This page has important details for your 2026 conference attendance and a lot of information on what to expect during the two days of the conference.
Need to contact us last-minute, before arriving? It’s not a problem, please reach out to our team at events@hartmaninstitute.org with the information.
Your onsite conference committee members are: Robert Calabrese (via text or cell (609) 841-6142), Carol Mettenbrink, Sophie Coulthard and Fernanda Zenizo.
Conference Wi-Fi
WiFi be available at the venue. Network details for this will be provided during the event and updated on this page.
Travel and Venue
The Kimpton Brice Hotel
601 East Bay Street
Savannah, Georgia 31401
United States
The Kimpton Brice is located in Savannah’s Historic District, just a short walk from River Street and many of Savannah’s shops, restaurants and historic sights.
Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) is approximately 16 miles from the hotel, around a 20–25 minute drive. The hotel does not provide an airport shuttle, so we recommend arranging a taxi, Uber or other rideshare service for your journey to and from the hotel.
When making travel arrangements, consider arriving morning Wednesday 7th October to join the Wednesday afternoon sessions.
If you're flying out after the conference on Friday 9th October, we recommend booking a departure flight no earlier than 6pm from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. This allows sufficient time to travel to the airport after the conference closes at 3:00pm.
The Historic District is very walkable, so you should not need a car during the conference. If you are driving, the hotel offers valet parking on site.
Check-In Information
Providing you are registered, you can check in to the conference from Wednesday at 12:30pm at the Kimpton Brice Hotel. We will check you in by name and don't forget to bring back your badge with you on the other days so that we know you are a registered attendee.
Please note that Savannah is on Eastern time and the conference will run to Eastern time also.
The conference starts at 1pm on Wednesday and 8:30am Thursday/Friday.
Conference Recording & Photography: The conference sessions will be professionally recorded and recordings will be made available to attendees after the conference. For this reason, attendees are asked not to video or record lengthy sections of conference sessions themselves. We encourage you to take photos and short clips to share on social media, but please leave the longer-form recording to our professional team.
Partner Tickets
If you have purchased a Partner Ticket for someone joining you at the conference, or you are attending as a partner yourself, here’s what you need to know.
The Partner Ticket is designed for guests who will not be attending the daytime conference sessions but would still like to be part of the social side of Living the Legacy.
The Partner Ticket includes:
Informal networking and reception
The Gala Dinner on Thursday evening
Gallery view at one conference presentation, if your partner, colleague or loved one is speaking
The Partner Ticket does not include access to the full daytime conference programme, conference lunches or the conference swag bag.
Your lanyard
Partner Ticket holders will receive a different coloured lanyard, which helps the conference team and other attendees identify partner guests throughout the event.
If you are the conference attendee who has purchased a Partner Ticket, you can collect your partner’s lanyard on their behalf at registration. Your partner does not need to be present when you register.
We ask that everyone attending with a Partner Ticket familiarises themselves with what is included and uses the ticket accordingly. There is no need to check in with the Conference Committee throughout the event. The committee will, of course, be on hand if you have any questions or need guidance at any point.
Meals
Complimentary coffee and tea service will be provided on conference days, but not lunch on Wednesday and not breakfast on Thursday/Friday, so we recommend eating prior to arrival.
Lunch will be served on Thursday and Friday at the conference. We will have a regular menu and a vegetarian menu to accommodate preferences to the best of our ability.
Thursday evening’s formal reception will include appetizers and drinks followed by the gala dinner which is all included within your ticket.
Please let us know of any dietary restrictions or food allergies.
Local Amenities
The Kimpton Brice is located in Savannah’s Historic District, within easy walking distance of River Street, Savannah’s historic squares, City Market, restaurants, cafés and shops. The area is very walkable, making it easy to explore the city during any free time you have around the conference.
For those with a little more time, Forsyth Park is around a mile from the hotel and offers a chance to experience more of Savannah’s historic charm. The hotel is also close to the Savannah River, with plenty of options nearby for an informal meal or evening drink.
Holding Section
Holding for any additional info
Holding for any additional info
Schedule of Events
Wednesday 1 pm - 5 pm
Registration from 12:30pm
Collaborative Learning with ASDs
Everyone attending the conference is invited to join us for the opening of our 50th Anniversary Conference with ASD Day, a special afternoon focused on our shared legacy and the future of applied axiology. The afternoon will feature a keynote from Mark Moore, Institute Co-Founder, followed by facilitated panel-style discussions with our ASDs, exploring personal HVP journeys, the current landscape of HVP practice, and opportunities for the future.
No lunch will be served during ASD Day, but there will be a drinks service. We’ll wrap up the afternoon with informal networking and join the Kimpton Brice happy hour in the lobby, providing a relaxed opportunity to connect with fellow attendees.
Thursday 8:30 am - 5:30 PM
Thursday has a full programme of presentations, workshops and opportunities to connect with fellow attendees, running from 8:30am through to the evening Gala Dinner. Please note that breakfast is not provided, so we recommend eating before arriving at The Brice. Tea, coffee and other drinks will be available throughout the day, and lunch is provided for full conference delegates.
The evening will culminate in our special 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner, including a celebration of the Institute’s legacy and contributions from special guest speakers.
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At this year’s Hartman Institute Conference, Art Ellis will open a vital conversation on curiosity - how it functions in critical and inquisitive thinking, what happens when it is interrupted, and how formal axiology helps us evaluate with a spirit of inquiry.
Curiosity isn’t just a trait. It is a practice that influences the goodness we create in the world.
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This session explores a transformative journey into organizational development through the lens of balanced, holistic models. Anchored in the principles of Axiology, this approach provides a powerful methodology for aligning individual purpose with organizational performance. Through a series of compelling case studies, participants will examine how this journey has been applied across key dimensions of organizational effectiveness: Leadership, Culture, Trust, Team, Engagement, Change, Process, Customer, and Impact. By leveraging the triangulation of Axiology organizations can develop dynamic, actionable metrics that measure what truly matters. These integrated frameworks support meaningful transformation at the individual, team, and enterprise levels—delivering greater insight, alignment, and measurable performance. Ultimately, this session offers a path for organizations to become not just successful, but truly significant.
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In this interactive session, participants will explore curiosity as a critical leadership skill - essential for navigating complexity and leading with clarity. Robert often reminds his clients: "You are paid to think, . . so when do you make time to do it?" Using the value-thinking lens of Intrinsic (I), Extrinsic (E), and Systemic (S), Robert works with leaders to map these dimensions to three dynamic leadership functions: Nurturing Identity, Managing the Present, and Creating the Future. In this seminar, Robert will share how he coaches clients through the practice of curious reflection, using thought-provoking, open-ended questions. This approach helps leaders uncover hidden assumptions, challenge thinking biases, and cultivate meaningful insight. Participants will engage with a set of practical reflection tools designed to deepen self-awareness, sharpen strategic focus, and maintain balance across shifting organizational demands, no matter what seat one leads from. In the end, Robert hopes you’ll walk away recognizing that curiosity isn’t a distraction, it’s a discipline.
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When I first heard the term "Formal Axiology," I thought it sounded like astrology, so I dismissed it. But curiosity has a funny way of refusing to leave you alone!
What began as mild skepticism turned into a relentless pursuit to understand the science behind how people make value judgments and why it matters more than ever.
This talk shares my journey from those early days learning under Dr. Dave and Vera Mefford and others, who worked directly with Robert S. Hartman, to pioneering the application of formal axiology in elite athletic and leadership development. Along the way, I co-authored peer-reviewed articles, was involved in the early days of the Hartman Institute, and developed a practice that has quietly impacted thousands of high performers from professional athletes, Olympians, Fortune 500 CEO's, to thousands of rising teenage athlete leaders.
This isn't a technical presentation. It's a personal story about how extreme curiosity collided with a little-known science and launched a lifelong mission to bring its power into the real world. For those wondering what happens when value theory escapes the ivory tower and finds its way into stadiums, locker rooms, and boardrooms, this talk offers a firsthand account.
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Robert Hartman encountered Soren Kierkegaard's writings at a young age when he lived in Denmark in the 1930's. Not only did he lecture about the Dane's ideas but he wrote and urged others to read them and apply them for their own betterment. We'll explore some of the key concepts that shaped Hartman and that he features in his own autobiography Freedom to Live. We'll also take time to consider how these apply to us in our different fields of work and our life projects to become better people.
Learn about Hartman's debt to Kierkegaard and how much he was influenced by his thought Explore two key ideas in Kierkegaard's works: dread/anxiety and despair Apply the dialectic of these two ideas to ourselves: possibility and faith
Ron is a leadership consultant and owner of Leadskill. He works to develop leaders holistically to be agents of good in their organizations and communities, He has over 20 years of association with the Hartman Institute.
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Using AI, we will show the predicted scores of multiple famous people, like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. The goal of the presentation is to foster dialogue on what people think these famous people would score and what their predicted scores are. This presentation shows the power of AI, but also new and novel ways of obtaining HVP results.
Friday 8:30 AM - 3 PM
The conference programme continues from 8:30am to 3:00pm, with further presentations, discussions and opportunities to connect and reflect on the ideas explored throughout the conference. Please note that breakfast is not provided, so we recommend eating before arriving at The Brice. Tea, coffee and other drinks will be available throughout the day, and lunch is provided for full conference delegates.
The formal programme will conclude at 3:00pm, with the opportunity to continue socialising and exploring Savannah afterwards.
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This presentation introduces a transformative consulting method that blends value science (axiology) with embodied neuroscience. At its core is the 7-Step PerView Coaching Model, guided by the VIEW framework—which attends to Vibrations, Inside thoughts and emotions, Energy levels, and Wave transformations of behavior and belief. Rooted in decades of storytelling research and axiology, PerView equips organizations to repair, realign, and reimagine their value systems—from leadership culture to everyday decision-making.
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The use of AI to calibrate different versions of the HVP successfully. How we successfully calibrated 4 different versions of the HVP (variations of it) using neural networks.
Discover applications of AI in the Hartman methodology and how it can be used to help organizations maintain honesty in their recruiting process. Learn how the use of AI can help the HVP be more precise in its results. Taking the HVP to the new millennium.
Felipe Villegas: ITIL-Agile (ITIL v4); Agile Testing (ISTQB+AT); Design Thinking (DT); Scrum/AGILE Master Certified (SACM); Leading SAFe (SA); DevOps Certified (SB); IT Service Management (ITIL v3); Prince2 (IT Project Management); IT Governance; IT Testing; Publications: Operating DHL Express Mexico over trouble waters Operating DHL Express Mexico over trouble waters IPADE, Business Case · 15 jul. 2010IPADE, Business Case · 15 jul. 2010 A general unconstrained model for transfer pricing in multinational supply chains A general unconstrained model for transfer pricing in multinational supply chains European Journal of Operations Research · 15 jul. 2006
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Good relationships add value and enrich our lives. Naturally, we all want more good relationships and fewer bad ones. But how do we get them? How can we tell which ones are good and which ones are not? How do we define what a good relationship is in the first place?
In this highly interactive workshop, we’ll explore how curiosity, combined with an axiological perspective, can guide us in defining our relationships, their purpose, and what makes them “good”. We’ll also explore how to replicate that framework across our personal and work lives as well as our increasingly polarized society.
Explore what defines a “good” relationship?
Learn how to utilize curiosity to create and build “good” relationships
Discover how curiosity can break through the barriers that get in the way of good relationships
Ken brings over 30 years of experience as a certified coach, trainer and facilitator to his work with leaders and teams building stronger, more productive organizations. He creates open, inclusive environments that makes it safe for participants to tackle difficult issues that may be outside their comfort zone. Ken serves on several non-profit boards and is currently Board Chair of Mercer Street Friends, a social service agency based in Trenton, NJ.
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Curiosity is not a tool. It’s a discipline. A way of being. A compass. One that calls us to unlearn dominance and relearn belonging. In this keynote, we explore how extractive leadership—rooted in systemic, extrinsic value—is failing us, and how curiosity can catalyze a shift toward regenerative leadership grounded in intrinsic value. Rooted in the UNLearning Movement and aligned with Robert Hartman’s axiology, this talk offers a systems-level diagnosis, a transformational framework for regeneration, and a clear invitation to courageous, values-driven leadership. Participants will leave with:
Language for what they feel but haven’t yet named
A framework for moving from intellectual assent to embodied action
Moral clarity without moralism—rooted in the Cardinal Virtues o f Prudence, Temperence, Justice, and Courage - a path forward without shame, only choice
This is not generic leadership development. This is leadership as planetary service—a call to reorient what we value, and how we lead, for the good of all life.
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We will explore examples of applying axiological mathematics via the Habit Finder Assessment to identify The Team DNA for business--habits of thinking they share in common and the risks associated with these habits. Incredible predictor of challenges to culture. Share how we create and deliver very targeted trainings with significant ROI's because of where this mathematics can take us.
A new frontier: Habit Finder Health--measuring the Systemic, Extrinsic, and Intrinsic habits of thinking directly related to health and wellness. We have been able to identify the habits of thinking that drive resistance to engaging in a program, the food noise the brain attempts to anesthetize with food (#1 go to) and the self-depreciating dialogue that occurs after we succumb and eat the dozen donuts. I own a health coaching network of ver 17,000 health coaches. This has become a game changer in the health and wellness world. In the last year we have assessed 8,000 participants, debriefed over 6,000 and coached over 4,000. We are ready to take this to the world.