. So at the center of the event we've got 120 brands exhibiting. It's almost twice the size as last year. Top names and health and wellness across, you know, supplements, technology, you know, wearable tech, everything is there. You can go interact with those brands. There's a lot of free samples that a lot of experts act the booth, you can interact with the thing. There's three stages in there as well for, for even for our, you know, our cheapest like $70 ticket. So there's just a crazy amount to do. And then you get to the evenings and we have some afterparty events, we've got some nighttime dance parties, we've got you know, some dinners going on and then, or you can just go out in a small group, people you met and have a great dinner in West Palm beach where there's amazing restaurants right around the corner. So that's more or less the gist of a day and then you get to repeat that three days and think how lucky you are. So it's a, it's a good, it's a good time.
- [55:44]
B
Oh I, I love it. I mean it's Just I can't say enough about the experience last year, and I can see the reason for high expectation this year and moving forward. And I have really enjoyed talking with you about this and meeting you in general. And you have the guy that I just, like, saw at my first convention last year, who's this dude throwing it on to? Now I get to know you and like, it's. It's a real pleasure, man, to see, like, what goes into it, your reasoning, and to meet somebody with such good intention. I really want to spotlight that to people, like, what goes on behind and why you do it and the drive and the event itself. And I'm just honored to be a part of it and to be there and. And really thankful that we have people like you that do this. So, I mean, more than anything, it's just a big thank you for me and everybody out there.
- [56:33]
A
Wow. Thank you, Dylan. I really appreciate it and appreciate you taking your time and of course, you are out there building quite a large platform, also advancing these ideas. So you should give yourself a little pat on the back too. It's just really important for people to be spreading the word about good health.
- [56:46]
B
Simply God's work, brother, which is what we're doing here. And that's all I can do. But, you know, I do want to encourage everybody. Get yourself down to Palm beach and experience this because it is literally a one of a kind. I go to several during the year and this is far different than other ones I've been to. And that's why I wanted to get Sean on here, because I've never done this with any other person that puts on any convention because this one sticks out for a reason. So I've got a code for people if you want to try to get a little discount and make it easier for you to get down there. Thank you, sean. It is Jelli 10 that will save you on a ticket, so make sure that you take advantage of that. Sean, is there any place else that people can kind of follow along with Eudaimonia with things that are going on, tell them where to go?
- [57:32]
A
Yeah, well, our website's eudaimonia.net which luckily you'll not have to spell because it'll be in the show notes somewhere. And we have. We of course have an Instagram and I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, so if you want to reach out, I'm pretty good at actually responding. I'm not much of a social media guy, but I. I like the one on one conversation. So anyone wants to reach out you'll find me there.
- [57:54]
B
Awesome. Well, like I said, I will be there with Dr. Dave Rabino. We will be there several days. So if anybody wants to come and say hello, I would love to meet people as well. And I will be there, Sean, supporting you every second I can. And I am gratefully looking forward to seeing you in person and getting to experience this. So, again, God bless and thank you, brother. It's truly appreciated. So that wraps up another one. Everybody get down to West Palm Beach. Eudaimonia, November 13th through 16th. My code is GEMELLI10. Get yourself a ticket and stay tuned for plenty more to come. Dylan Gemelli and Sean Hess signing off.