You’ll learn the hottest personal growth ideas of 2012

Almost every successful entrepreneur or visionary will tell you the same thing: their secret to success wasn’t the hottest business strategy or the latest marketing knowledge. It was ‘something internal’. At Awesomeness Fest, you’ll connect with highly successful people who are more than willing to share the mindset shifts, the personal growth practices and the key learnings that took their lives to the next level.

Awesomeness Fest speakers are given a maximum of 25 minutes to digest their key life learnings into one powerful 25 minute speech. By the time you leave Awesomeness Fest, you’ll have a host of amazing ideas you can start implementing right now to play an even bigger game, grow your business and kick butt at what you love doing. Ideas that would have taken you years, even decades to learn by yourself.

But Awesomeness Fest is about much more than passively listening to lessons: it’s about total immersion. We do this through ‘Consciousness Engineering’, a unique learning process which immerses your mind, body and spirit into carefully selected experiences, exercises and activities designed for profound and lasting results.

You’ll network with some of the world’s most inspiring people

At Awesomeness Fest, you’ll be just as impressed with the person sitting next to you as the person on stage. And that’s because we attract some of the world’s most amazing people, including Inc. 500 CEOs, bestselling authors, award-winning change agents, visionary entrepreneurs and world-class speakers. We keep the event diverse by ensuring a 50-50 man to woman ratio, with participants from all age groups.

One of the things you’ll enjoy most at Awesomeness Fest is our trademark Magical Moments. Designed by our team, these are engineered experiences that take you through a wide range of emotions, and result in profound connections with other participants at a level unlike any other event you’ve ever attended.

The result? You may walk away with new business partners, new best friends, and who knows? Maybe even your soulmate. (This happened to a couple of participants from last year. True story.)

Last year’s Magical Moments included a stunning sunset catamaran cruise, a SuperHero party, live music, bonfires and walks on the beach at 3am. As for this year’s, you’ll just have to wait and see…

You’ll join our Unique People tribe

If you believe that you are the sum of your 5 closest friends, you’ll love this feature: when you sign up for Awesomeness Fest, you automatically enter our Unique People tribe. Everyone in the tribe is connected through a private Facebook group, and we stay in touch throughout the year through gatherings held across the United States.

Our most recent gathering was held in prolific photographer Philip Dickson’s $13.5 million estate. Over 200 people showed up for a mesmerizing evening of conversation, drinks and performances from the likes of artist Malek Houlihan. Speaker Sean Stephenson presented, and even used the event to propose to his girlfriend. For the afterparty, California’s no. 1 hotelier Chip Conley gave us his hotel rooftop.

That’s just a small taste of what happens when the influential, brilliant and fun people in our tribe come together: and we do it at least 3 – 4 times a year.

When you join Awesomeness Fest, you become a part of this tribe, and you get on a first-name basis with every amazing person in it. And that’s why we’re very selective about the people we invite to join us.

You’ll become an agent for positive change

Awesomeness Fest is more than an event – it’s a movement. Because of the profound impact it leaves on people, we’ve noticed musicians, performers and speakers waiving their fees. A-list speakers who normally leave immediately after their slot instead decide to stay for the full event. And a vast majority of participants become inspired to change the world in even bigger ways.

After seeing the sheer amount of time and talent donated to the event, in 2011 Vishen decided to transform it into a non-profit cause. Today, all profits from Awesomeness Fest are put back into making the event as memorable as possible, and towards a cause supported by the tribe. Last year we supported Lynne Twist’s Pachamama Alliance, a foundation that helps preserve over 8 million acres of rainforest in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

All this means that when you sign up for Awesomeness Fest, every dollar you spend goes back towards giving you an awesome experience, and making a massive positive impact on the planet.

You’ll have heaps of FUN

Many Awesomeness Fest participants call it the most exciting experience of their lives. Why? Maybe it’s the paradise locations. Maybe it’s the amazing people. Maybe it’s the Magical Moments. Or maybe we’re just really, really good at tossing an awesome party (some participants even said our pirate party was the best party they’d ever been at).

Check out our media section for pictures and videos of the memorable activities that took place last year, like pirate parties, catamaran sunset sails, live concerts, salsa dance classes, fire-eating performances and beach games.

You’ll live it up in paradise

We make it a point to hold Awesomeness Fest in some of the most jaw-droppingly stunning locations in the world. In 2010 we picked Tamarindo in Costa Rica, and last year we chose the Grand Wailea Hotel in Maui, Hawaii for its spectacular beaches, exotic surroundings and well-equipped facilities.

We believe these gorgeous locations play a big part in helping you connect with your fellow participants. Imagine huddling up on the beach, listening to the waves, curling your toes into the sand, and sharing a priceless moment with a few kindred souls as you stare off into the dream-like sunset. That, to us, is paradise.

So if you’re thinking about taking taking a few days off to rejuvenate, consider Awesomeness Fest. It’s an event that energizes you instead of drains you. Think of it as a big group vacation with your soon-to-be best friends.

You’ll be part of a strictly invite-only event

What most amazes Awesomeness Fest participants is the sheer quality of our participants. Dr. Srikumar Rao, a highly popular MBA lecturer who’s spoken at Google and been featured in Businessweek and Fortune, says he was “humbled” by the people he met at the event. Lisa Nichols, a bestselling author and featured guru in The Secret, said this was perhaps the only event where she didn’t just fly in to speak – she decided to stay because of the people.

It’s also interesting to note that about one third of Awesomeness Fest participants are professional speakers. These are the kind of people who speak at TED events, write bestselling books and start award-winning companies. And yet they come to Awesomeness Fest not only to speak, but to connect and listen. This is what makes Awesomeness Fest truly unique.

Awesomeness Fest really is about the people, and as a result it’s strictly by invite only. We intentionally limit the event to no more than 250 – 300 people, so we can keep it intimate. If you’d like to receive an invite, the first step is to sign up. We’ll then get in touch with you, and figure out whether you’re a good fit.

When we came up with Awesomeness Fest back in March 2010, we saw it as a natural extension of our company Mindvalley’s mission – “to spread enlightened ideas” in business, personal growth and contribution.

Because after being in the personal growth publishing industry for over 8 years, we came to a realization: the single most effective way to spread enlightened ideas is to first present them to thought leaders. In turn, these leaders share the ideas with their tribes.

That was the first realization. The second was that hey, thought leaders are fun people. They’d rather be networking than sitting at a boring seminar. They’re rather be on the beach than in a board room. And learning’s always more effective when it’s fun.

Putting one and one together, we hosted our first Awesomeness Fest in December 2010 in Costa Rica. It was a massive success.

But after the first event, we realized Awesomeness Fest was far more than just an ideas summit – it was a movement. A-list speakers were waiving their fees. Volunteers were pitching in to help. Word soon spread. All because people believed in the cause.

It didn’t take long for us to make a crucial decision: Awesomeness Fest would be a non-profit organization that exists to serve its participants, and the rest of the world.

From Awesomeness Fest 2011 onwards, every cent of profit we make will go towards creating even more amazing experiences for our tribe, and contributing to charitable causes chosen by us. Last year, we were giving back to Lynne Twist’s Pachamama Alliance, a foundation that helps preserve over 8 million acres of rainforest in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Just how far can Awesomeness Fest go? Join us in 2012, and let’s find out!

Vishen Lakhiani