Longevity Conference?

[insomea]

Is anybody is going to the Longevity Conference in Costa Mesa, CA in April 2011?

[ginkgo]

How about a link about it so we can check it out. You brought it up so you should take the time to create a link instead of hundreds of us looking it up. Be considerate!

[Savage]

I went to the previous one earlier this year. It was interesting in some ways, but it was heavy on the upselling. Most of the presentations turned into product pitches, so if you didn't buy the products, the information was of little value by itself. The raffle give-aways were done childishly. The rah-rah MC reminded me of an infomercial.

As for the presenters who weren't there to sell products, many of them were poor presenters, so their messages weren't particularly impactful.

Overall the conference was basically a vehicle for selling pricey supplements.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

How about a link about it so we can check it out. You brought it up so you should take the time to create a link instead of hundreds of us looking it up. Be considerate!

Insomea tried posting with a link but the system automatically held it back because new members posting with links almost always = spam.

Here's the link she posted:

Longevity Now Conference

[insomea]

Thanks for the head's up Steve! I was hoping it was more of an informational lecture-based conference on the scientific background of the things they talked about, and minimal selling points with creative marketing. One of those, do you have (insert common health problem)? Well here's how to fix it! And it just so happens that we have a new supplement that happens to treat this and make you experience the best health ever, as long as you keep taking this overpriced supplement that we're making an insane profit on.

Do you know of any conferences that are more science based, or at least more informational and less focused on selling products through presentations?

[Brutha]

Do you know of any conferences that are more science based, or at least more informational and less focused on selling products through presentations?

What else do you expect when a conference advertises itself with the fact that Mercola speaks at the conference. That guy is all about selling supplements and trying invent a story to justify those supplements.

Science is difficult. The quantified self movement might be an alternative but it isn't big enough to have a proper conference at the moment. There are however a few meetups.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Brutha

What else do you expect when a conference advertises itself with the fact that Mercola speaks at the conference. That guy is all about selling supplements and trying invent a story to justify those supplements.

Mercola was one of the least salesy speakers there actually.

David Wolfe was way more over the top. I've seen him speak a few times now, and every time he was pitching a different product.

[Boreas]

I went to the life extension conference in San Francisco this past weekend:

Anti Aging – Life Extension – Longevity | Personalized Life Extension Conference 2010

It was pretty good and quite science oriented. Michael Rose spoke and he ended off with a "what you can do now" at the end. I thought he felt obligated to add that in because most of the audience there was older and wanted interventions they could implement immediately. The science of aging conferences exist that have no sales and are just science if that is your thing, but I felt the sales were ok at this conference since what people mostly wanted was something they could do right away.

By the way, if anyone is interested I keep a little website on the science of aging with a rough timeline of discoveries and a decent links list.
Science of Aging Timeline

John Furber at Legendary Pharma keeps an email list of all the scientific conferences:
Legendary Pharmaceuticals Home

[Mabel]

I have heard mixed reviews of the Longevity conference. It almost seems like it might be a better deal to subscribe to the video streams (or see free ones) than to attend the conference. A friend of mine whose judgement I trust said that some of the recent videos were really good--better than some of the so so videos she had seen in the past. David Wolfe in my opinion provides some of the best info out there but I feel pricked by the tone of the marketing. Also--I believe in keeping supplements and superfoods to a minimum. I take MSM and also include a green powder of some sort in my morning smoothie and I also take an oil based vitamin D supplement. My blood work shows that my numbers all look good. I tune out a lot of the other powders and supplements and strive to get what I need from REAL FOOD. Well-of course I often have raw cacao--it keeps a big smile on my face.