Frequently Asked Questions

The Believe in Better Project started in 2018 during an intimate and inspirational two-day gathering in Duluth, Minnesota. It continued in 2019 with another equally inspirational two-day gathering. In 2020, The Project was interrupted by the pandemic. This year, it goes virtual.

Each Project gathering is unique and includes visionaries and changemakers from across the nation coming together in the face of a health care system that is “broken” in too many ways for too many people. It is designed to foster new thoughts, perspectives and dialogue—the building blocks for change. The aim: to jump-start ideas and actions to start fixing health care in big and small ways, right now.

People who believe in better, and are doing something about it. With a limited number of attendees and presenters, you’ll be here with change-makers from health systems, the private sector, government and nonprofits. You’ll be exchanging ideas with entrepreneurs, CEOs, authors, marketers, front-line health providers and more.

Our speakers come from across the U.S. and Mexico, from New York and Florida to Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, California, Cancun, Alaska and beyond. They’ve successfully introduced new ways of practicing, delivering and perceiving health via different therapeutic modalities, business models, design and processes, as well as direct care, coaching, entrepreneurship, lobbying and counseling.

This is not your ordinary conference, because it’s not really a conference. The Believe in Better Project was created In the spirit of a Nantucket or Aspen Ideas Festival, only with much greater intimacy, engagement and focus. You’ll be part of an unfolding conversation into how we can make a difference for health care, right now, as leaders and front line workers. Because our perspectives and voices matter.

The event is structured so that speakers and attendees can connect—and so you can become inspired and energized. Over the course of two days, you will engage with speakers who take a TEDx approach to presenting a 20-minute “talk of their life,” followed by question and answer discussions. There are no competing sessions to choose from. This is a carefully crafted experience where participants can have a cohesive conversation, focus on issues together and approach ideas from different vantage points.

Here are some takeaways you can count on:

• Get a full 360-degree view of how to impact positive changes in health care.
• Learn from leaders and change agents across the health ecosystem: from CEOs of fast-growth health care organizations, to thought leaders in health policy and management, to health care professionals tackling the urgent issues confronting their communities.
• Connect and network with other like-minded individuals from organizations all over the country.
• Discover insights for every kind of health care leader—ideas worth taking back to improve your health care organization.
• Benefit from ongoing post-conference content that you and your organization can share and expand upon, and continue to be part of a bigger conversation. For the better.

Past speaking topics have included: innovative medicine, the basics of addiction, the neuroscience of unconscious bias, creating gender conscious workplaces, how mobile and virtual providers are disrupting health care, the role of emotional healing in a patient’s journey and the benefits and challenges of medical marijuana. Watch the videos here.

Topics for the 2021 event will be centered around how changemakers from across the health ecosystem are using resilience as a roadmap to successfully create better health care for the individuals and communities they serve. Strategies, tools and resources that health care leaders and marketers in the pandemic trenches are putting to use right now will be discussed. And, you’ll learn how you can renew and refuel your commitment to care for yourself so you can keep caring for others. Learn more about our 2021 speakers and their areas of expertise on the speaker bio pages. You can also view the agenda for the 2019 Believe in Better Project.

You’ll receive insights and connections to inspire change and advance your organization’s mission. Attending means you’re part of the Project. Your voice and perspective will help shape its ideas and outcome. You will be able to reflect the needs of your organization and the people it serves in the panel discussions and Q & A sessions, and you’ll end up with insights that improve your organization and the way your team impacts health care.

We’ll share videos of the sessions (a la TED) free to view on our website, and we’ll let you know when they’re available. But there’s nothing like the intimacy and engagement of connecting and spending time with other like-minded individuals like you. Plus, you get to help shape the Project by attending and being heard.