LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third year in a row, top executives from the nation's most innovative companies will gather at the PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit to discuss current trends and review best practices in marketing to the trillion dollar young adult audience (p14-34) and the most important cultural force in the US. Among the highlights of this year's event is a special keynote presentation by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama who will discuss the power of youth and the practice of compassion to catalyze global change, promote ethical leadership and create a more harmonious world.

The invite-only event takes place May 3 - 5 at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel, Dana Point and at the University of California, Irvine, featuring conversations across every major industry category with focus on topics such as social media, digital technology, cause marketing and youth culture.  In addition to the Dalai Lama, participants at this year's PTTOW! include C-level executives and senior marketers from Microsoft, Facebook, Mars, Quiksilver, Volcom, 20th Century Fox, CBS, Electronic Arts, Red Bull, YouTube, Tribal DDB and Virgin America.

For this year's event, PTTOW! has partnered with the Center For Living Peace and its Working Groups program to invite 70 young adults to attend the Dalai Lama's keynote address during the May 4 session at UC Irvine.  Also new this year, the PTTOW! conference agenda will include a piano performance by nine year old musical prodigy Emily Bear.  Bear, who has been playing professionally since the age of five, made her Carnegie Hall debut in December 2010. Additionally, following the Dalai Lama's speech, musicians will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and professional surfer Kelly Slater will join a celebrity panel to discuss the power of youth, technology, and social responsibility. Additional panelists will be announced closer to the event.

"During challenging times, the practice of compassion can play an enormously powerful role in driving positive change and influencing endeavors in the realms of science, health and economic progress," said Lama Tenzin Dhonden, personal emissary for peace to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. "His Holiness has often indicated that the younger generation represents the seeds of a more compassionate and caring future world.  In speaking with them he will address the paramount importance of viewing the wholeness of a problem with society rather than a collection of their parts."

Created by Roman Tsunder, founder of Access 360 Media, and Terry Hardy, founder and CEO Sonar Entertainment, PTTOW! provides an intimate and unique setting for attendees to network and engage on topics relevant to the young adult market (p14 ­ 34). Connections forged at previous PTTOW! events have also generated several new partnerships amongst event participants. This year's PTTOW! conference is being produced by event planners JOWY Productions based in Los Angeles.

"We are both pleased and extremely honored to be joined this year by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the third annual PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit," said Roman Tsunder, co-chair of PTTOW! "There is no one who can better speak to the capacity of youth to impact positive, global change than the Dalai Lama and we look forward to engaging with him and with all the attendees for what promises to be an exciting and thoughtful event."

For more information on this year's PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit, please contact Whitney Viola at 617.605.2390.

About PTTOW!

The PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit is an annual, invite-only conference focused on the trillion dollar young adult market (p14-34).  Bringing together the top marketers from the world's most innovative companies, the event serves as a high-level forum for discussing youth media, marketing and culture across every major industry category.

About Center for Living Peace's Working Groups:

The Living Peace Series, conducted in partnership with the University of California, Irvine, is a series of conversations with international leaders committed to making the world a healthy, sustainable, and compassionate place. Working Groups, which are comprised of attendees ranging from philanthropists to local school groups, serve as a forum to collectively brainstorm on how they can effectively contribute to the presenting speaker's field of work. The ultimate goal of the working groups is to foster the creation and implementation of service projects that uphold the values of Living Peace while engaging the community to make good happen.

SOURCE PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit