Meeting of the minds: one day, one night, all the difference in the world.

Say what you will about formal events and putting on a jacket and bow tie or a long, swooshy dress, the LATIN TRADE Bravo Business Awards brings out the best in people. More than 300 presidents, government ministers, civic and business leaders gather in the warm evening air for a drink and to catch up with old friends, then head inside the Biltmore Hotel's sweeping old ballroom for a night of warmth, music and--on occasion--a few serious words about what matters most to them: their country, their people, the future.

But the awards, as they must be, are about the past. Who really led the way over the previous months in politics and opening trade doors? Which business executives put their companies over the top, reinvigorating (or exasperating) their competitors? Which leaders in non-traditional fields, like social and environmental arenas, truly changed the rules? Often, these days, it's hard to tell the difference: Bankers talk up social responsibility, and they mean it. Magnates worry about education. Environmentalists are looking for business models to power up their causes.

But, for one evening, this is where they all meet, and the ideas get shared, broken down, rethought and reworked. Through roundtables in the morning, on the golf course and tennis courts of the Biltmore, by the pool, over lunch, then at the event itself, here's where Latin America's leadership has traditionally met to renew their commitment to their own, chosen lives--as leaders, not followers, as the people who put their hands to the work, enjoying the fruits of their labor but always with an eye toward making good things happen.