Local nonprofit agency Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation hosted its 10th annual 10×10 event at California Lutheran University’s Lundring Events Center on Thursday, Nov. 14.
The event included ten presentations and a Q&A session with the speakers. Among some of the sponsors of the event were Southern California Gas Company, UCLA Health, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, and California Lutheran University.
According to the program, the Future Foundation’s mission is to serve as a “catalyst and facilitator” for studies, projects, and events, and to bring people of diverse interests together to focus on quality of life and planning for the future.
“It’s encouraging to hear some of the technologies and things that come out of this. So, having it here at CLU has just been fantastic,” Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation Board of Trustee member Jeff Blum said. “The technology we used, the room is adequate for what we need to do, and the staff has just been wonderful making sure that we have all we need to make this a successful event.”
Blum said the planning process begins in June when the committee brainstorms which direction they want to take for the event, based on what’s happening in their community and the news. Once they finalize the topics in August, the committee finds speakers who they believe best represent the chosen topics.
“It is always beyond my expectations. As you probably experienced, there are some speakers that are so dynamic,” Blum said.
Blum also said, as there are ten topics, he feels as though he always gets something out of each presentation and he hopes everybody has the same feeling as he did.
“I thought all of them gave me something,” Blum said. “I always love to hear Jen Seetoo talk about what is happening with policing because it applies to all of us.”
Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Capt. Jennifer Seetoo was one of the ten speakers at the event. Seetoo spoke about the purpose of partnering with technology to livestream community issues from the sheriff’s station, so police can respond appropriately and professionally, and make sure they handle and protect their community.
“Come to our station. We are always excited to give tours of our center and really explain, like, how law enforcement can use technology in a way that the community absolutely supports it,” Seetoo said.
Seetoo also said residents of her community have come to her about letting the Sheriff’s station have access to their security cameras. People are tired of being victims and want to be safe, according to Seetoo.
“If law enforcement can work with the community and promote public safety, like, this is the way to do it,” Seetoo said. “I think with technology and AI we are gonna get better and better. But again, law enforcement can’t do this by themselves because it’s important that the community supports what we’re doing and embraces it.”
Seetoo said she liked how one of the speakers talked about the importance of community relationships, as she believes law enforcement can learn from this topic.
“Every single one was just absolutely fascinating, but I just love the relationship one,” Seetoo said.
Hilary Bilbrey, co-founder of PEQ Performance Consulting, was one of the other speakers who discussed how AI can teach people about relationships.
“I think it’s important for us to go back and remind ourselves that we need to be intentional with the relationships with the humans we have in our lives,” Bilbrey said. “I think that when you have a relationship, it’s important for you to be able to set the expectations so that everybody understands what it looks like to have a safe, true, real relationship.”
Other speakers who presented were Brian Cameron, Michael Dyer, Julia Chapman, Rich DeMuro, Alex Leu, Shawn Lin, Dianne McKay, Jim Miller, and Brent Reinke.
According to Blum, there will be a video of the event uploaded on their website, clvff.org, and YouTube, so those who were not able to attend could still watch and learn from the guest speakers.
“I came away with so much hope tonight. So rather than one presentation, I listen to a lot of ways that people are identifying true problems, and they are not just complaining, they are acting, they are trying to solve them,” Bilbrey said.
