Book Thinkers Live Event, The Importance Of Attending Live Events, Dance Jam

We just got back from Book Thinkers in Boston — an event built by Nick Hutchison and his team — and it cracked open more doors than we expected. In this episode, Kyahnasun and Anamika unpack why live events matter more than ever in an AI-driven world, what it was like publicly launching Dance Jam for the first time, and the real magic of human connection you can't replicate over Zoom.

We talk about:

• Why the "aliveness factor" is missing from most live events, and how Dance Jam fixes it
• Launching Dance Jam live at Book Thinkers — what worked, what we're refining, and the long-term vision (yes, including an app and a global "one billion people lit up and dancing" goal)
• The case for prioritizing live events in your business, even when it costs money (hint: it's a write-off, and the ROI is community)
• Speed-reading journey with Jim Kwik, sub-vocalization, and actually implementing what you read
• Unlearning bad reading and public speaking habits from school — and why the thing you're most scared of is usually the thing you're meant to do
• Toastmasters, filler words, and learning to sit in silence instead of filling it
• A shoutout to keynote speaker Amberly Lago and Jim Kwik's room-igniting rock-paper-scissors moment
• Why play is a business strategy, not a distraction

Book a Dance Jam for your next event or business at diamondlightning.com

Dance Jam on Instagram @officialdancejam and TikTok @officialdancejam

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Three, two, one.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

We just came back from an incredible event about a week ago called Book Thinkers in Boston, and it was put together by Nick Hutchison and his team. If you guys didn't know, we're huge book nerds, so this was really a treat. And it's so cool because this event has sparked so many new projects for us and opened doors, and we're just really excited to get started.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, this event really up-leveled a lot of things. I'm almost speechless because we're still integrating. It has been a week since we've gone. The people we met, the community, the ideas, the new projects that spawned from it. When we say life-changing, it really is because when there's crossroads that you face and you take action or have a vision of a new project to unfold, like these are life-changing events. And this event was like kind of a surprise. Yeah. The sequence of events, it is clearly magical and destino, I would say, because we didn't even know about the event. But our good friend Julie Logan, who is a wonderful entrepreneur and marketer and Bye, Julie! I know, and podcaster. She actually informed us of the event and invited us. And from there, it just grew and expanded and expanded to just open so many doors. Yes. And we we did launch Dance Jam there, and that was incredible. That's our fun game that we've started this year to become a world-wide, fantastic game to ripple into the world more light and fun and playfulness, because that's our brand, right? Within all of our projects with Diamond Lightning, Lights on Podcast. That is our mission to positively affect people by lighting them up and bringing more playfulness into all of their projects, to every community, to every project, to every business.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

And the thing about Dance Jam, it's so lighthearted and it just brings lightness and flow into wherever you're inputting the game. And I feel like businesses really need that because it's it's oftentimes really stuffy. The business could be going down, but I think just adding that element of play can really change something.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I mean, not to be gravitas, but dance jam is life. It's light, it's playfulness, it's aliveness and lightheartedness. A lot of systems and businesses and communities are it's almost like dead energy. I find that so many events are missing the aliveness factor. Like you can have incredible speakers that are enthusiastic with just heart-wrenching and life-changing stories and inspiration. I love that, especially when they're very integrated, like they are the real deal. And an important piece that is missing in a lot of live events is the movement and playfulness factor. So that's why we create a dance jam to weave dance throughout these live events so that you're not sitting the whole time and you're not listening, absorbing all this information to the point where, you know, your body can only handle and integrate so much. Your mind can only take in so much information before you gotta move and before you could put dance jam it out, you know. It's definitely in our niche to be playful and how to bring events to another level of aliveness.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

And hey, if you want to book a dance jam, go to diamondlightning.com. Nice plug, girl.

unknown 3:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yeah. So that was a lot of fun to launch it. Thank you, Nick, for saying yes to the vision and inviting us into your incredible event. But back to book thinkers, the importance of attending live events is at an all-time high. I mean, they have always been the game changer for me since the last two decades. Every live event I've attended or worked at or presented has changed my life in a positive way. And I find that a lot of people don't prioritize attending live events in your interests, in your niches, in your profession. And whether you're you're attending or presenting or speaking, just finding ways to be involved, I think, is is the most important thing we can do right now. Because with AI and online Zoom meetings and all that, the human connection is number one. What I've seen across the board, the theme. AI can never replace that. Therefore, we need to nurture this human connection that is not prioritized in this modern day. And it is wonderful to rub shoulders against like-minded individuals with similar passions or curiosities. Bookthinkers totally hit that sweet spot for us because it was the convergence of great minds, innovators, business leaders, authors, publishers, entrepreneurs, content creators, and incredible speakers. And the goodness that came from that room was beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

And there's something, you're right, there's something magical about the human connection aspect because you never know who you will meet. Just by going to a live event, you're opening so many doors. Even if you just meet one person, it can change everything.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Right. We met so many incredible people that we hadn't met physically in person. We knew some of them online and from work from uh entrepreneurial projects, from marketing networks and podcasting networks. Shout out to Dragonfly. Woo! And just being able to see other people that we knew, friends, colleagues that also attended. So it's like a reunion, but also we widen our community by finding more beautiful people and entrepreneurs. And that is priceless. If we want to talk about price, like getting yourself to an event, I know can cost X amount of dollars, but if you prioritize it and you play your game to work that into your game, it is a tax write-off. It is part of your business and how you up a level yourself and your profession. I think it's make or break. We have to all get out there into the field to learn from the best, from professionals of their niches. And some of those speakers really revealed like areas that we're missing in our like gaps that we're missing in our businesses, and also the solution. So it's really a full circle. You're not just like left with problems, you're left with how to solve them and who can help solve them. Because everything is collaboration these days. We cannot do it alone. You know the game. You gotta expand out, find your peeps, your team, build it. And that was a really neat layer to bookthinkers who knew bookthinkers would up-level our business in multiple ways.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

And what's great about bookthinkers too, it's really encouraging younger generations and I guess all generations to read more. But also it's about implementing what you read. You can't just read a page and then forget all about it. You have to implement what you learn and take action.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, that's actually the most important piece because we can collect incredible information and steps from all the professionals, but if we don't implement it and take action, it's kind of a blow in the load, you know?

SPEAKER_03 7:20

I'm definitely guilty of forgetting what I just read because when I started my reading journey maybe three years ago, I was learning how to speed read from Jim Quick. Woohoo! Shout out to you. And it's it was so hard because there's this thing called sub-vocalization. It's that internal voice in your head when you read that we all learn from school, but it slows you down. And so what you do in speed reading is you're turning that off, but it's difficult for me because I've been it's been ingrained in my head. But uh because I was trying not to sub-vocalize, I was forgetting everything I was reading. But recently I've been been able to implement what I've been reading, which has been really cool. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah, I have seen you totally up your game in reading. I mean, you whip through books like uh about one a week, I'd say, which is amazing. And happy birthday, you just turned 19. Yeah. You are one of those leaders in making bringing books back. I mean, that's one of that's one of Nick Hutcheson's mission to bring reading back to the youth and make it important and cool. Because it is reading actually put me off in school because you're forced to read these boring ass texts, copy it, take a test, and there's no life in it. There's no curiosity because of the way we're taught that system works.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

And when you read a book for the first time because you want to, and it's because it's a subject or a book that you thoroughly enjoy, and it creates an entire world or fulfills a curiosity, that is the the game changer.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

And it's funny because now I'm a huge book lover, and it's just interesting how that system really turns it off. Even even some alternative schooling, it just it was not I was not implementing it correctly, and I was not learning in the way that I could have, because I learned in a different way.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Right. I would say that I didn't become an actual reader until the last two years, and thanks to Jim, Jim Quick, for being a huge proponent of improving my reading and comprehension, because in school the comprehension piece was my Achilles in school. I just I'd read it and it would go out the other ear, and I don't even know what I just read. And I didn't care, to be honest, because in that schooling system, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't care. Like I could get straight A's and 4.0's, but where's the passion? Where's the curiosity? Right. So I unlearned that and then relearned my way of learning as a functional adult. I had to unlearn what I learned in school, which I'm sure a lot of adults today are also doing or have done.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Unbrainwash yourself, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Unbrainwash, unstuck yourself in the last few years. The books I've read that have completely helped improve my life or inspired change or completely rattled my reality to the point where I'm like reintegrating new versions of myself in real time. That is incredible from a book. And the power in that of transformation from the right book, uh, wow. It's an incredible resource that doesn't cost much.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I would confess that I sucked at reading prior.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

I would be shaking and so scared when the book would come around. It's a popcorn reading or even at a theater program I was at.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yeah, but that's your speaking minds. Yeah, that's part of your speaking uh journey too. Yeah, it's interesting. And now you got a podcast. A job speaking. Right. I know, it's amazing. What growth. I know. So celebration. Woo woo woo woo. It's actually funny because you were young, too young to know how shit scared I was of public speaking. My whole body would collapse inside, I would freeze up, and my pits would start sweating. My heart would be up into my throat where I I'd be like, I'm not kidding, like a squawk bird. And I think it took me personally about two decades for public speaking because I didn't really attack it fearlessly and consistently. It would be like enough to take me out and be like, okay, there was too much. And then, like by the time the next round, it would be, you know, quite some time in between. But really, in the last 10 years, because of my mentor who helped me wring out all that gunk that was keeping me from just being, and the resistance and the fear, and and how I used to be paralyzed for speaking and singing publicly. There was this one time that he had me sing one of my songs on a Zoom call, and I kid you not. Like I knew and trusted his love and his uh devotion, I would say, to me coming into myself. So there was this element of trust where it clicked for me like I'm going to sound like complete shit and I'm going to be okay with it. And I was like sweating, and I knew he was gonna throw me the opportunity in the call. I just had that gut, like, I know I'm up next. And sure enough, he invited me into Kiana Son, sing us the song, and I gulped and squeaked out with my ukulele. One of the worst versions I could sing, and I loved every moment of it because in that moment it turned for me, it switched on where I knew what was inside me needed to get out, and I knew that it was gonna kill me if I didn't. So there's that element, right? I desperately wanted to outgrow this paralyzed, old, fearful version that just couldn't show up and deliver. The amount of failures I had, I can't even count them. Where I was given the opportunity, I felt paralyzed, I folded, and I didn't deliver. Man, that is that's like actually worse than death. Yeah. Knowing that you could deliver something that's beyond you, God given, let's say, you know, it is God given, and you can't deliver it because you are stuck in your own measly ego brain. Dang, that's rough.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

It's funny too, because what we're scared of is usually what we're meant to do. Totally. One thousand percent. You're meant to share your voice with the world, you're meant to public speak. Right. You too. I mean public speaking? What's you too? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And you're doing great, truly.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

We actually did Toastmasters, and that was quite the interesting journey. Yeah, it really helped. Toastmasters was fun because I love I love the table topics because it keeps you on your toes. It's it's basically you're getting an impromptu question and they randomly select a person, and then you have to go up in front and answer it.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, but it's really fun. And also, Toastmasters made me realize how many filler words I say. I'm guilty, guys.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

I've been able to cut out most of my filler words. The main thing I really gotta work on is saying like because when I'm around you, I just let loose and then like like, like, and like. It's not your fault, it's my fault, man.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Well, I did grow up in California and then I went to Kauai. It does seem that the word like has in increased in your vocabulary frequency since this podcast. Not sure why. We'll work on it. We'll work on it.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah, we're working on it and keep it accountable.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, you definitely did great at deleting filler words. You worked at it, I saw it, and you greatly improved. I you're my inspiration. Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

So it's making that conscious decision to cut it all out.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

You just gotta be aware of it. Right. Presence, not being in default mode, listening. Crazy, huh?

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Because it really it when you use filler words, it dilutes your message. And it might seem like a really minute thing. But what about like on authenticity? They say authenticity, yes, but still I feel like it dilutes what you're trying to say. It might depend on the arena. Yeah, but you're trying to fill the silence by having instead of saying filler words, you input a moment of silence. If you're thinking, just have it silent for a second, and I think that's the problem, is people are afraid of silence, so then they fill it with the filler words.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, you're you aced that one. Good job. Thanks. But bringing it back to in-person events, which we actually are going to be more actively involved because I love being around people that are on the path of learning, improving, inspiring all of it. And there's so much expertise, it's insane. There are so many people that are so good at their niche, they have the piece of the puzzle, and to get out there in the field with people that want to connect, collaborate, and work together. That is there's so much magic in that. One really cool connect was Amberly Lago. She was one of the keynote speakers. We didn't actually get to meet her in person yet, but we will. I just have that sense in my gut. Yeah. What I loved about her is you could feel how integrated she is. She is what she says and speaks about, and there is this honesty in her, and she was so freaking bright. Yes. And her love and her heart open. I we were we love her. Shout out.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

I love it. And just we feel really aligned with everything that she said.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Definitely. And she came out so alive, and it was just so fearless. Was a wonderful new person to discover, you know, and that's what I love about these events is we never even knew about her pri prior to Book Thinkers. Because of this event, now we have some new people in the community to be aware of and to celebrate and to work, collaborate with.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

We would love to have her on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

It's it's happening.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Yeah, it's happening right now.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

And of course, Jim Quick was incredible. As always, he is one of our favorite leaders, magical being, yes, magical, kind, and he he actually enlivened that room so much with that game. And because you know, everyone's so sleepy in the morning, and it's funny to watch like when you zoom out to a live event and you see the group energy of the room, the resistance in the room, yeah, the stuff, and you start to measure what happens and the movement of the room. The resistance in any room of any live event is an interesting layer that not everyone talks about.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Yeah, and with resistance too, there's certain ways you can bypass it because with the dance jam game, there's so many people resistant to dancing. And it's scary.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, and a lot of people don't know how to dance. What I find breaks through is playfulness. When you get people out of their brain, out of their mind, and into a game, that is what moves the room. Jim Quick did it with that fun rock, paper, scissors game. The entire room was electric. And we were and to be honest, right before that, it was the beginning of the event. Everyone was a little sleepy, not awake, and you could just feel like it had the room hadn't warmed up yet.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

And he just instantly, bam, saw the need, delivered the game, and the room became alive. Like that's a pro, and he is, he knows how to move the room. But to bring it back to Dance Jam, uh, we were kind of hammering out the first public presentation of it at BookThinkers, and it was so cool because it worked for a number of people. I'm I know it didn't work for some, but that's okay because we're refining it. But the feedback I got of people that loved it and saw the need for for the dance, the fun, playful dance game for an event, that was the common feedback that we received.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

And the thing is too that that version of Dance Gym was the shorter version. So I'm so freaking excited to see the longer version where you can integrate it and get in your body. Your whole process of the game is just genius. Aw, sweet. Yeah, you know, and you're right, we were hammering out all the the quick version, yeah. We were hammering it all out, and it was just cool to see this experience and the first time that you were presenting Dance Jam, so we can see what to approve upon, improve upon, and go further from there.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, and because we were doing the shortened version, the quick version, there's a lot of missing pieces that I feel are kind of necessary for the game to really work to an 11. Meaning everyone is lit up by an eleven to an 11. And what I'm excited about is being able to present the actual full game in live events, and it's gonna be so exciting because some people don't know how to dance, and that's okay. Like, not everyone is a natural dancer, we are, and we don't have resistance to dancing, however, there is a lot of resistance, it's a factual statement. A lot of people resist dancing, are terrified of dancing, or don't know how to dance or all of the above. What's cool about Dance Jam is it takes all of that out.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Because it's community building, we're mirroring each other and it's fun, and we laugh and we play like children, the way we used to play as children, where we're not thinking about what we look like or worried about those social anxieties. It strips all of that out because of the game, and this game is fun.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

And what's so great about Dance Jam is again, you don't have to know how to dance. It can be the simplest move, and again, go to diamondlightning.com if you want to book Dance Jam.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, thanks, girl. You're so sweet. I'm also starting a daily dance move on the Instagram page called Official Dance Jam. I'm doing a daily move. There could be a silly move, an Actual move that I've learned through the dance forms that I've studied, or some other cultural dance move, or something just so silly and childlike in a good way, uh, just to be playful. And we're gonna incorporate all that into our daily dance move, uh, posts and reels.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

And what's cool too is you're gonna start a Zoom version, which then can lead to the live events as well. So then people who can't make it to an in-person dance jam at whatever event or business, they can do it online.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Right. And this would fit in with the helping one billion people dance and light up. And that and that's like a long-term goal. It sounds crazy and impossible, but I know we it can be done. And the ripples from this it will be hard to track it sometimes because, like I said, it could be a generational impact, you know, we're bringing this game into the worldwide arena, and then those people have children, but they implement this light and fun game and improve their life through it. That's the whole premise of what this mission is. And what I love is we're offering many different modalities, whether it's a song that I've written and produced that brings people to dance, whether it's this dance jam game at a live event, or whether it's dance jam on our Zoom, Zoom game, and eventually we're gonna have an app. And also, if someone doesn't want to partake in any of those, they can literally play the game on the Instagram reels.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

So there's plenty to choose from, and I cannot wait to meet the people that are all for this game and show up. This community is gonna be incredible.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Yeah, you have a great saying people who dance together rise together.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

It's true, and people who play together rise together. And the world needs more play. It's it's bleak, it's rigged, the game's rigged, it's bleak, and we have to all find our way through the labyrinth, right, of life and through business and through this world and shine brighter, play more, and work hard, but play just as hard. That's the key. You work hard and you play hard, and hopefully you're playing the game that lights you up. Because I don't know if it works. If you don't play the game that lights you up, it's too rough. It's too rough out there.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

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SPEAKER_01 24:37

Yeah, and if you have any questions or feedback or something you experienced through our podcast, please comment. We'd love to hear from you. If you want to support the show, you can also go on healthlighting.com. The link is in the description below. You can purchase incredible light bulbs that have full spectrum and they're healthy for you for your mental state, your physical state. They're made incredibly well for your health. And also the red light bulbs are incredible for your circadian rhythm. And use our discount code lights on podcast in all capital letters. I do one.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Stay late.