The Dream Lounge » Meeting Cool People

Bill DeSimone Preview for The 21 Convention

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:04:59 +0000

Hey guys

Big post coming next, in classic, meaty, TDL style. It’s been far too long, and I am excited to get some fresh ideas on the table for quality discussion.

In the meantime, I asked Bill to do a preview video for The 21 Convention in Orlando Florida. Bill speaks July 25th first thing in the morning. Check out the video for more information on what he will be presenting about, and sign up here for the special access health and fitness ticket titled the “Central Florida Exercise & Nutrition Seminar”.

Alternatively, you can reserve your seat for the main event here.

Upcoming Central Florida Events

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:28:28 +0000

More behind the scenes thoughts and experiences from Europe coming soon. In the meantime, three major Central Florida events are coming up fast.

1. “A Taste of The 21 Convention”

When?

July 3rd 2pm-5:30pm

Where?

Orlando Public Library (Magnolia room) 101 E. Central Blvd Orlando, FL 32801

What?

A 3 hour preview event for The 21 Convention 2010 (North America). Speakers currently include myself, Drew Baye, and Tim the “Right Hand Man”.

Cost?

$5 if paid online, $10 at the door.

You can reserve your seat by clicking here.

I’m also going to bring half a dozen event DVDs to be given away via raffle at the event. Pretty cool deal, and a great way to meet others in the area with similar interests and goals.

2. The “Central Florida Exercise & Nutrition Seminar”

When?

July 23rd-25th (varying times each day)

Where?

The Crowne Plaza of Downtown Orlando 304 W Colonial Dr Orlando, FL 32801

What?

An event within an event, purchasing a ticket to this event grants special access to The 21 Convention 2010 (North America). Unlimited access is granted for presentations given by
- Drew Baye
- Doug McGuff MD
- Bill DeSimmone
- Mark Sisson
  - As a special bonus for online buyers – Rick Smith.

Cost?

$125-$250, depending on when you buy or already bought. Tickets are currently $150, and rise to $180 July 1st. They are $250 at the door.

You can reserve your seat by clicking here.

Seating is limited as this is a secondary event and primary event tickets have to get priority if we begin running out of seats.

Bonuses?

Included with your online ticket to this event within an event is full access to Rick Smith’s presentation ending only minutes before Mark Sisson on Friday July 23rd.
Full HD access to the health and fitness event footage.
One speech on DVD, free, IF you happen to miss one of the presentations.

3. The 21 Convention 2010 (North America)

When?

July 21st-25th

Where?

The Crowne Plaza of Downtown Orlando 304 W Colonial Dr Orlando, FL 32801

What?

The world’s #1 men’s convention, featuring over 25 top coaches, motivational speakers, and thought leaders in a variety of fields. The main event is a full four days in length, an awesome AWESOME time, and is bar none the best bang for your buck in conferences held around the world. Also included with your ticket is advanced HD access to all event footage – months ahead of the general public – as well as special bonuses and discounts on services/products offered by the speakers at the event.
- We are also hosting a 5th bonus day before the event in downtown Orlando. It will be a meet and greet at a popular bar on Wall Street. More details to come for attendees.

Cost?

$125 to $500 depending on when you buy or already bought. Tickets are currently $350, and rise to $400 July 6th. The price at the door is $500, cash only.

Bonuses?

Aside from the meet and greet July 21st, there is a free workshop on how to approach women the first night of the event. In addition, there are unofficial presentations given nightly from the speakers where you can ask as many questions as you like. This is actually one of the coolest, yet least well known parts of the event. We will also have all event DVDs for sale at the event, without a shipping charge, and at a discount.

Sign up before July 6th by clicking here.

See you guys soon

-Anthony ‘Dream’ Johnson

The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:51:05 +0000

The Dream Tour & Updates from Europe + T21C News

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:44:04 +0000

So I’m sitting here at a Jazz cafe in Gothenburg Sweden, sucking down coffee and heavy cream (high quality I might add) like a vampire – and it’s 11 at night.

Why the late coffee?

Well, that opens up a whole nest of ideas and things to talk about – which is fine, more than fine actually.

Why?

Because sitting here in this Jazz cafe trying to relax from a long, long days work, makes me want to write, and reminds me that I have an audience on TDL that has taken a lot of time out of their lives to follow what I do and ramble about from time to time =).

In that sense, I hereby declare this post to be non work related, and only fun related. ‘Fun’ because if I did consider it ‘work’ – even work I truly love – I’d probably rip the hair out of my head right now. Sometimes we have to restrain ourselves even from the things we love and are truly dedicated to – and right now as I wait in a cafe writing on a laptop with a rapidly dying battery and no power outlet in sight, this is one of those times – the time when I remove myself for just a split second from focusing on The 21 Convention.

So, what have I been up to?

As you can see from the picture above, a mini-dream tour around Europe.

Jigga what you say?

Yep. It’s a risky move*, but I decided not long ago that if our first ever convention in Europe was going to pull through as a major success, it was going to happen not through blunt force, and not even channeling that blunt force in creative and highly effective ways – but by giving value, which at the end of the day is what this convention is really all about.

Changing lives.
Changing the course of a generation.
And giving massive value.

Which, is exactly what I’m trying to do with this short notice speaking tour around Europe.

*As I spoke about previously, The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden was/is in a limbo. Lots of sign ups, but not as many as I expected in the time span I predicted. This spurred me to work feverishly on the event from the United States, but to little avail – which is when I decided to immediately travel to Sweden to ensure the success of the event, at any and all costs.

At the moment things are “looking up”. Sign ups are trickling in, and the word of mouth surrounding the event has really taken off, but we are still struggling to cover hard, non flexible event costs over here, despite a sky rocketing US event. As such, I am either heading this convention in Sweden towards certain doom, or a triumphant success.

Experience has shown me that events of this nature sell the bulk of their seats last minute, and as such it’s difficult to say what will happen over the next two weeks, but time will certainly tell – and in the end, I am doing my absolute best with what really matters to me: living my life truthfully, just-fully, and on my masculine edge in the clearest sense I know how.

Which translates practically as: doing what I believe is right, and making my dream a reality – my dream to make a difference in a moderately, mildly, or severely f*cked up world – depending on your personal world view and level of cynicism.

My travel itinerary looks as follows (in case you couldn’t follow the MS Paint/track pad/super tired/poorly color coded quality map).

Orlando to London (layover)
London to Stockholm
Stockholm for just over 2 weeks.
Stockholm to Gothenburg (first time riding a real train!)
Gothenburg to Copenhagen (layover)
Copenhagen to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to London (maybe)
Amsterdam to Munich (for sure)
London to Munich (if Amsterdam to London works out)
Munich to Stockholm
Stockholm to London (layover)
London to Orlando

When I decided to travel to Europe wayyyyy earlier than I ever anticipated (or told anyone) just a few short weeks ago, never did I imagine I would do this much traveling around Europe.

I would say I can only hope it has the desired effect of attracting the necessary number of people – which is a by product of really bringing some value to the table at the free talks – but I won’t say that.

Why?

Because the only sanity I’ll ever find – or anyone else as far as I know – is in my own actions. Certain factors for the success of this convention are simply out of my hands at this point, and have been for some time. That is my own fault, and I am OK with it.

Why would I not be? What happened is unchangeable. What matters is right now, and the effects those actions have on whatever potential for massive success are left for this event (a lot IMO, but who knows).

Worrying about things that are out of my control seems … increasingly silly. And worrying about what I do have very real and rational control over – damn, I feel powerful.

Every day that goes by it’s as if I am under more and more pressure to pull this event off – but at the same time every day that goes by I feel stronger, almost physically at times.

It’s a total paradox that is almost, but not entirely unfamiliar to me. In that sense, I am comfortable with being under severe pressure, and “pulling through” where others may not, but this specific series of events is new to me – especially the traveling part.

I feel like a legit ‘vagabond’ at this point, and I still have a lot more traveling to do. I actually tweeted at Tim Feriss today thanking him for writing The Four Hour Work Week – because without that book, I would have never even imagined any of this was possible.

Seriously, it’s a real mind fuck to be across the world doing what I love in a very individual and independent way (which isn’t to say that I have not been receiving massive help from organizations like Charismatic Revolution, various speakers from the convention, and individuals in various cities around Europe).

And my laptop is about to die… to be continued.

…

Okay so I’m ‘back’, continuing this stream of thought post in the Gothenburg airport. It’s now 2 am (my flight leaves at 6:30am), and I am armed with a free Red Bull from an American bartender, as well as my boarding pass for the flight that according to the information desk should be impossible to have at this time.

In yo face!

Yeah I really showed her checking in at a self service kiosk, woot woot!

…

What else do I have to share during this sleepless night? Couple interesting things.

One, I have amazed myself at how little sleep I can run on, without losing too much “brain juice”. How is this so?

Well, I believe it’s partially due to being keto-adapted, and frequently in ketosis. I won’t take the time to argue that ketone bodies are the be all end all, but I will argue that because I am keto-adapted – and a “fat burner” instead of a carbohydrate addict consuming 200+ grams of carbohydrate per day like the typical American – I am able to function quite well during long periods without food.

Today for example I went ~22 hours between actual meals, including a long awaited decent nights sleep.

During that time I had a single cup of coffee with about 500 calories worth of high quality heavy cream (which is about 98% fat).

I also sat on my laptop and worked in a feverish, but not frantic fashion, for a clean 8 hours, only getting up to use the bathroom a few times.

I’ll get off the subject before I begin to ramble, but the point is, as I became aware that I was going to get hungry (I really couldn’t say I was ‘hungry’ even when I finally ate around 10:30pm), I felt ‘light’, very focused, and free of any physical distractions aside from having to pee from all the coffee.

On a carbohydrate rich diet I do not believe this would have been possible. Breaks would be needed to eat, and if negelcted head aches, light headedness, stomach pains, etc would ensue. If you are passionate about what you do and there is work to be done, these are not necessaryily insurmountable obstacles, but they are unnecessary.

Why make things harder for yourself? I don’t see the point, so I don’t. Fat, protein, and a little carbohydrate for the win =).

In other news I’d like to pretend for a second that I am some sort of professional nomad and announce my favorite travel items thus far on the trip.

1. The Life Saver Ultra Filtration Water Bottle (4,000L model)

This thing wasn’t cheap, but it has saved me so much money it’s laughable that I considered not buying it at one point.

At home I use it to filter tap water resembling something in taste from a water park kiddie pool. This alone saves me a boat load of money over bottled water like I used to buy.

But how about while travelling?

Well, I used it right off the bat at the Orlando airport to continually refill my water bottle that holds more than the Life Saver bottle – including after I was forced to empty both bottles while going through security.

Up yours over priced tap water masquerading as bottled water in airports!

The same applied during my layover in London. I simply didn’t trust drinking water from the tap in London.

In Sweden? Some of the best tap water in the world from what I hear and taste, so it’s not necessary for daily use (but I still use it for slightly improved taste).

But, few things are that simple, and the Life Saver bottle came in handy when I was on a crappy train left over from the Regan administration between Stockholm and Gothenburg. I only had a bit of water by the time I got on the train, and it was soon gone as I entered into a 4 hour long conversation with a cute red headed Svenska flicka (that means “Swedish girl” but apparently it’s more akin to a cheesy pickup line than the formal translation of Swedish girl).

What did I do? Went to the bathroom and filled up my Life Saver bottle with “Do Not Drink” train water from the sink.

Considering that the bottle is capable of filtering out polio, the last thing I was worried about was becoming ill from drinking the water. Sure enough it came out crystal clear, delicious, and safe =).

Bottled water wasn’t even available on the train, so the bottle really was a life saver in this instance.

2.Vibram Five Finger KSO Treks

I originally purchased these to go hiking in North Georgia, but they have quickly become my official and beloved travel shoe =). They are exceptionally rugged compared to other models of Vibram Five Fingers (probably due to being made out of kangaroo leather), and perhaps most importantly of all, have thicker padding than other models.

The point of VFFs is of course to emulate being barefoot – which these still pull off as well as any other Vibram – the difference is there is just enough padding to walk around on concrete all day ( a la Stockholm) and only experience as much discomfort as the next guy wearing heavily padded shoes – or perhaps even less once your feet adapt to their birth right level of strength.

Sort of the go between to “as close to barefoot as humanly possible”, and giant marshmallow/cast like shoes that quite literally weaken your feet and corresponding musculature.

In any case, I still prefer to workout in my Sprints as you saw in the last WOW video from Sweden because they are just a tiny bit closer to ABSOLUTELY barefoot, but KSO Treks are simply better equipped for heavy and/or urban use.

3. Merino Wool Clothing

I’ve been a fan of Icebreaker merino wool clothing for nearly 2 years now, and this trip is only amplifying that.

Why?

Well, I only took 1 ‘normal’ size backpack, and 1 smaller backpack on this trip, so I was kind of limited on space when you factored in the extra supplies needed to run The 21 Convention. My merino wool t-shirts however have stood up quite well to repeated use without washing, as well as merino wool boxers, partially merino wool socks, and merino wool gloves for the cold.

They are not immune to stinking, but have an impressive ability to repel odor – and I don’t even wear deodorant (it’s OK to smell like a man, deal with it! Haha).

And maybe it’s my imagination, but merino wool also seems to feel ‘fresh’ longer, despite repeated use. Cotton, or even polyester? Not so much. Wear it for a while and you can feel that it needs to be washed – not so much with merino wool (Icebreaker being my favorite brand).

4. MSR Pack Towel

Uhhhhhhh yeah, this thing is awesome. I got the extra large one, which was probably unnecessary, but never the less this towel has performed extremely well. For one, even the XL size is very portable, light weight, highly absorbent, and relatively quick drying.

For two … well, see above! No matter where I am this thing is with me and ready to roll. From my friends house in Stockholm (therefore not creating extra laundry to be cleaned), to a quick shower 15 minutes before a speech in Gothenburg (in a very randomly placed shower I might add), to the person’s house I stayed at in Gothenburg.

I just grab it from my bag and sha bam! I’m dry. Excellent investment and I could not recommend it highly enough for your travels.

Buy it on Amazon here.

5. The Tim Ferris earplugs and a simple sleeping mask

Two random, yet essential items for traveling (at least from my experience on this trip). The ear plugs aren’t cheap – and like Tim I recommend starting out with the sample pack to see which size fits you best – but they are a notch above the cheap foam crap available at Wal-Mart.

They come in use not only for high intensity training, but also for when your friend is hooking up with his girl friend in the next room and you are trying to sleep, as well as any other instance when you are trying to sleep or concentrate (sexual intercourse not required).

The cheapo sleeping mask (compliments of British Airways) is also extremely useful for a night owl like myself working like a maniac on something I love as much as humanly possible.

Basically in Stockholm, every night, I am up till 4, 5, or even 6 in the morning, working on the convention there, as well as the Orlando event. This is definitely not physically healthy, but hey it’s my choice.

In any case, the problem with this (besides only getting 3 hours of sleep some nights and consistently laying in bed for a solid hour with ideas for the convention) is that the sun sets late and comes up very early in Stockholm, like 4 am early.

So here I am, trying to go to sleep, trying to relax and just shut my brain off for a split second, and now the sun is coming up, or is already up, piecing the closed shutters in my friends room.

Anyway this is turning into a ramble but I am so glad I ‘borrowed’ this 25 cent sleeping mask from my fight over it’s not even funny.

Well actually it is funny because it took me a few nights to remember I had it, and that it would help massively with going to sleep (even for just a few hours before I woke up and hopped right back on my laptop) while the sun was up.

…

Okay so if you buy any of the above items from the Amazon links I get a small commission. Obviously I am strapped for funds right now, so if you were considering buying any of those items and were able to now, it would be much appreciated if you bought them through those links.

Then again, don’t buy something on Amazon from me if an item is better available elsewhere. I’m betting a sleeping mask is cheaper at your local drug store than Amazon for example.

BackCountry.com is a great site for buying travel gear to. Usually more expensive than Amazon, but they are very good at honoring a kick ass warranty (my room mate can attest to this with his backpack that he returned heavily used a full year later for a brand new one, simply because they sent him the wrong color).

Also, if you were interested in supporting The 21 Convention at a critical time in it’s growth, you can spam new agencies and do a few other non financial things at the following link.

The 21 Convention Phenomenon.

Financially, you have a number of options.

You can attend any of our live events, or more specifically, you can sign up before June 9^th – allowing for some extra breathing room on my end with the hard costs for the first ever European event – and at the same time save a significant amount of money on your ticket since June 9^th is the day ticket prices rise for all events.
You can donate via PayPal (just scroll to the very bottom, big fat PayPal button). We are not a “non profit”, but as I’ve talked about elsewhere – and as is perhaps obvious at this point – we are “not just for profit”. This is perhaps most evident with the amount of time I pour into the convention for such little financial return, as well as our 100% free event and documentary footage. Someone donated $50 USD the other week by the way, which I consider large, but he did not (once I contacted him and thanked him personally). In any case, no amount is too small or too large, so have at it.
Not everyone is able to attend a live event, finances aside, and not everyone is interested in donating – nor do I expect everyone to be. However there is another option that recently became available – event footage DVD.

As I see it, this is perhaps the best win/win right now for someone looking to support the convention that can’t attend live*, and also wants something tangible in return (nothing wrong with that).

*I should also mention DVD discount codes are being sent to all live attendees this week, and all future attendees of live events upon signing up. And by “discount codes”, I mean some serious friggin discounts for showing your support via attending live.

What is available you ask?

Quite an array actually. For one, you can order any speech ever given at The 21 Convention over the past three years on an individual DVD. Pretty awesome if you only feel like ordering your favorite presentations and not entire sets.

For those who do want entire sets though, you can get them by year at a significant discount (as compared to buying all of the DVDs individually). Each set also comes with a bonus disc not available for individual order containing rarely, or in the case of the 2009 twenty disc set, never before seen footage.

The prices are what I believe to be accurate as well when what else is “out there” is taken into consideration (dating and relationship products for men are notoriously overpriced), and the fact that you now own a physical copy of a presentation(s) in the highest quality currently available for offline viewing – forever.

…

Alright I feel like I’m selling used cars at this point – for some reason I am very poor at aggressively selling anything … maybe I am just a bad liar? – but never the less I believe I laid out everything pretty clearly (the DVDs are perhaps clearest of all because you know exactly what you are buying before you buy it!).

If you were interested in attending any of our events live, now is the time to sign up, and the same goes for any of your favorite speeches you wanted to purchase on DVD.

I need as much support as I can get right now, and those are some of the ways you can help. If you’re really messed up in the head you can also send me mixed messages of support/praise and extremely destructive/negative/you can’t do it criticism, because for some reason both seem to fuel my dreams (constructive criticism is also welcome of course).

Thank you and good night/good morning

-Anthony ‘Dream’ Johnson

~5am, Gothenburg Airport Sweden, off to Amsterdam!

I’m in Stockholm Sweden NOW!

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:17:56 +0000

Aright guys, so remember that “Step Aside or Step Up” post I made a little while ago? Well, I decided to take the “step up” idea one step further, and really put my balls on the line for something I absolutely believe in – The 21 Convention. I did so by deciding last Saturday night in Orlando, that I would fly out to Stockholm IMMEDIATELY and ensure first hand and face to face the complete and total success of The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden.

I found this new flight aggregating site called Mobissimo, and with that I found a super cheap flight to Stockholm on Friday May 7th. It’s now Monday … and hell, here I am in Stockholm Sweden. I look forward to meeting some European TDL readers!

Glad you guys are enjoying The Community Tapes and the special release schedule for TDL followers ONLY. Stay tuned this Sunday for Drew Baye’s outstanding interview.

Central Florida Exercise & Nutrition Seminar Featuring: Bill De Simone, Drew Baye, Doug McGuff MD, & Mark Sisson

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:47:53 +0000

Man I’ve been so busy with the convention lately it’s absurd … but in a good way. Anyway, I wanted to take the time to announce the “Central Florida Exercise & Nutrition Seminar”, which is more or less a sub set of The 21 Convention 2010 being held in Orlando Florida July 22nd-25^th that I’ve set up for locals*.

*I say ‘locals’ because as awesome as the line up is for this limited access ticket, I don’t expect anyone to fly across the country for four speeches. People are more than welcome to of course, but I find that a bit unrealistic – hence the ‘local’ aspect of the ticket.

So, what is it exactly?

Four of the (in my opinion, and probably the opinions of most readers) top authorities in their respective fields, speaking at a 4 day convention in Orlando,FL – all content pertaining to exercise, nutrition, fitness, health, lifestyle, and any related synonyms one could come up with =).

The 21 Convention, as most of you know, is focused on men, or even young men for that matter. But with that said, I find this event within an event applicable to anyone and everyone – including (and perhaps even especially) women.

If you live locally, I highly recommend attending this part of the convention – girl, guy, 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years old.

The lineup is outstanding with Drew Baye, Bill DeSimone, Mark Sisson, and Doug Mcguff.

It was really fascinating to watch it grow so fast actually. One day it was just Drew (who also spoke last year), the next it was Bill, then Doug (tentatively), then Mark – and then it hit me, “holy crap … this is going to be epic!“.

I will say however, the one speaker I REALLY wanted out in this field that I wasn’t able to get was Kurt Harris of PaNu.

Would be icing on the cake I suppose =). But hey, I tried. Maybe next year.

There are other speakers I considered as well of course, like Keith Norris of Theory to Practice and Stephan Guyenet of Whole Health Source, but the roster is pretty packed at this point, and I really shy away from giving any speaker less than 45-60 minutes on stage (the above four I’m planning for 90 minutes a piece).

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on people I had in mind.

In any case, I think this is also a great opportunity to meet up with long time blog readers who live in the area, and as such I’m releasing a big discount code for the first ten TDL readers who are interested in attending, as I am far more interested in meeting and getting to know people face to face, than charging a higher ticket price (which somewhat reflects local advertising I have in the works for this ticket).

If you want the discount just leave a comment on this post and I will shoot you an e-mail with the $30 discount code.

Other details buyers should be aware of.

Tickets are non refundable. Once you sign up, that’s it. I have this policy because it is a major pain in the butt handling returns, especially after the 60 day grace period with Paypal ends. That said, all tickets to the event (including this one) are transferable at any time up to 5 days before the event begins, should you wish to give the ticket to a friend, or even sell it, etc. A link to do this is on the ticket page.
If you already signed up for the main event (the entire convention), there is no need for you to buy this limited access ticket, unless it’s a gift or for some similar reason.
If you buy this ticket, attend the event, and wish to stay for more presentations not included with this ticket, your only option is to pay the difference between your ticket price, and the full door price of $400 – even if the convention is half over. I simply can’t cut deals left and right for people based on how many hours or days are left at the event =/. I tried this last year and I found out first hand it causes a LOT of head ache that disrupts my focus that is needed elsewhere at the convention.
On the plus side, since this is a limited access ticket, and it’s difficult to say which time and day each speaker will be presenting right now, you are guaranteed a DVD copy of each speech should you end up not being able to attend one, or even all of them.

Meaning, if you only make it to 2 speeches and can’t attend the other two due to work, school, and so on, you will be shipped a DVD copy of the presentations you missed post event.

We’ll be keeping track of who enters/leaves the room for all tickets, and especially the limited access ones. So if you fail to show for one, you will be marked down for a DVD copy of that speech, and contacted later for a shipping address (and yes, shipping will be on us).

I should also mention, there are only 24 of 25 tickets left. I may or may not allot more for this limited access ticket, but that depends on how well the main event continues to sell, which thus far has been consistently almost triple what last year’s event sold.

In other words, I have to give priority to the full access tickets. (And as the ticket page shows, there is a door price should you not wish to buy online, but those are not guaranteed to be available if the online tickets sell out).

Finally, for those of you who live far and will not be able to attend for one reason or another, all the given presentations will be released for free online in streaming high definition (as well as being available on DVD).

This may make one wonder why attending live is worth $95 to $180 dollars, but if you’ve ever been to the convention, you know this is a moot point. Hearing a presentation live is always an experience in itself, and these four are top notch speakers, not to mention, you have the ability to ask questions in person, and perhaps even meet the speaker face to face.

In addition, all paid attendees will have access to any discounts offered live at the event (I believe Mark Sisson mentioned something along these lines), and access to the free footage before the general public.

…

Aright I’ll get off my soap box now. Hope to see a lot of you guys there.

2010 Greater Orlando Fitness Challenge (/w Drew Baye & Patrick Diver)

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:47:08 +0000

What?

A one time, non profit, evening seminar from some of the top personal trainers in the country (and a two medical doctors, but the real gold is in the trainers!)

Where?

The Sheraton of Downtown Orlando (right across from The 21 Convention hotel)

When?

Tuesday January 12th, 2010

Who?

Drew Baye from Baye.com and The 21 Convention 2009 (see his entire speech here for free), and Patrick Diver from GreyhoundFitness.com (Patrick was the HIT trainer who originally introduced me to Body by Science, and later Moment Arm Exercise).

Needless to say, these two men have been some of the most influential in my personal education of exercise.

There will also be two MD’s present at the event to speak about nutrition (I don’t know them however and won’t vouch for them like I do Patrick and Drew).

Cost?

The cost to attend is $20, although technically it’s a “mandatory donation”, since all profit goes to two local charities - Greyhound Pets of America-Orlando and the Lion’s Club of Longwood/Lake Mary. I believe the $20 is even tax deductible.

In any case, $20 is a stupidly good price to hear from either Drew or Patrick in person, let alone both.

I’ll be there. If you live in the area, I highly recommend it.

Get tickets and check out the website here.

The Official List of Upcoming Conferences From the GDI

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:51:01 +0000

GDI- according to Urban dictionary (highly trusted source of information), GDI stands for god damn independent.

While this may sound a bit extreme, I believe this accurately describes my- and The 21 Convention’s- role in the world of dating and relationship advice.

Thus far, I have been able to host the event 3 consecutive years- without getting tangled up in (too much) drama and politics- of which, there is a shit ton floating around.

I’m not sure exactly how I managed to pull this off- although I could speculate- but never the less that’s the current state of affairs.

So, kudos to me for not getting dragged into the BS =).

All that said, I’m in a unique position as founder and director of this event to comment on and announce upcoming conferences similar to my own (to varying degrees).

I also feel that in some small way, it’s kinda my job.

At least, it doesn’t seem anyone else is up to speed on all the conferences and events like The 21 Convention.

Let’s hop to.

First up, Pua Summit.

See their 2008 trailer here (internal video pop up link).

At first glance it appears Pua Summit is the event most similar to The 21 Convention, however I think most who have attended T21C would disagree.

This isn’t to say anything negative about the event, but I think the only thing the two events really have in common is a surface level structure and vaguely similar theme of dating and relationship advice (even that, is a bit of a stretch).

Our marketing efforts are for sure, completely unrelated. Can you imagine me having a banner like this for the convention? Hey, to each his own, but if that ever happens with T21C , someone please kick me in the balls.

As far as history between T21C and PUAS, there actually isn’t much. I only began speaking with the organizers about a year ago- while both our events kicked off in 2007.

Thus far, we have been totally cool with each other and not competitors at each others throat’s like many seem to believe. If anything, I believe their event provides a sharp contrast to T21C since it focuses exclusively on “pickup” and the PUA Community- which I think is cool, but not where I want The 21 Convention heading in the years to come (if that’s not apparent by now).

If anything I want the convention heading in the slightly more advanced direction that Nick Sparks has been touching on lately in our interview.

And of course, topics outside of dating advice and social skills- things like exercise, nutrition, vagabonding, entrepreneurship…hell sky’s the limit =).

All that said, the 2009 Pua Summit is right around the corner from September 26th-27^th in Hollywood, CA.

Like The 21 Convention, the sooner you buy tickets, the more you save.

Get them here (and then click “tickets”).

I recommend going if you weren’t able to make it to The 21 Convention (2009) for one reason or another (timing, travel costs, etc).

Guys I would be excited to hear speak from their lineup include Adam Lyons, Mehow, Hypnotica (aka “Rasputin” from the best selling book The Game), and Daniel Rose.

A few other T21C speakers should be in attendance as well including our only female speaker, Erika Awakening (who, is mad cool), and I want to say Dj Fuji, although I’m not 100% sure on that.

There is also a chance Peter Murphy and I will be in attendance, although again, I can’t say for sure yet. If we do decide to head out there, I’ll post about it here on TDL.

Next up, the Love Systems Super Conference from October 9th-11^th in Las Vegas, NV. Check out their video trailer here .

This is a company inclusive conference- meaning speakers at the event are primarily from Love Systems and their partners.

Now, I’ve been to a LS Super Conference in Vegas, and I had a great time (check out my name tag I found sitting around in my room).

My only issue with the conference is the cost. It has nearly a $1,000 dollar price tag- and nearly a $4,000 dollar cost for in field coaching during the event.

And that’s just the conference.

I could be wrong, but I believe if you bought every seminar they offered before, during, and after the event, you would be looking to spend over $10,000 dollars.

It’s difficult to comment further because I have had a great relationship with this company…but holy $#!+!

That said, if you have the cash to blow, and this area of your life is that important to you, I’m hard pressed to say you could spend that amount of money better elsewhere (again, assuming you were going to invest that much into it).

I’ve been to this event, it’s great, and I definitely learned a few things from Savoy- President and CEO of Love Systems regarding event planning and hosting. I know how difficult it is first hand, and kudos to him for hosting his conference bi-annually.

The instructors I saw speak were for the most part, excellent. Guys like Braddock, Sheriff, Cajun, Tenmagnet, and The Don- all awesome dudes I’ve met first hand.

Braddock of course spoke at The 21 Convention 2008 so I’m a bit biased, but every time I’ve spoken with the dude he has been nothing a stand up guy. Sheriff is another speaker I remember very well- a speaker I hope to have at The 21 Convention in Sweden next summer if we end up doing it…which, is looking good to say the least =).

Braddock was also the same guy seen on The Tyra Banks show a few months back. Dude is rocking it!

Ok enough talk, if you’re interested in attending for one reason or another (such as, you missed T21C 2009), you can find tickets and more information here. The price may be high, but it’s a solid event and I guarantee you will learn a ton.

As much as I would love to attend the event myself, that chance is slim. But, if it does come up, I will post about it here on TDL.

Btw, it just came to my attention that Future will be at the Super Conference (or, at least post event available for a seminar). This guy is a legend I unfortunately never had the chance to meet, but if he is there, he’d be the first person I introduce myself to.

The RSD World Summit from September 28th-October 4^th.

In the early summer of 2009 I had the chance to meet Nick Kho (“Papa” from the best selling book The Game) in Orlando. He was in town by random chance and a few mutual friends suggested we grab lunch.

Overall, a good dude. Nothing like the scheming psychopath Neil Strauss portrayed in The Game.

We got to speak about quite a few things, including Real Social Dynamics being present at The 21 Convention 2009. For those of you who attended, you know very well that that did turn out well.

Papa and I made an agreement- RSD has an instructor present, the only catch being we can’t film it due to legal issues.

It worked out really well, a bonus for live attendees not caught on camera, and RSD got their name out there that much more (as I’m sure a multi-million dollar company was just dying for press at my convention right? ha).

But regardless, RSD Instructor Nathan came out and did a great job. Now we just need that lunatic Tyler out here in 2010 =).

Regarding the summit, I was curious about it so I asked Nick a few questions one on one. From what I understand, they are bringing every single RSD employee to the event- on top of regular attendees.

How many people does RSD employ? From what Nick told me, well over 200.

Now, if that’s not enough people, also consider RSD has been around collecting e-mail addresses for who knows how many years. My guess would put their list at near, or over 100,000. Hell, as of writing this, their forum (at this very moment) has just under 5,000 people reading it.

5,000!

WTF

That’s nuts.

Considering this, and the fact that the event is a frikin week long…damn.

If I were the guy organizing that event, I would KMAG (kiss my ass goodbye). Seriously…that’s pure mayhem- in a mildly good way.

As for the price tag, it’s not cheap, but considering the fact that it’s a week long, it seems reasonable. Again, if you missed T21C 2009- or feel like attending another conference for the hell of it- this is DEFINTELY one you’ll want to check out.

Find out more at RealSocialDynamics.com or visit the summit page directly here.

Finally…The Social Man conference. This one I actually know little about- or if it’s even happening 100%, but I can tell you right now that if it does happen, I would recommend it above the rest.

I’ve only had the chance to hang out with Christian Hudson and Nick Sparks a short amount of time, but everything about them says MY HEAD IS SCREWED ON STRAIGHT- which is seemingly a harder and harder to find trait in the world.

As I’ve said before, these guys “get it”, and if they host a conference, you bet your ass I’ll be at it.

…

Hope everyone is enjoying the footage, cheers

-Dream

Interview With Dating Coach Nick Sparks of: The Social Man (Part 1)

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:06:20 +0000

This post has been transferred to a new location.

Meeting Tucker Max at an “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” Movie Screening

Anthony 'Dream' Johnson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:16:45 +0000

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t even have a chance to finish (I did start) the best selling book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell before seeing the blockbuster movie at a pre-screening in Gainsville Florida- on the eve of my 21^st birthday no less.

The end result?

Had a great time, the movie kicked ass, got a bunch of free stuff, and I got to meet and personally invite Tucker Max to T21C 2010.

Experience

It was a short 2 hour drive (maybe less) to Gainsville from Orlando. I rode with my room mate and his friend Jeff. We got there a full 2 hours ahead of time.

When we arrived, we were one of the few people there. Perhaps we overestimated Gainsville?

Nope. Not 45 minutes later, there are hundreds of people in line for this thing. And surprisingly enough, there were plenty of attractive women there. In fact, there may have been more girls than guys- it was close at the very least.

Why is this surprising?

Well, for those that aren’t familiar with Tucker Max, Tim Ferriss (as a compliment, and who also had a small cameo in the movie) recently called Tucker the most offensive human being on the planet- and after seeing him interact for a few hours with a massive fan turn out, it’s hard to argue other wise.

Yeah, he’s an asshole- but in a good way. Tucker is comfortable in his own skin- which includes being an asshole. In fact, I’d probably add to Tim’s comment and say that Tucker is the most “congruent” asshole on the planet- because he knows and accepts the fact that he is an asshole.

Truly amazing to see this play out with the people he’s attracted into his life at this event.

It was also cool to see some of the on screen actors at the event. None of the major ones were there, but the director was there (who had a short scene), Tucker Max was there, and a bartender early in the movie was present as the host you see on the above video.

The Movie

I’m not going to write out some official looking sectioned off review, but I will say it totally kicked ass. At the moment it sort of sits in the shadow of “The Hangover”, but I feel once it releases it will surpass it.

For the record, it is a full feature movie releasing world wide September 25^th. It centers around one of the more cinematic stories from Tucker Max, and has a few additional scenes laced throughout from the book.

Including- and I quote from Tucker at the event- “the most epic shit scene in movie history”.

Indeed, it has the most epic shit scene in movie history.

The movie isn’t particularly long, but it is well done- especially considering the ~$7 million dollar budget.

The casting IMO was especially spot on- including the actor who played Tucker (he did not play himself, although he did have a short scene at the end), the character who played Slingblade, and the various actresses throughout the movie.

Hell, even the kid in the movie did a great job (the stripper’s kid, you’ll understand better once you see it).

Overall, can’t recommend it enough. I’ll be seeing it again myself when it releases this September in a better theater since the one in Gainsville hardly did the movie justice.

Kudos to Tucker for seeing this thing through too. I can only fathom the amount of hard work that went into producing a movie like this- not to mention the years prior working on/with the best selling book.

Free Stuff and Marketing Thoughts

One thing I have yet to mention is that, IMO, Tucker could not be promoting this movie any better (or wiser) than he already is- in the same budget range.

It’s outside the scope of this post, but I believe a lot of conventional wisdom surrounding “marketing” is either utter horse shit, or is fast becoming that.

E-mail collection is one of those things (not entirely, it’s still useful, but not by default). But to an even greater degree I think mass advertising is a waste of time, effort, and cash.

“Product” will always be king, but right behind that is word of mouth. And right behind that (which compliments real life word of mouth heavily) is social media and other online outlets.

In short, Tucker is doing things right blogging heavily, and using YouTube to the max- alongside a sick ~2 month non stop movie premiere tour around the country to major college towns.

And to go even further, you get tons of free shit for going (many people even got a free beer pong kit)- all marked with I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

Can you think of a better way to build visibility with your target market? Simply not possible.

Expect IHTSBIH to blow up late September- big time

Meeting Tucker Max and T21C 2010

Not long ago some former convention attendees on the forum suggested I get Tucker Max to speak next summer. I definitely knew of him, and figured he would be a great fit for the convention.

I sent him an e-mail not long after that- didn’t get back to me but supposedly saw it and briefly read over it as I later found out.

When my room mate invited me to go see Tucker’s movie premier in Gainsville I knew it would be a good opportunity to meet Tucker and mention T21C.

So, I did just that- but I did it in the best way I knew how.

I waited for a good time to speak with Tucker- meaning a point in time when he wasn’t bombarded with people looking for an autograph, and down the road would vaguely remember meeting me.

When I saw that opportunity coming, I took it.

I introduced myself, stated I wasn’t looking for an autograph, and asked if he remembered reading the e-mail I recently sent.

I have no idea if he actually read the e-mail or not- he claimed to- but then again I don’t think Tucker would take the time to BS about something like that.

I got the response I expected- it’s too far ahead for him to plan, and he has a $25,000 speaking fee- which he said would likely increase once the movie hit theaters.

Totally cool with me, good to know, and that was the end of it.

Now, what about Tucker speaking next summer?

Well, I have no where near $25,000 dollars to shell out for him to speak. Even if everything went perfect next year, we could not afford that type of speaking fee.

If you guys really do want Tucker to come, I will do what I can. This includes making sure Tucker actually understands what the event is about, the roots, how the footage goes out free to the world every year, and just contacting him at the right times throughout the year.

However, it is unlikely he would attend even if all of that went perfect. As I’ve said in the past, it’s up to you guys to make things like this happen- not just me.

If Tucker is to speak next summer at T21C 2010, a lot of previous convention attendees will have to bug him- relentlessly (meaning, many times over).

E-mail him, tell him about your past experience, how cool it would be to meet him and hear what he has to say…etc. And not just e-mail, but anywhere and everywhere. Talk about it on his forum, his YouTube account, his blog, and so on.

I think you get the idea.

If that happens, I will do what I can on my end to make it happen. This same concept applies to any big name speaker. Let me know, and I’ll do the behind the scenes work. In the mean time, drive them nuts with requests to speak at the convention.

Cheers

-Dream