Christy Fair and Fedje Lang (TEST to make sure PBWorks works)

Talk: We hope YOU sign up to speak

Bio: Became friends at BIL 2012

Reichart originally invited Fedje to help him emcee BIL. Christy came in as a volunteer in exchange for a free ticket, who just kept 'doing more.'

BOTH of us immediately jumped into the deep end, so we invite you to jump in fully! 

We both agree that BIL does not exist to make demands on us that are never ending, because there is always more.  We don't exist to fill 'it.'  BIL exists as a service to all of us, helping us grow, giving us a playground, and sometimes even providing a place where we can make the world a better place.  Knowing the platform exists as a gift we give ourselves helps to shift us out of overwhelm and into gratitude for the immense possibilities at BIL.

https://bilconference.com/event/bil-2018-los-angeles/

William Volk

Talk: 1979 - 2017, A VideoGame Retrospective 

I'll cover how this all started, the evolution of the industry, what I learned from this and where I see it heading.

Bio:

A video game career spanning 35+ years, starting with “Conflict 2500” (Avalon Hill) in 1980.  Notable works include "The Pyramid of Peril" (Aegis), "The Return to Zork" (Activision), "The Dozens" (Bonus Mobile), "iWhack" (First released iPhone game, MyNuMo), “Word Carnivale” (PlayScreen) and “Stick Figure Movie Trivia” (PlayScreen).  Volk served as VP of Technology at Activision, Chief Technologist of Lightspan and co-founder of PlayScreen. William currently serves as the Chief of Research at a top secret company whose office has no windows.

William Volk

Talk: A Weighty Matter: Beating The Crazy Odds On Maintaining A Major Weight Loss

The odds of maintaining a significant weight loss for five years or more is about the same as your chance of surviving metastatic lung cancer: 5 percent.  I've done it for 22 years, kept most of it off.  This won't be an optimistic talk, there are some harsh realities that the diet industry doesn't talk about.  

Bio: A Cat-2 Cyclist in college, I ballooned up to well over 300lbs in my 20's and 30's, lost over 150 lbs in 1996 and while I would be considered overweight, I've managed to keep most of that off.  So maybe I can share some lessons.

Sandra Daugherty

Talk: Polyamory Mistakes: I Thought I Was Better Than This

This is a talk about non-monogamy dating mistakes. My mistakes. I knew all the cliches. And yet still, face first I landed.

Loving multiple people can be a wonderful feeling. Ethically dating them all 100% of the time is cat-herding in a yarn storm. This is one angeleno's perspective.

No matter your current relationship style, you're welcome to attend. There will be a Q&A.

Sandra Daugherty: known to some as Sex Nerd Sandra, the once-Nerdist podcaster, to others as their local bachelorette party BJ teacher, and still others as the lady who ran the sex & love advice lemonade stand at BIL twice. Sandra's been polyamorously oriented since preschool, but open & active since 2011.

Leanna Wolfe

Talk: How to Travel Deep and Cheap

Come find out how to book cheap reliable flights, well-located affordable lodging and live, eat and move about like a local.  Memorable travel rarely involves guided tours and stays at all-inclusive resorts.  Find out from an expert how to get lost in a jungle, eat weird ass foods and come back with real stories that rock your soul.

Bio: Leanna Wolfe is a cultural Anthropologist who began traveling internationally when at 20 she navigated Europe with a youth hostel card, a backpack and a train pass.  Since then she has lived in remote villages in the Yucatan, Africa, Borneo and  Papua New Guinea and negotiated the complexities of travel in Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Eastern and Western Europe, South and Central America, Canada, India, the Caribbean and through the U.S.

Name: Michael Gibson 

Talk: Shorting the Higher Education Bubble 

From an early age, kids are led to believe college improves the soul. Who could ever call into question the cultivation of the mind? The Wall Street Journal reports that total student debt has hit $1.5 trillion. Default rates for these loans have reached a twenty year high, with the Brookings Institute issuing an estimate that in some cohorts default rates may be as high as 40 percent by 2023. Only a small number of investors saw the coming catastrophe of the housing bubble in 2007. As memorialized in the movie the Big Short, these investors found a way to make returns off the collapse. Education is next.

Bio: I am cofounder of 1517, a venture capital fund that invests in college dropouts. 

Name is...

Name: Mystic Pete

Talk: Sexual Massage

A frank discussion about the coming wave of humans exchanging sexual massage for pleasure, health and aliveness! Humorist Mystic Pete explains "What is it?""How do I get me some?" and "Is it true that unless every person on earth regularly gives and receives ecstatic, intimate sexual massage we won't survive the coming zombie apocalypse?" Adults only. Sunday afternoon.

Bio:

www.MysticPete.com
Mystic Pete is a sex educator, author, radio host, cellist, music and video producer, mysticism teacher and father of two. He has taught and organized events internationally connecting sexuality, spirituality and the arts.
info@MysticPete.com

Justin Dudek

Talk: Reckless Abandon

I decided to quit my job, without having a new one to take its place. Oh, and I bought a one-way ticket to Europe.

This talk is about what I've learned, and the fears I am facing, as I've lived in Spain, London, and Italy for the last five weeks.

Bio:

Justin Dudek is obsessed with what makes people tick. His extensive background in social and behavioral psychology has led him to explore the world with two questions in mind: 

• Why do we do the things that we do? And...
• How can we do more of the things that matter?

When Justin is not studying behavior, he spends his time meditating, dancing, and testing his mental limits by taking 25 minute ice baths.

Michael Gat

Talk: You;re a Failure! Now What?

If you've worked in tech, or anywhere around the tech/entertainment world, you know that failure is endemic, and in fact expected. But sometimes that failure clashes with the expectations of the "real world" and the results can be somewhat career-limiting.

So how do you avoid failure? And what do you do when you've failed? Because it's going to happen...

Bio:

Michael Gat is a career technologist, currently focused on the intersection of data, artificial intelligence and opportunities to make the world better. He was recently project manager for the NSF-run National Transportation Data Challenge and consults to companies ranging from small start-ups to Fortune-100 global brands.

He lives in Venice Beach with his cat Flash, who mostly ignores him. Michael is always looking for work.

Les Karpas

Talk: Meta-Modernism, AI & AR; how technology is changing the future of design with machine vision and machine learning.

Bio:

Leslie Oliver Karpas is passionate about revolutionizing the world of design through 3D technology. Ten+ years of practicing industrial design, robotics, fabrication engineering, UI|UX, holography and architecture. He leverages experience with 3D technologies such as 3D printing, 3D scanning and simulation to create uniquely customized, user-oriented products & experiences. Inspired by the interplay between digital and physical environments, Leslie is committed to developing game changing 3D design and manufacture processes that will redefine the relationship between products and consumers.  His new startup www.LexSet.ai is an AI for Interior Design powered by object recognition.

Steve Friedman

Talk: What's helpful about self-help books

I've spent the last year binge-reading self-help books. This has given me insight into what kinds of books are useful and what aren't. I'll discuss this, as well as some general tips I've picked up on improving yourself and living better.

Bio:

Steve Friedman is a writer, trivia buff, avid reader, and collector of interesting knowledge. He tries to have a better-than-layman-but-not-quite-professional level knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. He has appeared on Jeopardy, Win Ben Stein's Money, and a short-lived game show where he won $14,000 for knowing things and not falling through a trap door, conclusively proving that those hours spent reading Wikipedia and doing crossword puzzles weren't wasted. Having attended elite graduate schools for both Economics and Screenwriting, he is currently in charge of accounting for a company that is transforming health care. He is working on a series of YA novels as well as his own self-help book on how to quit letting politics make you miserable.

Virtual Reality is now easy (er) 

Host name: John Gwinner

Description:

Author of the book "Getting started with React VR"

The Immersive Web is now supported in all major browsers. If you know HTML, VR is now as easy as <box>. Instead of having to learn game engines, etc. if you know HTML and Javascript, you can build real VR experiences; on any hardware.

John will also discuss how VR is leveling off, and "Video killed the VR Star" (with apologies to the Buggles); the Fermi paradox and VR, and how VR doesn't have to look real to seem real.

Bio: 

John Gwinner is a Chief Technology Officer with nearly 2 decades of experience in VR. He developed a VR interface for CompuServe during the last wave of VR.

He helped develop VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) and Web3D with a focus toward PCs, and put early versions of XML on the web. He was a returning speaker at the Game Developer Convention on 3D toolkits, AI, and VR. He was an early Kickstarter of a new VR Headset in 2014.

Now that VR is definitely taking off again, John is once again at the forefront, making it easy for people to build Virtual Worlds. He is a top writer on Quora, answering questions about VR and its future direction.

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