The lineup of panelists for a new ideas festival in Naples has grown bigger and better.

The number of news-making thought leaders who have signed up to participate in NaplesNEXT has grown to more than 50 over the past few months.

Speakers will include local, state and national experts, innovators and cultural icons.

Interrsport, based in Chicago and New York, is behind the three-day festival, which will be held Sunday through Tuesday, March 17-19, at the Naples Grande Beach Resort.

Former first lady Laura Bush will deliver the closing address for the event, which will include roundtable and panel discussions, question-and-answer sessions, culinary experiences and entertainment.

“This event — while it is aimed to be global and national in the topics — it’s taking place in Southwest Florida. So one of our goals is to be a community builder and really make sure we are providing the community with experiences that are interesting and important to them,” said Stacey Vollman Warwick, NaplesNEXT’s executive director.

Topics will include access to justice, design with purpose, civil discourse in a polarized society, the future of philanthropy, victory over cancer, female trailblazers, global security, driving in the future, and water and the environment — a big concern for Southwest Florida because of recurrent red tide and other toxic algae outbreaks in the region.

Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, a nonprofit that’s leading efforts to restore and protect the greater Everglades ecosystem in Florida, will be among the speakers on the environment.

National speakers, who will cover a variety of topics, include: David Rubenstein, a philanthropist and a founder and co-executive chairman for The Carlyle Group; Susan Goldberg, editor-in-chief of National Geographic; Christine Brennan, a USA Today sports writer; Arthur Brooks, a social scientist and New York Times best-selling author; Denis McDonough, a former White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama; John Brennan, a former CIA director; and Sam Kennedy, president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox. 

Kennedy will talk about building a championship sports culture. The Red Sox have strong ties to Southwest Florida, with the team’s spring training home at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers.

Before Bush takes the stage, Bonita Springs resident Peter Jacobsen, a PGA champion golfer and NBC sports commentator, will give a preview of the 2019-20 golf season at a luncheon.

Other local speakers will include Julie Glenn, a news director for WGCU; Rob Moher, president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida; Eileen Connolly-Keesler, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Collier County; Jett Thompson, an owner and principal designer of Jett Thompson Home in Naples; and David Moulton, a radio host for FOX Sports in Southwest Florida.

In case you missed it: NaplesNEXT, a new ‘ideas festival,’ to bring thought leaders to Naples

Goal is to provide different voices

“It’s overall very, very diverse, from the different voices to the subject matter and the political persuasions,” said Beth Preddy, owner of Preddy PR Inc. in Naples and a spokeswoman for NaplesNEXT.

The event, she said, has really attracted the crème de la crème. 

“It’s pretty exciting, and this is just the first one,” Preddy said.

There are plans to make the festival an annual event.

Strong local and national relationships have helped draw impressive speakers for the first festival, including chief justices of the New York Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Ohio, Supreme Court of Texas and Florida Supreme Court; three former White House chiefs of staff; and four experts on oncology, Warwick said.

The tagline for the event is “Big Thinking. Big Fun.”

Big fun will include an interactive “Bracket Genius” lunch with a few celebrity-types to kick off March Madness and help festivalgoers make their picks.

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Other fun? Intersport has partnered with the James Beard Foundation to direct the culinary experiences, which will include wine tastings and unique cocktails made by a top mixologist on St. Patrick’s Day and a sustainable food dinner masterminded by celebrity chef Gregory Gourdet in collaboration with leading local chefs the next day.

“Sustainable eating is easier than it sounds and quite delicious,” Gourdet said in a news release for the event. “When you truly care about putting the best foods in your body, choose those impacting our natural resources the least.” 

An opening reception for the event will be held at the Naples Jet Center. Airplane hangars will be transformed with an industrial-chic look for the lively celebration. There will be wine tastings, entertainment by the Boogie Kings, and locally harvested, ingredient-centric dishes prepared by Chef Brian Roland of Southwest Florida’s Crave Culinaire.

“We’re really happy with the balance of this fun factor being woven through three days,” Warwick said. “We’ve really tried hard to make that part of the fabric of the experience.” 

Inspired by other thought leadership events

The ambitious event has been in the works for more than 18 months. Organizers say it’s partly inspired by the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Nantucket Project, Ted Talks and other similar thought leadership events.

“People want to come to Naples,” Warwick said. “So it has been a really great process of identifying and attracting talent to become a part of this.”

Intersport’s founder, president and CEO Charles Besser has a part-time home in Naples. As he spent more time in the area, he saw the opportunity to offer a unique learning experience for its residents.

Spending on experiences is on the rise, and it’s expected to grow to $8 trillion by 2030. Intersport chose Naples for its ideas festival because of the area’s affluent population, large concentration of active and retired CEOs, and its growing millennial population.

“People want unique experiences,” Warwick said. “More and more people are proving that with their wallets.”

Intersports has partnered with a handful of local nonprofits for the event, including Artis—Naples, WGCU Public Media and the Community Foundation of Collier County.

The cost for the festival is $3,000 a person for three days. A one-day pass costs $1,250.

A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will go into a fund directed by the Community Foundation of Collier County. The fund will support charities centered around health, the environment, art and education, including the Guadalupe Center, whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty through education for the children of Immokalee, the rural community about 40 miles east of Naples.

Intersport hopes to draw a crowd of about 500 for its first event. Tickets are still on sale at naplesnext.com.

There are plans to create ongoing programming around the festival.

“NaplesNext can become a defining factor of Naples, like what the Aspen Ideas Festival is to Aspen, or like the wine festival,” Preddy said. “This year’s gathering of 50 great minds is virtually unprecedented in the community.”

The Naples Winter Wine Festival, a multiday charity event featuring private dinners with celebrity chefs and vintners and a live auction, has been held annually in Naples since 2001. Since its inception, the Naples Children & Education Foundation, which founded the wine festival, has raised more than $191 million for children in need in Collier County.