There's a handful of women gathered in front of an empty table inside the AOL Cyber Pavilion. One of them is clutching a small ivory colored book to her chest talking to the woman next to her. "...going to the market, getting fresh fruit, just simple things like walking more..." The other women are listening and nodding. None of them know each other, but people seem to have an understanding when it comes to losing weight.

The small crowd is waiting for Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat, doing a book-signing that coincides with the conference theme of health, nutrition, and aging.

The author hasn't arrived yet, and the woman in the front, named Dale, is a huge fan, singing the praises of how the book changed her life. She was skeptical about the book at first, but she admits that she "used to diet very strictly, drink diet soda." decided on a whim to "see what they (French women) do and what their philosophy is." Apparently for Dale, the philosophy worked.

Mireille Guiliano is tiny, bright, dressed in black and white, and is utterly charming when she removes her chartreuse-framed sunglasses and flashes a smile. Perhaps its her French accent when she answers questions about that makes her sound oh-so sophisticated. She reveals that the success of this first book has motivated a second, French Women for All Seasons. It is due out in November and will have more recipes that encourage simpler cooking. She also now has a website, which she was reluctant to create at first. She realizes however, that young people, college students, are enthusiastic about the book.

Panel: America, Open or Closed? Economics and the Global Society

Edwin Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation
Louis Uchitelle, Economics Writer, New York Times
Lorna Wallace, Research Fellow, Milken Institute
Doug Wilson, Chairman Townhall.com, Co-Author, Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today
Moderator: Joel Kurtzman, Senior Fellow, Milken Institute

The topic here is America's place in the world, particularly given the competition faced by countries such as China and India. Feulner kicks things off, noting his biggest concerns about the future of the U.S. economy: Medicare, Medicaid and Social security. The federal budget will be consumed by those things, he notes. .

Uchitelle, who won a Polk award for his reporting for the New York Times on layoffs in America, notes that there's huge psycological impact on workers who are laid off. In fact,  in his new book, "The Disposable American,"  he looks at that very trend. His comments are among the most interesting, as he talks about the ways in which workers often blame themselves when they get laid off.

Meanwhile, Wallace notes that globalization has positive and negative impacts, and has a particularly timely Lewis Carrol quote concerning America's aim to stay competitive: "It takes all the running you can do, just to stay in the same place."

Sounding a bit like a cheerleader,  Wilson notes that America's best characteristic is its social character. That, rather than technology, is our comparative advantage.

Wallace notes that there has been a decline in foreign direct investment in the U.S. In general, some of the biggest reasons for inward foreign investments includes: market access, labor, and infrastructure. Both Wilson and Wallace note that there needs to be more attention paid to the deficit, as well as individual savings in the U.S.

Panel: The New Value Chain: The Link Between Hollywood, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley

Sanford Climan, President,  Entertainment Media Ventures

Roy Salter, Principal, The Salter Group

Aizaz Shaikh, BNP Paribas

Moderator: Tony Uphoff, Publisher Hollywood Reporter; President, VNU, Film & Performing Arts

This is a look at investing in films today, particularly as hedge funds come loooking the film world, wanting to invest in films.

 Uphoff, one of the founders of Beliefnet.com, a content site about religion, is the moderator, and he certainly knows a thing about raising capital, having to raise funds during the go-go early Internet days. He is well-suited to lead this discussion, and most in the audience appear to be investors.

The most interesting moment comes when Climan talks about how tricky investing in films really is. He actually makes it seem very undesirable. As he notes, it's a tricky business, with investors having to spend a great deal of money just to get the job done, for instance, having to spend money on lawyers, etc. And he compares the film industry  to the music industry, noting that it has never been an efficient business. An audience member picks up on this thought, and asks about investing in the "sketchy" film industry.

Salter isn't willing to go so far, and bucks the "sketchy" idea and says he believes that investing in films is no more difficult than investing in many other sectors. But he believes that investors need to carefully assess the deal obviously, before putting down money.

 Meanwhile, Shaikh also weighs in on the instability of the entertainment industry, noting there are only two major music companies left. For his part, Salter believes that the days when entertainment companies wanted to be conglomerates are over.  As he notes, there is no reason to "own a theme park" anymore.