National Innovation Conference Exposes Great Ideas and Gets the Attention of Greece

National Innovation Conference, an event organized by the Greek America Foundation, brought together Greek business leaders from all around the world to talk about their achievements, successes and innovation in their chosen field.

The day opened with Greg Pappas, founder of Greek America foundation and publisher of Greek America Magazine who talked about how somebody can start a movement-even when he is alone-when he is not scared of ridicule and accepts his followers as equals.

The first presenter do the conference was William Margarites, Senior Vice President Global Communications & Investor Relations of FedEx Corporation who took the time in his speech to engage the crowd in a Socratic dialogue about the current situation in Greece.

Jim Gianopoulos, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer for Fox Filmed Entertainment, talked about the future of the media in which he included an exclusive-and really cool- presentation about how AVATAR was filmed.

He also pointed out that even though movies in 3d may cost 20% more of what they would if they weren’t in 3D his company is planning more of its future releases in 3d.

Kary Antholis spoke about branding and how HBO’s strategy has helped the company grow.

Natasha Tsakos, an artists who uses theater to create new ideas, gave a taste of her unique show that companies acting on stage in sync with computer generated images creating a whole new experience for all the attendees.

The Unexpected Surprise

It was revealed that the live coverage of the conference via social media had reached the Greek Prime Ministers office. This resulted in a one of the prime minister’s advisers to contact the event organizers to  ask them to bring the conference to Greece. Yes, that means that next year NIC will most likely take place in Greece.

Later the same night the 40 under 40 project recognized the forty young Greek-Americans who have achieved something extraordinary in their field.

Other presenters included Niki Leondakis-Chief Operating Officer of Kimpton Hotels, Kary Antholis-President, HBO Miniseries & Oscar-winning filmmaker  of “The Pacific: A Deeper Experience”, Danialle Karmanos, Cat Cora Iron Chef & Television Personality “Chefs For Humanity – Rising to Increased Global Need”, Peter Diamandis
Founder & Chairman, X Prize Foundation, Nikos Koumettis-President Coca Cola Canada, Kostas Mallios General Manager-Strategy & Business Development Microsoft, Thomas Kalaris Chief Executive-Barclays Wealth “Fixing Greece: Reflections on the Debt Crisis”