Anne-Laure Sellier participated in the 2014 French Touch Conference in New York

Anne-Laure Sellier, HEC Paris Professor of Marketing were among the leading figures to take part in the French Touch Conference,  the new tech conference at the cutting edge of innovation in the web industry which was held in New York on June 26 and 27, 2014. The event focused on developing meaningful relationships between the French and American tech communities, ultimately looking at technology from a global perspective.

During two days, the French Touch Conference  organized with the support of La French Tech, France Digitale and the Innovation Touch Association brought together leading contributors with backgrounds in digital, new technologies, social business, lifestyle and design. Entrepreneurs, thinkers, and creators came to debate and shared their experiences about innovation, business, and creativity and about how all three interact together. More than 300 persons attended the event, including journalists, investors and CEOs. Ms Axelle Lemaire, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, and Ms Fleur Pellerin, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, were also present at the event.

By creating an environment allowing the emergence of innovative ideas, the Conference was more than lectures, it was a space to learn and share with the French Tech: the new generation of entrepreneurs that is highly international, ambitious and attached to its roots and lifestyle, enabling it to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s global challenges.

Professor Sellier gave a talk about time perception and the influence of time on decision-making processes. Under the theme: Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock: Could it Be the Sound of Your Creative Performance Going Down? she presented the findings of  her research on how the way we schedule our lives influences our emotions, decision-making, and even our performance - a  topic that particularly resonates when you are an entrepreneur. Sellier also shared her experience as a research professor at HEC Paris saying that “it was a godsend to join the faculty and teach for the Entrepreneurship program”. The HEC Master’s in Entrepreneurship aims to teach students how to create new business models and shape new business ideas. “It was a perfect crowd to test if relying on the clock might hurt your performance or your activity as an entrepreneur”. In fact one of her important findings, stemming from her experience with her students, is that clock-timers seize exploding opportunities less than event-timers. Clock-timers also have lower levels of performance than event-timers on non-standard tasks requiring the exertion of personal control and the ability to sense the moment. This means that relying on the clock can prove counterproductive when working on non-standard tasks.

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In 2013, Anne-Laure Sellier received the Teaching Innovation Award of the HEC Foundation. 

Watch her TEDx HEC Paris about “A turning point in time scheduling”