The Power of
Human Connection
A cross-industry gathering bringing together leaders across travel, sports, media, health, finance, and AI to explore how innovation can strengthen the connections that shape people, organizations, communities, and the systems around them.
- Date
- Monday, September 21, 2026
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM - Venue
- Virgin Hotels New York City
The Loft
Why now
We have never had more tools to communicate, collaborate, and connect. Yet meaningful connection is becoming harder to create.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work. Capital decides which ideas become real. Travel, sport, media and health shape how people live and lead. Innovation matters in all of them.
But ultimately, people create impact with other people.
NYC 2026 puts perspectives that are usually discussed separately into one conversation:
How can stronger human connection help us build better businesses, experiences, communities, and systems?
- Organized by
- Presenting Partner
- Re.Generation Program collaborator
- Host Venue
Agenda
Six interconnected conversations
Leaders from across industries, disciplines and perspectives come together for six interconnected conversations, moving from the places we experience to the communities we build, our capacity to thrive, what humans should learn, the technologies reshaping our lives, and the future those choices create. Each conversation runs 35 minutes.
9:00 – 9:10 AM
OPENING
The Power of Human Connection
Innovation in a world being rewritten
9:10 – 9:45 AM
PLACE
The Places That Connect Us
Reimagining travel through people, place & nature
How can the experiences we create for travelers become a force for protecting the places they come to experience?
- The evolving relationship between tourism, hospitality and nature
- Meaningful, human-centered travel experiences
- Destination stewardship and regenerative tourism
- Connecting visitors more deeply with place
- Community participation and local benefit
- Biodiversity and ocean conservation
- Nature-positive hospitality and tourism
- Travel
- Hospitality
- Nature
9:45 – 10:20 AM
EACH OTHER
The Experiences That Unite Us
How sport, culture & entertainment can mobilize communities for impact
How can the enormous power of sport, culture and entertainment turn human connection into positive action?
- Sport and entertainment as engines of belonging
- Moving from audiences and fans to communities
- Athlete and creator influence
- Storytelling as a catalyst for action
- The responsibility that comes with cultural influence
- Making sustainability and social impact culturally relevant
- Sports
- Media
- Entertainment
- Culture
10:20 – 10:35 AM
CONNECTION
Human Connection Break
Fifteen minutes intentionally designed for participants to meet someone outside their own industry
What is one person, place or experience that changed the way you see the world?
10:35 – 11:10 AM
SELF
The Connection Within
Human performance in an always-on world
How do we use innovation to improve human performance without losing the very things that make us human?
- The changing definition of human performance
- Longevity and healthspan
- Mental and emotional wellbeing
- Stress, recovery and nervous-system regulation
- Human connection as a component of health
- The tension between optimization and flourishing
- Health
- Wellness
- Human Performance
11:10 – 11:45 AM
LEARNING
The Humans We Are Becoming
Rethinking learning, skills & human potential in the age of AI
If intelligence is becoming abundant, what should humans learn — and what kind of humans do we need to become?
- Education
- Lifelong learning
- Creativity
- Critical thinking
- Human potential
11:45 AM – 12:20 PM
TECHNOLOGY
Can AI Make Us More Human?
The flagship cross-industry conversation of the morning
Can AI make us more human? As machines become more capable, what should remain irreducibly human?
- AI as augmentation rather than simply automation
- What humans should stop doing — and what that capacity could enable
- AI and the future of work
- Human-centered AI
- Personalization versus genuine personal connection
- Responsible innovation and trust
- The qualities that should remain fundamentally human
- AI
- Humanity
- Human Experience
12:20 – 12:55 PM
FUTURE
The Future We Choose
Building a world where innovation, prosperity & planet can thrive together
If we have the tools to shape the future, what kind of future are we choosing to build?
- AI infrastructure and the physical reality behind digital innovation
- Data centers and energy demand
- Renewable and clean energy
- Infrastructure investment
- Innovation ecosystems and public-private collaboration
- Balancing growth, technological ambition and planetary constraints
- Technology
- Energy
- Investment
- Economic Development
12:55 – 1:00 PM
CONNECTION
Where It All Connects
The morning comes full circle: place, each other, self, learning, technology and the future we choose
The format
Conversation, not presentation.
No slides, no keynote
There are no traditional keynote presentations or slide decks. Speakers are asked for their thinking, not a deck.
40–45 minutes, moderated
Each conversation is designed to be dynamic, accessible and substantive, guided by a moderator who keeps it moving across perspectives.
A room worth your morning
Held during New York Climate Week, with an audience of business leaders, investors, institutions and changemakers from across sectors.
Speakers
Different industries. Different perspectives. One conversation.
Speakers for the 2026 edition are being confirmed. Only confirmed participants will be published here.
Apply to speakWho is it for
Industries that rarely share a room.
NYC 2026 brings together founders and CEOs; investors and family offices; corporate and innovation leaders; travel and hospitality leaders; sports, media, and culture leaders; health and human performance leaders; AI and technology builders; impact and sustainability leaders; and public and institutional leaders.
Register
Innovation for impact isn’t simply about better technology. It’s about designing better relationships — between people, communities, businesses, technology and the planet.
We invite leaders who are helping shape those relationships to join the conversation.
The morning runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Seats are reserved on Luma.
Reserve your seat