What better way to bring people together than with the power of music? That’s how we ended this year’s conference, reinforcing our “Stronger Together” theme and sending everyone home energized and excited.
Patrick “Pac Man” Perez injected a dose of energy into the closing keynote session by leading the crowd through different generations’ signature dance moves, and then bringing youth and adults together on stage for a dance-off. Watch a video clip here to get an idea of why the guys’ team won.
Patrick “Pac Man” Perez gets the crowd moving during the closing keynote session.
Then Dr. Raphael Travis led the group in a discussion about how music can connect and inspire people, and even help them overcome struggles and depression. He focused in particular on hip hop, and how both its hooks and lyrics can particularly resonate with those who are facing challenges in life.
Dr. Raphael Travis taught the audience about the power of hip-hop during the closing keynote session.
And we did manage to squeeze in a little more learning before our time in Houston was over– we started out day three with one last session of workshops, with both youth and adults participating again. This round of workshops taught skills for de-stressing, being mindful of “digital wellness” in an age of social media, developing leadership qualities, using guided imagery and affirmation, and more. Hopefully, everyone left with some new ideas to apply in their own lives and work.
We are so grateful to all of our sponsors who made this year’s conference possible, and to the exhibitors who spent the full three days with us sharing information about their services and providing us with lots of cool swag.
Thank you to all of the amazing sponsors of TNOYS’ 33rd annual conference!
We’ll be back next year with another exciting conference. In the meantime, we’ll be bringing trainings and events to different cities across the state, so don’t forget to keep an eye on our events page.