February 24-26, 2009
Fort Worth Convention Center

Opening Keynote
Eric Chester
"Generation Why"

Note new time: This year's conference opening session kicks off on Tuesday at 1:30pm.

Look on the front lines of your business. Standing between you and your profits are those talented, weird looking, impossible-to-understand 18-to-24-year-olds. And if you’re not connecting with them, they are not connecting with your customers, and you are leaving all kinds of money on the table. In short, your front line is the key to your bottom line.

Eric Chester is the premier expert on Generation Why; in fact, he coined the term. Since 1986, Eric Chester has been speaking to, and working with Generation Why youth. He has personally addressed more than two million teenagers and is dialed-in to the mindset of this burgeoning generation. He frequently appears on national media (ABC News 20/20, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, etc.) to provide commentary on those coming of age.

Eric is the Founder & President of Generation Why, Inc., a training and consulting firm offering insight, perspective and strategies to leading companies and organizations to help them recruit, train, manage, motivate, and retain the very best of this new generation. His newest book Getting Them to Give a Damn - How to Get Your Front Line to Care About Your Bottom Line (Dearborn, 2005) is getting rave reviews and is a must read for business professionals.

Eric is a Certified Speaking Professional and a 2004 inductee into the CPAE International Speakers Hall of Fame, an honor shared by less than 2% of all professional speakers in the world. His clients include Toys R Us, International Dairy Queen, Harley-Davidson, Arby’s, Wells Fargo, and Universal Studios Theme Parks.

Eric’s greatest depth of experience with Generation Why, though, comes from his critical role as father/stepfather to four Gen Why youth now aged 19 to 24. He lives “in the trenches” each day, offering assistance to prepare his two sons and two daughters for the changing world they are helping to mold.

Eric and his wife Lori live in Golden, Colorado.