Part-TED conference, part off-the-hook spring break, Summit Series 2011 was an extraordinary experience that I am proud to have been part of. My mind and body are still humming in excitement. I gave one performance on Saturday to a packed auditorium of 200 people, including top authors, scientists, entrepreneurs, astronauts and scholars. They generously gave me a standing ovation, and mobbed me the rest of the weekend. I’d call it a mutual fan club.

Summit Series 2011 was held on a cruise ship sailing out of the Port of Miami to a private, undisclosed island in the Bahamas. For three days, one thousand hand-picked people shared ideas, gave presentations, built friendships and expanded our horizons. The slogan of Summit at Sea was, “You can’t discover new lands until you have courage to lose sight of the shore…”

According to this great article in Fast Company magazine that describes Summit Series: “Daily meditation is followed by expert panels on altruism, revelry, and innovation; shark-tagging; and partying in the 24-hour music pavilion, headlined by the Roots. If it seems over the top, that’s the whole point.”

Here’s the ship we were on, the Celebrity Century. It was my first cruise ship experience:

The official band of Summit Series was The Roots, and they played each night on the roof deck. Other musical artists were Eric Lewis (an extraordinary pianist) and Imogen Heap (whose voice is like an angel). The best part was that all of the artists, including myself, were encouraged to participate and mingle with the conference attendees and with each other. I had breakfast one morning with members of The Roots, and they were incredibly cool guys.

NY Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss sat in the front row of my show, and we became friends during the course of the weekend. I had him sign my copy of Four Hour Body (his latest book), and we discussed how I’ve started the diet and exercise regimen he proposes:

Some of the amazing speakers included Sean Stephenson, the Three Foot Giant:

Sir Richard Branson:

Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms Shoes:

Russell Simmons:

and Peter Theil, founder of Paypal:

I also enjoyed meeting Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world, and the first black pilot to do so. We have a mutual friend, and hit it off immediately.

Here’s a photo of me in my state room, getting ready for my show

Originally I was supposed to do only one show for 60 people, but once the 60 seats filled up, I was told that another 180 people were waiting to come in. So we squeezed in (!) 200 people total, and sadly sent away the rest. Needless to say, I had a sensational time with this group.

On Sunday we left the ship and tendered to a private island in the Bahamas. I was pretty wiped out from my recent touring schedule, so I spent much of the day there sleeping in the shade. However, there were amazing activities available including survival training, water slides, beach volleyball, Power Strike workouts, lucid dreaming seminars, kayaking, rafting and many more. I had lunch with the former governor of West Virginia and his wife.

The Summit Series curated an exceptional group of individuals and created unique scenarios for us to interact. I look forward to staying in touch with my many new friends and can offer ways to help them achieve their goals.

Takeaway from Summit at Sea?? “MAKE NO SMALL PLANS”