Return on Wellness

Olympian Meeting

5.0 (1)
Health & Fitness
Updated Monthly

Return on Wellness brings together world-renowned experts ranging from board certified doctors, researchers, and event industry leaders, who reveal how wellness strategies can transform events, boost engagement, and drive real business impact. Get cutting-edge insights and actionable takeaways from the brightest minds in the field.

Aug 25

Is Your Agenda Too Loud? Jesse Israel on Quiet, Noise, and Mindful Event Design

What if mindfulness at events is less about adding a meditation break and more about being mindful of what we are asking participants to do in the first place? In this episode of Return on Wellness, David T. Stevens sits down with Jesse Israel, founder of The Big Quiet, for a conversation about quiet, noise, AI, nervous system regulation, and the future of mindful event design. Jesse’s work has brought large groups of people together through collective quiet at festivals, arenas, corporate events, and on Oprah’s tour. But this conversation is not just about meditation. It is about the noise participants bring into the room: the noise of the world, the noise in their heads, and the noise in their bodies. For meeting and event professionals, that matters. We ask participants to travel, learn, network, listen, decide, connect, retain information, attend receptions, answer emails, show up for breakfast, and somehow leave with enough energy to go back to work and use what they learned. Then we design agendas that give them almost no room to breathe. David and Jesse talk about why quiet is not dead space, why over-programmed agendas are not the same as valuable agendas, how AI is increasing the need for human-centered programming, and why food, white space, and recovery need to be part of the strategy if we expect people to pay attention, connect, remember, and actually use what they learned. Because your agenda may look full, but their nervous systems and their devices know whether it worked. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Return on Wellness00:52 Meet Jesse “The Jess-Man” Israel01:45 Music, MGMT, panic attacks, and finding meditation03:00 Creating quiet backstage at festivals04:10 Leopard print, bucket hats, and the Jess-Man story06:45 What people get wrong about quiet08:10 Why quiet matters now, especially with AI09:45 The three types of noise11:00 Solitude deprivation and distraction13:20 Sleep, hotel rooms, and the noise in the body15:45 Hustle culture vs. quiet as performance19:00 Quieting the body, not just the mind21:30 Why white space matters22:50 What changes when groups get quiet together25:30 Why agendas do not leave room for quiet27:00 How to pitch quiet to executives and planners28:00 Zone of genius and quiet beyond meditation30:30 Conference-focused mindfulness31:40 Why under five minutes can be enough33:00 Storytelling, emotion, and quiet in corporate keynotes34:45 Quiet, connection, meaning, and service36:15 Discomfort, courage, and sharing your gifts38:30 Failure, growth, and good stress39:30 The future of meetings and human programming42:00 Phone-free events and wanting to feel human again44:00 Pairing AI speakers with human-centered programming45:00 How AI can support presence46:00 Where to start: phone boundaries and Opal49:00 Why the first 30 minutes of the day matter50:00 What events need to stop doing51:30 What events need to start doing52:00 Email breaks, family time, and treating participants like people54:00 Final wrap
Jul 28

Your Participants Are Lying to You. Their Bodies Aren’t. with Dr. Paul Zak

Your participants may tell you the event was great. Their bodies know whether it actually mattered. In this episode of Return on Wellness, David T. Stevens sits down with Dr. Paul Zak, behavioral neuroscientist, professor, author, and founder of Immersion Neuroscience, to talk about what our brains and bodies reveal about live experiences that traditional event surveys often miss. Paul’s work explores what the brain actually values in real time. Not what people politely report afterward. Not what they think they remember. Not what they say because they are trying to be nice. What the body knows. This conversation takes direct aim at one of the most overused words in meetings and events: engagement. A person sitting in a ballroom is not necessarily engaged. A person attending a session is not automatically learning. A person saying “great keynote” may simply be giving you the socially acceptable answer. So what should event professionals be measuring instead? David and Paul explore neurologic immersion, dopamine, oxytocin, emotional fitness, social connection, movement, recovery, AI, in-person experiences, and why the future of event ROI needs to be much more human. One of the biggest takeaways from the conversation is Paul’s research around “key moments,” neurologically valuable moments that help people thrive. According to Paul, people need about six of these moments a day to support emotional fitness, and most of those moments are social. That has major implications for conferences, trade shows, incentives, corporate meetings, training programs, leadership retreats, and any live experience built around human attention, trust, connection, and memory. The hallway conversation matters. The coffee line matters. The movement break matters. The shared laugh matters. The closing moment matters. The design of the agenda matters. This episode is for event professionals, meeting planners, corporate event leaders, conference organizers, hospitality leaders, wellness strategists, and anyone who wants to understand how live experiences can create measurable human value. Return on Wellness is brought to you by Caesars Entertainment. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Return on Wellness01:20 Why Dr. Paul Zak measures what the brain loves02:20 What it means for humans to truly thrive03:35 Emotional fitness and six key moments a day06:30 Why social connection is required for flourishing08:30 Awe vs. wow in live experiences11:10 Why the brain remembers emotional stories13:00 Why “engagement” is hard to measure14:25 What the brain reveals that surveys miss18:00 How wearables can measure neurologic immersion20:05 Why the brain can predict hit songs21:40 Why attendee surveys fall short26:30 What event professionals are measuring wrong27:30 Training, attention, and 20-minute learning windows30:00 How to rethink the 60-minute keynote33:00 Dopamine, phones, and social media37:30 Why short stories can still create emotional impact40:00 Movement, reflection, and learning design43:35 Why in-person events matter in the age of AI47:10 What group experiences do to the brain49:20 Social connection and key moments52:20 Redesigning corporate events around human value53:05 Why shared movement changes the room56:45 How to avoid wellness theater59:20 Measurement, ethics, and manipulation63:10 Why events need a stronger ending64:55 What event professionals should stop doing65:10 One thing that helps participants thrive
Jul 15 · Bonus

How AI Rebuilt a $50K Event Strategy Deck in Five Hours with Amanda Young

Amanda Young, Senior Director of Events at ConnectWise, joins David T. Stevens live from Cvent CONNECT to discuss how AI is changing event strategy, marketing measurement, and the role of corporate event teams. Amanda shares how she used ChatGPT, Claude, and Gamma to recreate an event strategy deck in five hours that had previously cost $50,000 and taken eight weeks to produce. They also explore why event technology is becoming martech, how event leaders can connect events to pipeline and revenue, the growing importance of field events, and why internal teams must move beyond logistics and become more strategic. Amanda closes with the career advice that changed how she evaluates every event: stop focusing only on what the room costs and start understanding what the room is worth. AI for event planners, AI in event planning, event marketing, event strategy, event marketing ROI, event measurement, event technology, event tech, martech, Cvent CONNECT, Cvent, Amanda Young, ConnectWise, ChatGPT for event planners, Claude AI, Gamma AI, AI agents, field marketing, field events, experiential marketing, corporate events, event planning careers, event pipeline, David T. Stevens, Return on Wellness, Olympian Meeting
Jun 30

Ayurveda Explained: Inflammation, Sleep, Travel & Event Burnout with Dr. Shivani Gupta

What is Ayurveda, and what can this 5,000-year-old system teach us about inflammation, sleep, travel, burnout, and the way we gather? In this episode we sit down with Dr. Shivani Gupta to make Ayurveda practical, grounded, and relevant for modern life and modern events. We explore doshas, circadian rhythm, gut health, “inflammaging,” nervous system regulation, food, recovery, community, and why event organizers should design experiences that help people leave energized instead of exhausted. Dr. Gupta describes Ayurveda as “the science of life,” a more than 5,000-year-old system of health and healing from India that looks at the whole person: digestion, sleep, energy, circadian rhythm, prevention, inflammation, stress, and the reality that different bodies may need different kinds of support. This conversation goes beyond Ayurveda as an individual wellness practice. It asks a bigger question: If people bring their bodies, nervous systems, digestion, sleep debt, stress, and social needs into every event, why are those things so often ignored in event design? In this episode, David and Dr. Gupta discuss: • What Ayurveda actually is • Why Ayurveda is not just turmeric, supplements, or a personality quiz • How Vata, Pitta, and Kapha can help people understand patterns in their body• Why inflammation often starts in the gut• The concept of “inflammaging” • How circadian rhythm affects sleep, energy, digestion, and recovery • Why travel can push the body into stress mode • What event organizers often get wrong about food, hydration, timing, and recovery • Why shared meals and community matter • How conferences can help people leave more regulated, not more depleted • Dr. Gupta’s book, The Inflammation Code, and where to start This episode is not about turning every meeting into a wellness retreat. It is about designing gatherings with the human body in mind. If you have ever left a conference feeling like you needed three days to recover, or if you plan events and want participants to leave better than they arrived, this conversation is worth your time. Guest: Dr. Shivani Gupta Book: The Inflammation Code Host:David T. Stevens 00:00 Introduction 01:12 What is Ayurveda? 02:12 Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine 03:15 Is Ayurveda evidence-based? 04:20 Circadian rhythm and the body’s internal clocks 05:25 What people get wrong about Ayurveda 06:20 Why Ayurveda is having a moment 08:35 The problem with dismissing ancient practices 10:00 Science, skepticism, and critical thinking 13:15 Doshas explained: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha 16:00 Why body type matters in Ayurveda 17:20 Signs your body may be out of balance 19:20 Doshas as awareness, not excuses 21:00 Inflammation, gut health, and “inflammaging” 23:10 What conference food has to do with inflammation 26:15 Travel stress, airports, and circadian disruption 33:30 The 7-day inflammation reset34:35 Morning practices: sunlight, hydration, grounding 36:15 Why Ayurveda recommends a bigger lunch 37:30 Evening routines and sleep hygiene 38:00 Dry brushing and Abhyanga massage 40:00 Community, shared meals, and collective energy 42:00 Three event design lessons from Ayurveda 43:30 Food, filtered water, tea, and better hospitality 44:00 Respecting circadian rhythm in event agendas 44:30 White space, decompression, and recovery rooms 46:00 Arrival experience, hotels, and healthy options 49:00 Sound baths, Circadian Cove, and recovery design 51:15 The Inflammation Code 53:35 What people should stop doing immediately 56:40 Where to find Dr. Shivani Gupta
May 26

It’s Not Rocket Science, It’s Neuroscience | How Better Event Agenda Design Improves Retention

In this episode of Return on Wellness, David T. Stevens sits down with cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Heather Collins to explore how event agendas shape attention, cognitive overload, memory, retention, and real human capacity. They unpack why so many conferences are still designed to cram in as much information as possible, even though that is not how the human brain learns best. Together, they dig into the difference between wow and awe, what happens when attendees get cognitively flooded, why breaks and reflection matter more than most planners realize, and how social interaction can actually amplify content instead of distract from it. They also get practical about session pacing, speaker placement, environmental distractions, curiosity, and what event professionals should rethink if they want people to leave with more than just full notebooks and fried nervous systems. If you work in meetings, events, hospitality, learning, or organizational leadership, this conversation will challenge the way you think about agenda design and attendee experience. In this episode: Why packed agendas create cognitive overload instead of better learning How working memory and attention affect retention The difference between wow and awe in live experiences Why breaks, movement, and reflection are must-haves, not nice-to-havesHow social interaction acts as a content amplifierThe question every planner should ask: are you trying to pack more in, or help people remember more?Chapters 00:00 Intro: why event agendas need neuroscience01:07 Meet Dr. Heather Collins02:25 Why conferences still cram in too much information04:38 What happens when an agenda creates cognitive overload06:25 Attention, working memory, and why overload kills retention08:37 Sleep, memory consolidation, and learning that sticks09:48 Energized vs cognitively flooded11:16 Cognitive capacity and behavior change12:00 Wow vs awe in event design14:16 How to spot overload in yourself and your attendees17:03 Attention as a limited resource18:41 Why breaks need to be longer19:48 Social interaction as a content amplifier21:09 Awe, wonderment, and why white space matters23:39 Shower thoughts, white space, and the default mode network26:52 Quiet rooms, nature, pauses, and reflection points30:11 How information gets encoded into memory32:42 What undermines retention at events37:40 Breaks, reflection, movement, and test-enhanced learning40:41 How much content can people actually absorb?42:42 The key tradeoff: pack more in or help people remember43:25 Best break lengths for 20-minute, 60-minute, and back-to-back sessions44:17 How to design a conference day for genuine human capacity47:22 QR code overload, paper handouts, and the role of play49:18 What to cut from a typical event agenda50:18 Curiosity, novelty, and keeping people mentally available53:54 The TAP framework: tune in, activate memory, play and be curious56:24 What an ideal conference day actually looks like1:06:48 The engagement myth planners need to drop1:07:17 What a high-capacity agenda really feels like
May 13

Well-Being Drives Performance: Toxic Culture, Leadership, and Events | Mark C. Crowley

Well-being is not a perk. It is a performance condition. In this in-person episode of Return On Wellness, I sit down with Mark C. Crowley, author of Lead From The Heart and The Power of Employee Well-Being, to talk about workplace well-being, toxic culture, and the leadership behaviors that actually change business outcomes. We get real about what makes workplaces toxic, why “engagement” has not delivered, and why corporate events, off sites, and SKOs can either reinforce dysfunction or become a true flashpoint for meaningful cultural change. If you lead people, plan meetings, or influence culture, this is the conversation. Guest: Mark C. Crowley Host: David T Stevens Timestamps 00:00 Welcome + why this conversation matters 00:41 Mark’s background and the core thesis 01:45 Why 2026 is the turning point for worker well-being 03:41 Well-being and performance, what leaders still misunderstand 10:31 Why many corporate events are unintentionally depleting 16:29 Engagement surveys vs real well-being, what is broken 28:54 Early warning signs a workplace is turning toxic 44:47 Friendship, belonging, and connection as business drivers 55:32 Can events and offsites reset culture and drive outcomes? 01:10:15 The simplest leadership move that proves you care 01:14:20 Wrap up Links Mark’s articles: https://markccrowley.com/articles/ Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markccrowley/ Topics Workplace well-being, employee well-being, toxic workplaces, leadership, culture, psychological safety, burnout prevention, events as culture change, offsites, SKO, business performance
Apr 28

The Future of Wellness Is Human Flourishing with Sean Hoess

What does wellness look like when you strip away the hype and get back to what actually helps people live better? In this episode of Return On Wellness, I sit down with Sean Hoess, Founder and CEO of Eudēmonia Summit, for a conversation about human flourishing, community, credibility, and the future of wellness. We get into the meaning behind Eudēmonia, Sean’s path into building one of the most talked-about wellness gatherings in the space, and why the next chapter of wellness may have less to do with optimization and more to do with connection, curation, and experiences that actually help people feel better. We also unpack the tension between science and hype, the role of wellness influencers, what event professionals still get wrong, and why shared experiences may be more powerful than many people realize. This is a conversation for anyone working at the intersection of wellness, hospitality, meetings, events, and human performance. Episode Highlights What human flourishing really means Why Sean built Eudēmonia Summit The tension between evidence and hype in wellness Why community matters more than people think What event professionals can learn from wellness-first design The backlash to over-optimization Sean’s own wellness non-negotiables
Feb 24

Burnout, Resilience, and the “Always On” Trap

If you work in hospitality or events, you already know the truth: the job can feel like you are always on. In this episode of Return On Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Thomas Padron (PhD, CMP, CHE, CWP) to unpack what is driving burnout right now, why “resilience” is often used as a polite way of saying “push through,” and what it actually looks like to build human sustainability without sacrificing performance. We get into the real drivers behind the pressure, how leadership can stop performing wellness and start operationalizing it, and why “we’re all in the same boat” is a myth that blocks real support. Subscribe for more conversations on wellness as a performance strategy for the real world of meetings and events. Guest: Dr. Thomas Padron (PhD, CMP, CHE, CWP)Host: David T StevensSeries: Return On Wellness What we cover: The “always on” culture in hospitality and events, and why it burns people out What resilience actually means, and why the same advice does not work for everyone Why leadership empathy and follow-through matter more than motivational slogans Where wellness initiatives go wrong, and how to make them practical What the next generation is demanding from employers right now The future lens: AI, wellness, and how leaders stay relevant Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and sponsor01:00 Meet Dr. Thomas Padron09:00 The “always on” trap and burnout13:00 What resilience really means16:00 Leadership, empathy, and boundaries25:00 Wellness vs wellness washing in the workplace35:00 What students and young pros want now45:00 Practical changes leaders can implement54:00 Closing: AI, wellness, and what’s next hospitality, events industry, meeting planner, event planner, burnout, resilience, always on culture, workplace wellbeing, mental health, leadership, boundaries, employee wellbeing, sustainable performance, human sustainability, hospitality leadership, meetings and conferences, career longevity, future of work, AI and work, Return On Wellness, David T Stevens, Thomas Padron

Trailer

Return on Wellness (Trailer)

Return on Wellness

Return on Wellness brings together world-renowned experts ranging from board certified doctors, researchers, and event industry leaders, who reveal how wellness strategies can transform events, boost engagement, and drive real business impact. Get cutting-edge insights and actionable takeaways from the brightest minds in the field.

Creator

Olympian Meeting
Years Active

2023 - 2026
Episodes

51
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Olympian Meeting
Show Website

Return on Wellness