Canes in Cannes
DAY EIGHT
FESTIVAL DAY THREE!!!
Today we had another early start and my friends and I walked straight to the Woman's Equality Lounge to see Alix Earle and Kim Farrell's talk, The Power of Authentic Platforms. I felt that Alix's talk here seemed Significantly more genuine and authentic than her one at the amazon tent which I found interesting. Alix Earle had just finished her talk and we got the chance to talk with her again and she remembered us (mostly Connor) from the other day which was a sweet moment. I then grabbed some breakfast and sat down for another talk called Game Changers: The Women Telling A New Sports Story hosted by MJ Day, Colie Edison, Kath Swallow, Jessica Berman, Kamal Bhandal, Brandi Ray and Vanessa Buenger. They discussed how changing the media ecosystem and the generational increase in rivalries will help grow and continue progress in women's sports. There was also a great quote from Brandi Ray where she explained how her, "son plays for the Giants while her daughter plays for the Diamonds" and I thought that was an interesting point to note because even the names of youth sports teams hold sexist beliefs.
After another lovely morning at the Woman's Sports Lounge, I rushed to get into line for Elon Musks talk at the Palais, Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk. The line for this talk went throughout the entire Palais and after going I completely understand why. I had known little about Elon Musk before Cannes but this talk had my jaw on the floor the entire time. Elon was describing all of this almost sci-fi technology he has developed and tested. I think the two big takeaways that stuck with me was the description of his Neurolink technology that has already been tested and works, and the fact that Elon believes there will eventually be 20 billion Elon Musk robots on Earth. Overall, such a mind-blowing talk, not sure how much of it I should truly believe because anything Elon says should be taken with a grain of salt, but for sure it was a fascinating thirty minutes.
Then I headed back out to the Terrace for the Comedy is Hard AF hosted by Greg Hahn, David Shane, Julie Matheny, and Ed Night. This talk was not my favorite, it felt like they were all trying to hard to be funny and it was backfiring. I wish I spent my time going to the Secret Speaker talk however I get get the takeaways that comedy is about discomfort and timing is everything.
Next I headed back to the Pinterest tent for a little before hopping onto the shuttle to the Woman's Sports House. We took a twenty minute shuttle up these steep hills and arrived at a gorgeous, white mansion. I think we stayed here for maybe five hours and listened to so many different talks. I'm going to speed round list the talks and what I enjoyed and learned below:
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1. One-on-One with Linda Yaccarino
Thought it was interesting to hear her perspective compared to Elons since they both work with X. I also learned about their AI Grok, the best truth-seeking AI product currently.
2. The Future of Sports Illustrated's Iconic Swimsuit Edition with MJ Day and Steve Canella
They talked about the idea that covering woman's sports is just as normal for Sports Illustrated as covering mens sports is and I learned that woman's college softball gets more views than mens college baseball which was mind-blowing to me. I also was able to approach MJ Day and her Director of Strategic Communications, Paige Graham, before MJ's talk and we were able to talk for thirty minutes, I got Paige's LinkedIN, and she even hugged me goodbye! Such a cool moment I will take with me forever.
3. McLaren, F1 and the New York Stock Exchange with Zak Brown, Louise McEwen, Lando Norris and Stephanie Dobbs Brown
This talk covered similar points to ones I had been listening to at the Woman's Equality Lounge, but they did emphasize the point that woman's sports makes money, so more companies should be working to promote them.
4. Sara Fischer in conversation with Sophia Bush and José Andrés
This was the second time we saw Sophia Bush and she truly is so poised and well spoken. However for me this time, the star of the show was José Andrés. He was incredibly engaging, funny and a fantastic storyteller. He talked about how a menu is the way a chef connects with an audience and share his beliefs through food. He also shared many heartwarming stories about being a father to his daughters which was so nice to hear about. He was one of my favorite talks of the week.
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WOMANS SPORTS HOUSE CONTENT
We ended up staying so late at the Woman's Sports House that we skipped the award show and went and had a nice dinner and checked out some of the fun social areas around the festival. Once again, another incredible day with such amazing experiences.