Arnold Schwarzenegger, who currently serves as a policy professor at the University of Southern California, visited Seoul to attend a conference hosted by the university. Provided by the university

The University of Southern California held its “USC Global Conference” last Friday through Sunday, bringing prominent researchers and scholars to discuss diverse topics ranging from the rapidly aging society to booming Korean pop culture around the world.

But the highlight was a keynote speech delivered by actor and former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last Saturday.

Schwarzenegger, who currently serves as downey professor of state and global policy at USC, spoke for 30 minutes to more than 400 attendees, sharing advice on how to become successful.

“There is a saying in German, ‘Wenn Schon, Den Schon,’?” he said, “It basically means, if you’re going to do it, do it. Go all out.”

He also shared what it was like to serve as governor of California after working as a bodybuilder, film star and entrepreneur.

“To wake up every morning, to have interesting meetings on every subject you can imagine, from prison overcrowding, to education issues, to climate change, problems with the budget, to immigration reform. That capital became the best classroom in the world,” he said.

“It was the best job I ever had.”

The former governor went on to discuss various projects in more detail.

“When I wanted to rebuild California’s ancient infrastructure, I didn’t want to fix a few roads,” he said, “I wanted to build massive freeways on top of freeways, the first high speed rail in the United States, bridges and tunnels. You name it. I wanted to see cranes everywhere. At first, some of those legislators looked at me like I was nuts.”

Along with the conspicuous presence of the action hero, there were other big-name attendees and speakers at the three-day event, including Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho, Korean studies specialist David C. Kang and USC President C.L. Max Nikias.

Kang delivered a speech titled “Risks and Rewards: Competition, Resources, the Environment and the Political Future of the Western Pacific” and partook in a panel discussion.

Another panel discussion explored the rapidly-aging world under the title “The Longevity Challenge: Strategies for Successful Aging and their Impact on Asia’s Future.”

But there was more than just politics and social issues. A series of seminars on Korean culture was also held.

Bernie Cho, president of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based agency that specializes in digital media marketing, talked about K-pop in a seminar titled “Pop Goes Korea: Exploring the Worldwide Phenomenon of Korean Pop Culture.”

By Park Eun-jee [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]