“On this first International Day of Happiness, let us reinforce our commitment to inclusive and sustainable human development and renew our pledge to help others. When we contribute to the common good, we ourselves are enriched. Compassion promotes happiness and will help build the future we want.”
~ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Message for the UN International Day of Happiness, 20 March 2013
When the United Nations announced that March 20, 2014 would be the second annual International Day of Happiness, MAPP Alumni president, Lisa Sansom, posed the question to graduates of the University of Pennsylvania MAPP Program, “What can we, as positive psychology practitioners, do on this day to increase the total tonnage of happiness in the world?”
The answer was this virtual online conference highlighting some of the important applications being done around the world by a wide variety of practitioners.

Speakers include several PPND authors:
- Caroline Miller, author of Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide
- Marie-Josée Shaar, co-author of Smarts and Stamina: The Busy Person’s Guide to Optimal Health and Productivity
- Margaret Greenberg and Senia Maymin, authors of Profit from the Positive: Proven Leadership Strategies to Boost Productivity and Transform Your Business
- Giselle Nicholson on building competitive advantage via positive impact leadership
- Sherri Fisher, co-author of Smart Strengths: Building Character, Resilience and Relationships in Youth, on replicating strategies that work
- Jan Stanley on boiling down the wealth of positive psychology advice into a personal action plan
- Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, founder of the Certificate of Applied Positive Psychology
- Shannon Polly on appreciative approaches to life and work
- Louis Alloro, active in the SOcial-eMOtional leadership movement in Cleveland
- Renee Jain on raising emotionally intelligent children
- Cathrine Gyldensted on the emergence of constructive journalism
- Elaine O’Brien on fitness leadership
- Louisa Jewell, president of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association, on moving beyond self-doubt
Lisa Sansom and I participated as interviewers.
If you have liked the written voices of the authors listed above, this conference is a chance to hear their spoken voices as they discuss topics close to their hearts. You will also find some additional voices, people that haven’t yet written for PPND, though we keep recruiting.
So we invite you to join us by celebrating the International Day of Happiness by registering for the streaming conference on March 20, 2014. The presentations will all be available around the world for 24 hours starting at midnight GMT. You can access them at times that work for you.
What You Need to Know:
Date: March 20th
Price: FREE
Where: Sign up online at here.
What: Video discussions and interviews
Photo Credit via Compfight with a Creative Commons license
UN Symbol courtesy of Free Grunge Textures – www.freestock.ca