"Throw everything you know about the typical conference out the window and imagine this. A 10-day immersion program in a new, exciting country where you are surrounded by students from all ages, industries and backgrounds who all share one simple desire: to learn the life skills necessary to thrive in the globalized, connected world of the future. That’s what Dr. Ai’s Classroom Without Walls Entrepreneurship Immersion Programme (it's now called Life Accelerator) was all about.

Our daily sessions were filled with amazing speakers from all over the world who not only taught the subjects they spoke on, but lived it.

As amazing as these sessions were – and they were amazing – stepping outside of the “classroom” was the true highlight of this experience. The choice of Singapore for this programme was not coincidental. Dr. Ai specifically chose it because she wanted her students to learn, not just from speeches and workshops held in a hotel conference room, but to see it all in action in a functional, thriving society. In many ways, Singapore itself was the classroom without walls.

Dubbed the “Silicon Valley of Asia”, Singapore has a thriving tech scene. As part of the programme, we visited the local offices of tech-giants, Hubspot and Adobe. These are businesses hard at work, building and advancing technology all over the world, so you’d think they’d be all work all the time, but it was the complete opposite. I was blown away by how they transformed their offices into spaces where employees could enjoy life and work at the same time – including fitness centers, meditation rooms and even areas for lounging and sleeping when employees needed a break."

PS. Dr. Terri wrote such a comprehensive report on her experience at the Immersion in Singapore. You can read her entire article by click here.