Live Campus Events

A room full of
students who
actually get it.

Our speaking events aren't presentations. They're conversations — led by people the same age as your students, about something every student is already living.

Book a Speaking Event See What Happens

Why It Lands

We start
before the phone.
Because the story does.

Most talks on phones start with the phone — and students tune out because it feels like blame. We start earlier: with the free afternoons and third places and unstructured time that disappeared first. By the time we get to the phone, the room is already with us.

That's what makes it different.

Inside the Event

What happens in
the room.

We open with a story — something personal and true — that earns laughter before it earns anything else. The goal in the first five minutes is simple: make the room feel safe enough to be honest.

Then we go back — before the phone. We talk about the spaces childhood used to have, the free play and third places and boredom that shaped who people became. And we ask what happened to them. By the time we get to phones, students aren't defensive. They're curious.

We ask real questions. We leave real space for silence. We close with a call toward something — not a command, not a list of rules. Just an invitation to look at things differently.

Tppppp

See It in Action

Two minutes
inside the room.

A short clip from a recent campus event. Hit play, then decide.

Preview

Filmed live on campus — real students, real conversation.

What Makes It Work

Five things
your students
will notice.

Our talks are built around our own childhoods alongside the consensus research on digital wellness. Try finding other assemblies interweaving Beyonce reels and anxiety trendlines. We couldn't, so we made them.

01
We start before the phone — with the spaces that were already disappearing. Free play. Third places. Unstructured time. We show what disappeared first, so that by the time we get to phones, students aren't on the defensive. They're tracing something they already felt but couldn't name.
02
We use humor as an entry point. The first laugh in the room dissolves the defensiveness. Once people feel comfortable, they're willing to sit with the harder, more honest parts of the conversation.
03
We don't tell people what to do. We're not the phone police. We offer perspective, research, and stories — and trust students to do something with it.
04
We weave in the science without losing the room. We draw on cutting edge research about attention, persuasive design, and mental health trends that land harder because they're embedded in lived experience.
05
We make space for the audience. The best moments in our events don't come from us — they're moments when students say something real in front of each other. We build time for that.

Program Options

Find the right format
for your campus.

▶

The Core Talk

45–60 min

Our signature speaking event — personal narrative, key research, audience interaction, and a closing reflection. Best for campus-wide events, student union bookings, and large residence hall sessions. Works in rooms of 50–500 students.

▾

The Deep Dive

75–90 min

An expanded version that includes extended Q&A, small-group discussion prompts, and more time for audience reflection. Best for wellness-focused programming, mental health week events, and academic class settings.

▼

Film + Talk Combo

2–2.5 hrs

The full experience — screen Disconnected, then transition into a live conversation with the filmmakers. The film does the emotional groundwork; the talk opens the room for real dialogue. Our most requested format.

◆

Classroom Session

50–75 min

A more intimate, discussion-heavy format designed for courses in communication, psychology, media studies, public health, or student development. Includes framing for academic discussion.

◈

Multi-Event Day

Full Day

Schedule multiple sessions across departments, residence halls, or student organizations in a single campus visit. Most cost-effective option for campuses that want broad reach.

★

Custom Experience

Tailored to Your Campus

We'll work with you to shape an event that fits your specific student population, programming context, and goals. Reach out and we'll design something together.

Campus Responses

What they said after.

"Students who never engage with wellness events showed up — and stayed afterward to keep talking. That never happens."

Student Body President

Mid-size Liberal Arts College

"It's the rare event where I watched the entire audience put their phones away — voluntarily — for an hour and a half. It just happened naturally."

Programming Board Director

Large State University

"The peer connection is real. My students didn't feel talked at — they felt understood. That made all the difference."

Professor of Communication Studies

Private University, East Coast

After the Event

The conversation
continues.

What we consistently hear is that students keep talking after the event ends. In the hallway, at dinner, that night in the group chat. That's the sign something real happened.

We're not looking for a single night. We want to be a catalyst for something ongoing — a shift in how students relate to their devices, their time, and each other.

Bring This to Your Campus

Logistics

Simple to organize.
Built for campus calendars.

We've designed the booking process to be easy for student life staff and programming boards working with standard campus scheduling constraints.

View Full Booking Details
  • Flexible scheduling — evenings, afternoons, weekends
  • Works in most standard campus venues — no special AV required
  • Promotional materials provided for campus outreach
  • Works with student programming budgets
  • Pre-event and post-event communication included
  • Post-event reflection resources for student follow-up