Brian Brackeen is the founder and CEO of Kairos, a facial recognition company based in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami. 

It’s been just over a month since I disembarked a life-changing voyage, and I’m still tingling from it.

This year, Knight Foundation gathered a couple dozen Miami leaders and sent us on a one-of-a-kind experience called Summit at Sea with about 3,000 others. Organizers describe the three-day nautical event as a convening of “the brightest people in business and culture,” and “an extraordinary immersive experience, designed to inspire attendees to connect, share ideas, and interact with one another in a truly meaningful way.” That’s precisely what it was. And more.

My company is proud to call Miami home, and we all stay very active in our community, yet I wasn’t sure about blocking off three days to mingle on a boat. Boy, was I wrong. The Summit at Sea did a great job bringing together a group of talented speakers and attendees — fostering an environment where everyone was happy to share their expertise with whomever could benefit. It was an environment of knowledge, peer mentorship and total positivity that affected me in a lasting way, opening my mind to ideas and lifestyle changes I would not have considered otherwise. And the “boat” happened to be a fantastic cruise ship.

For me, some of the standout takeaways were what I learned about public relations, creating buzz and living a meaningful life from Shep Gordon; healthy lifestyles and helping my body to heal itself from Dr. Dean Ornish; and the keys to relationships from Esther Perel. I also had a great dinner conversation on managing success over decades at a table of six with the actor LeVar Burton and his wife, Stephanie Cozart Burton. (It was her birthday and we sang to her!)

The cherry on top was not another great speaker; it was my fellow Miamians. Spending days with leaders from all sectors in Miami left me humbled and deeply proud of the talent of this city. We are blessed to have so many great minds pulling as one to make the Magic City even better. From helping kids put down guns and pick up instruments, to owning the Miami music scene, to teaching the next crop of great entrepreneurs, these Miami leaders and others are why the trip was not just another cruise; it was an inflection point in my own life.

Follow Brian Brackeen on Twitter @brianbrackeen.