I'm not usually a name dropper, but today's blog requires that I drop a lot of them. This morning's Opening Ceremonies alone had more big names than most red carpet reports.

The Barry Manilow Theater in the Hilton Hotel is famously the last remaining historic showroom in Las Vegas and the one-time stage home-away-from-home to the King himself, Elvis Presley. IDEA's sizzling opener proved worthy of such hallowed ground.

After a percussive wake up call by Carrie Ekins and the Drums Alive™ crew, the morning glided into the prestigous IDEA Health & Fitness Awards (congrats to Nicki Anderson, PJ O'Clair and Shirley Archer for their respective honors as Personal Trainer, Program Director and Group Exercise Instructor of the year). Former President Bill Clinton taped a substantial spot recognizing and personally thanking IDEA members for their volunteer role in IDEA's partnership with the Clinton Foundation's and American Heart Association's Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Next, KABA Modern, a fly hip hop group that was featured as a finalist on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew and won the 2007 Hip Hop International Dance Competition, cranked up the energy even higher with a seriously phat dance groove.

Next, 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon Dan O'Brien appeared from backstage (and, ladies don't forget his invitation to visit his booth in the Expo for hugs) to introduce 2008 IDEA Inspiration Award winner 22-year old Brian Boyle. This is a young man I have a feeling we'll be hearing much more about in the future. His is a miracle story: Four years ago a speeding dump truck slammed into the driver's side of his car as he drove home from swim practice. He was rushed to the hospital, basically dead on arrival. He was taken into surgery, where his heart stopped and was restarted EIGHT TIMES. He woke up very slowly after a chemically induced coma and made his way back to the land of the living. His dream before the accident was to go to college and make the swim team (both of which he did), and one day compete in an Ironman triathlon. Some said he'd be lucky to even walk again. To prove the naysayers wrong, he walked across the finish line last October at the Ironman tri in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii--after he swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles (minus the couple of steps at the end tape, for emphasis). And guess what? He became a personal trainer because he wants to help people realize the joy of movement. He promised the IDEA crowd this morning he'd make us all proud. Okay. Goosebumps.  After such a courageous journey back, I'll believe anything this kid tells me.   

Finally, best selling relationship author John Gray, PhD, (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and 15 other books), capped off the morning with his dry witted and often hilarious insights.

All those names in one session that ended by 10:15 AM. What a fantastic running start to the convention! In case you missed it or would like to see some of the names and news dropped here,  access the recorded streaming video link of the opening ceremonies on the IDEA home page.

Industry Trends

Always one of the most insightful and enlightening sessions at IDEA World is the trends panel with the three IDEA Award winners. Look for indepth coverage of Nicki's, PJ's and Shirley's perspectives on their speciaty areas--and analysis of what those views could mean for your future in the industry-- in the September issue of IDEA Fit TIps & News, our free monthly e-newsletter, and in the October issue of IDEA Fitness Journal.

Mingling at the presenter reception is in my immediate future along with some more video capture (holy point and shoot, Batman! Having loads of fun with my [er, I mean, IDEA's] new little camera!) and the tedious upload that goes with it. I'm off into the Vegas evening...talk to you tomorrow.