Conference Speakers

How to solve global water crisis: Innovation, Green Technology. Water, U...

2011-11-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

How global water shortages will be solved. Drought in Australia, America, Asia, China, Africa, Australia. Crop failures, food price rises, hunger and famine. Forest fires and other results of lack of rain. Virtual water -- water used in energy production, manufacturing, agriculture, farming, food production and processing, textiles, pulp and paper industry. River management, with diversions and dam building is only part of solution. Expect huge growth in water conservation in agriculture and manufacturing. Virtual water and water trading as part of the globalisation of products and food. Link between water use and energy generation -- power station cooling for example. How low cost energy could solve water shortages by reducing cost of next-generation desalination. Part of keynote on the $40 trillion green tech revolution which could transform the future of our planet, with innovations that will provide answers to global warming if rolled out on a large enough scale. Impact of technologies already available in energy industry, water conservation, carbon reduction, recycling, power transmission over long distances, alternative power generation, buildings management. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon -- author of SustainAgility book, lecture for Suez Environmental global leadership team.

SustainAgility: Radical Rapid Smart Innovation to protect environment. F...

2011-11-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

The $40 trillion green tech revolution could transform the future of our planet, with innovations that will provide answers to global warming if rolled out on a large enough scale. Impact of technologies already available in energy industry, water conservation, carbon reduction, recycling, power transmission over long distances, alternative power generation, buildings management. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon - lecture for Suez Environmental global leadership team.

Marketing Strategy - multichannel mix. Future messages. Marketing trends...

2011-11-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Future marketing strategy is more than about altering a marketing mix for multichannel customers. Marketing needs to change values as well as messaging in a world dominated by instant information and insight / feedback from our online friends and extended social networks. It means an end to hype and spin or exaggerated claims, and a focus on what is true, valid claims, accurate information, detailed feedback from real customers, genuine facts, verifiable data. This a post-marketing world: in the last century, the source of most customer information about products or services came from the marketing team itself. Today, most of the information that a customer ever learns about what you want to sell them is probably coming from other sources. That means we need to completely rethink how we position marketing messages. The very word "marketing" needs rethinking. The future is about personalized, insightful, timely, accurate, sensitive and intuitive advice along the journey of life. Conference keynote speaker and futurist Patrick Dixon, speaking to retail clients of Hermes in the UK on the future of marketing to retail customers.

Mobile Price Comparison: impact on retail customer sales / ecommerce. Re...

2011-11-11T02:16:00.000-08:00

Retail impact of online price comparison using mobile devices, smartphones, aggregator sites. Shopping patterns and customer behaviour. Online sales growth from retail sites, where customers compare prices in stores or shopping malls and then buy online or from a competitor store nearby. Aggregator sites will grow rapidly, creating strong price competition, eroding viability of physical retail outlets, especially in electronic consumer goods, white label products, computers, textiles / fashion and in any other area where customers like to try before they buy.

Digital Marketing - crisis for real estate agents. Multichannel customer...

2011-11-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

Future of marketing -- Impact of multichannel marketing on customer behavior. Why old selling patterns are driving customers away. How to alienate consumers rapidly. How to engage customers with your products and services. Lessons from online property aggregator sites and virtual real estate marketing. Future of mobile search, location sensitive marketing, and importance of video in selling. Why 1 in 6 of all Estate Agents lost their jobs last year in Australia. What is the future of real estate agents? How to promote your property, and sell your own home online. Easy ways to get customers to view your property and make a great offer to buy. Impact of Google Maps and other location-based Apps on marketing. Growth of mobile search requests. Lessons for marketing directors and retail executives. Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker on future of marketing, multichannel marketing and related trends.

Future of Singapore - and rapid growth of emerging markets across Asia -...

2011-11-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Singapore -- a hub of innovation, energy, infrastructure for business across Asia, able to broker deals, host headquarters. Why Singapore will continue to thrive as an ultra-connected transport hub, with highly skilled workforce. Video comment on Asia future trends by conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. Singapore is a small nation -- with barely 5 million residents -- so is a relatively neutral base from the political point of view. Singapore has strong legal systems, is stable and an easy place to do business, with many 5 star hotels and a vibrant, dynamic and entrepreneurial culture. Singapore is an easy nation for visitors from the Northern Hemisphere to feel their way around. The country still shows many signs of its British Colonial era -- with newly restored historic buildings, square pin plugs, English-model educational system, and influences on legal and parliamentary systems. Singapore is West-facing and East-facing. Most of the city's up-market Malls are dominated by Western-label brands, with streets that look familiar in style to European or American travellers, while Chinatown is a relatively small area of low-rise shops, eating places and offices with a traditional ethnic feel. Singapore has a great future, and so it is hardly surprising that the numbers of people wanting to work there is growing faster than the government is comfortable with. Work permits are becoming harder for some groups to obtain.Singapore's greatest limitation is land mass: one large island and many small ones. And linked to that is a serious water shortage, which means that despite many new projects, the country remains dependent on buying water from Malaysia.

Future of Retail - 20 key retailing trends - UK consumer changes - Herme...

2011-11-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

Retailing trends - in high street, shopping malls, retail outlets, online / e-commerce, mobile marketing, ethical shopping, older consumers, supply chain and logistics, telesales and customer support, home delivery. Retail conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon - at client event organised by Hermes.

When the job becomes a mission, job satisfaction, making a difference - ...

2011-07-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Lessons from non-profit organisations like the AIDS agency ACET, volunteer groups, charities and foundations, and passions for future of our wider world, issues, activism, campaigns, environment, global warming. Improve job satisfaction and staff engagement in your teams. Surveys of motivation, workplace engagement, wanting to find purpose at work. Mid-life crisis, passion for work, work-life balance and family life, hobbies, personal interests. Satisfaction and morale at work in public satisfaction. Public sector workers, business workplace and lessons for leaders, team managers. Video by Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker for Welsh Parliament public sector workers, doctors, nurses, council workers, teachers, non-profit workers, social workers.

"Friday Night feeling"? FED UP with your job? Job satisfaction, motivati...

2011-07-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Improve job satisfaction and staff engagement in your teams. Surveys of motivation, workplace engagement, wanting to find purpose at work. Mid-life crisis, passion for work, work-life balance and family life, hobbies, personal interests. Satisfaction and morale at work in public satisfaction. Public sector workers, business workplace and lessons for leaders, team managers. Video by Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker for Welsh Parliament public sector workers, doctors, nurses, council workers, teachers, non-profit workers, social workers. Human resources. Management training programme. Connect with passion -- mind, body and spirit. Passion to make a difference. Purpose and meaning in life comes from sense of calling and destiny, contributing to the lives of other people. Secret of personal happiness -- friends, relationships, spirituality, optimistic frame of mind. Keynote speaker Patrick Dixon for Welsh Parliament

Vital lessons for all leaders from volunteering, non-profit foundations....

2011-07-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Lessons from non-profit organisations, volunteer groups, charities and foundations, and passions for future of our wider world, issues, activism, campaigns, environment, global warming. Improve job satisfaction and staff engagement in your teams. Surveys of motivation, workplace engagement, wanting to find purpose at work. Mid-life crisis, passion for work, work-life balance and family life, hobbies, personal interests. Satisfaction and morale at work in public satisfaction. Public sector workers, business workplace and lessons for leaders, team managers. Video by Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker for Welsh Parliament public sector workers, doctors, nurses, council workers, teachers, non-profit workers, social workers. Human resources. Management training programme. Connect with passion -- mind, body and spirit. Passion to make a difference. Purpose and meaning in life comes from sense of calling and destiny, contributing to the lives of other people. Secret of personal happiness -- friends, relationships, spirituality, optimistic frame of mind.

Speed of change, meaning of life, making a difference, motivation at wor...

2011-07-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

How speed of change, uncertainty, redundancy, insecurity, job losses, personal loss, all drive search for purpose, meaning, life fulfillment, identity, and desire to make a difference. Impact on team leadership and motivation to change. Keynote by Patrick Dixon to Welsh Parliament, public sector workers, non-profit sector, charities, foundations, care workers, council workers.

Here Comes Radical Change: Future of Public Services, Demographics -- Ke...

2011-07-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

Patrick Dixon -- conference keynote speaker -- impact of demographics, birth rates, youth, urban migration and immigration, life expectancy forecasts. All impact demand for public services, health care budgets, community services, demand for education, need for schools. Presentation for Welsh Parliament to public sector workers -- police officers, fire service, local councils, municipal authorities, teachers, social workers, health visitors, care assistants, community officers, health and safety advisors, government contractors and service providers. Changing culture, challenging structures and attitudes. Practical leadership lessons in change management for public sector workers. Team leadership and motivation to change working practices, encourage efficiency, cost savings, better standards, improved output and service impact.

Connect with your audience! Great Corporate Events - Leadership Keynote ...

2011-07-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

Advice for keynote speakers, organising corporate events. Planning event programmes, choosing great keynote speakers. Using electronic polling and e-messaging in conferences. Customer + team passion, change management - leadership styles to change teams, structures, processes, organisations, businesses. Take hold of your future: emotions. Lessons from the past in trends analysis, growth strategies, leadership training, motivational speaker. Patrick Dixon biography, bio, cv - ranked one of world's 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) Great events change people: 4,500 event organisers(MPI. Keynote conference speaker (MPI).Future corporate events: motivational leadership programmes, executive education, team development, innovation seminars, strategy workshops, consumer groups, marketing forums, competitor analysis think tanks, team building exercises and motivational client events.

World-Class Events! Experience, Lighting, Stage, Powerpoint, Retail, Mar...

2011-07-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

Experience matters: lighting and staging of live shows, event production team tips. How to produce a world-class corporate event. Advice for event organisers, conference organisers. Busking, smell, taste, being there, multimedia, £D marketing, immersion experiences. Future of face-to-face marketing, selling, customer relationship development. Future of travel and tourism, holidays and cruise. Future of entertainment, fashion, media and film or cinema. Future of the music industry, EMI, Sony and live musical performances. Live theatre and theatre audiences. Great leadership - connect with audience passion. How to give world-class powerpoint presentations How to wow your audience as CEO or Chairman at an annual corporate event. How to win customers, social media networks, and communicate vision at corporate events. How to structure your presentation, using embedded videos, images, multimedia content. Common powerpoint mistakes. Death by Powerpoint. How to lose audience attention. How to make a speech and how to give a world-class lecture.

Wow! Experience is everything in presenting to customers, consumers, tea...

2011-07-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Experience matters: live shows, busking, smell, taste, being there, multimedia, £D marketing, immersion experiences. Future of face-to-face marketing, selling, customer relationship development. Future of travel and tourism, holidays and cruise. Future of entertainment, fashion, media and film or cinema. Future of the music industry, EMI, Sony and live musical performances. Thumb test. Live theatre and theatre audiences. Great leadership - connect with audience passion. How to give world-class powerpoint presentations How to wow your audience as CEO or Chairman at an annual corporate event. How to win customers, social media networks, and communicate vision at corporate events. How to structure your presentation, using embedded videos, images, multimedia content. Common powerpoint mistakes. Death by Powerpoint. How to lose audience attention. How to make a speech and how to give a world-class lecture. How to prepare a talk. How to communicate with an audience.

Wow! Experience is everything in virtual world: customers, consumers, re...

2011-07-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Secrets of Great Communication, Brilliant Powerpoint Presentations, Worl...

2011-07-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

Inspire your Team! Ultimate Leadership Speech. Give Great Powerpoint Pre...

2011-07-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

Great leadership speeches - connect with audience passion. How to give world-class powerpoint presentations using Powerpoint 2007, Powerpoint 2011, on PC or Mac. How to wow your audience as CEO or Chairman at an annual corporate event. How to win customers and communicate vision at corporate events. How to structure your presentation, using embedded videos, images, multimedia content. Common powerpoint mistakes. Death by Powerpoint. How to lose audience attention. How to make a speech and how to give a world-class lecture. How to prepare a talk. How to communicate with an audience. How to overcome stage fright and stage nerves before giving a speech. Customer + team passion, change management - leadership styles to change teams, structures, processes, organisations, businesses. Take hold of your future: emotions. Lessons from the past in trends analysis, growth strategies, leadership training, motivational speaker. Patrick Dixon biography, bio, cv - ranked one of world's 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) Great events change people: 4,500 event organisers(MPI. Keynote conference speaker (MPI).

How to make world-class powerpoint presentations. How NOT to use powerpo...

2011-07-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

Managing Huge Risks: Economy, Future of Euro, Leadership Strategy, Risk ...

2011-07-19T03:26:00.000-07:00

Passion Will Drive the Future. Team Leadership, Motivational Management ...

2011-07-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Customer + team passion, change management - leadership styles to change teams, structures, processes, organisations, businesses. Take hold of your future: emotions. Lessons from the past in trends analysis, growth strategies, leadership training, motivational speaker. Patrick Dixon biography, bio, cv - ranked one of world's 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) Great events change people: 4,500 event organisers(MPI. Keynote conference speaker (MPI).Future corporate events: motivational leadership programmes, executive education, team development, innovation seminars, strategy workshops, consumer groups, marketing forums, competitor analysis think tanks, team building exercises and motivational client events. Effective management depends on great communication of leadership vision, mission and strategy. Future of banks, banking, insurance, health, technology, social media, advertising, telecom, mobile phones, smartphones, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, oil industry, energy, environment, green tech, pharmaceutical industry, education, government trends, regulation, compliance, human resources. Conference organisation and event planning. Great leadership speeches, motivational tools for team leadership, and how to communicate with large audiences. Change management, business transformation and vision building. Video by keynote conference speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon. How to motivate business leaders for high performance, profitability and shareholder value. Industry trends for successful events in banking, banks, financial services, investments and fund management, insurance, retail, manufacturing, logistics, services, advertising brands, marketing, aviation, travel, transport, tourism, construction and real estate, government and non profit organisations, energy, sustainability, sustainable innovation, green technology, open innovation, crowdsourcing, outsourcing, food and drink / beverages, fast-moving goods (FMG), IT and communications, mobile phones, smart phones, satellite, entertainment industry, music industry, media, public relatiions, human resources, change management, strategy, risk management and other sectors. Secrets of successful corporate events, and how to give a great, inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, powerful CEO keynote speech. Effective executive education, programme development and manager training. Work-life balance and workplace motivation, leadership styles and team building. Staff retention, motivation, recruitment and talent development. University degree courses, MBAs and career progression. Why staging, lighting, theatre and performance really matter in successful corporate events. Videoconferencing, virtual teams, virtual working and virtual organisations why most people do not like videoconferencing and how to make video interviews or presentations work in conference programmes. How to create and deliver great lectures using powerpoint and other technology. Innovation and creativity in conference planning or business school programmes. Impact of global warming, climate change and energy prices on demand for corporate events, corporate travel and event location. Secrets of great event production, staging and use of multimedia. Presentation by keynote conference speaker, author and broadcaster Patrick Dixon author of Sustainagility, Building a Better Business and Futurewise.

Motivational Leadership, Management Teams, Future Trends Analysis, Growt...

2011-07-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Take hold of your future: lessons from the past in trends analysis, growth strategies, leadership training, motivational speaker. Patrick Dixon ranked one of world's 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) Great events change people: 4,500 event organisers(MPI. Keynote conference speaker (MPI).Future corporate events: motivational leadership programmes, executive education, team development, innovation seminars, strategy workshops, consumer groups, marketing forums, competitor analysis think tanks, team building exercises and motivational client events. Effective management depends on great communication of leadership vision, mission and strategy. Future of banks, banking, insurance, health, technology, social media, advertising, telecom, mobile phones, smartphones, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, oil industry, energy, environment, green tech, pharmaceutical industry, education, government trends, regulation, compliance, human resources. Conference organisation and event planning. Great leadership speeches, motivational tools for team leadership, and how to communicate with large audiences. Change management, business transformation and vision building. Video by keynote conference speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon. How to motivate business leaders for high performance, profitability and shareholder value. Industry trends for successful events in banking, banks, financial services, investments and fund management, insurance, retail, manufacturing, logistics, services, advertising brands, marketing, aviation, travel, transport, tourism, construction and real estate, government and non profit organisations, energy, sustainability, sustainable innovation, green technology, open innovation, crowdsourcing, outsourcing, food and drink / beverages, fast-moving goods (FMG), IT and communications, mobile phones, smart phones, satellite, entertainment industry, music industry, media, public relatiions, human resources, change management, strategy, risk management and other sectors. Secrets of successful corporate events, and how to give a great, inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, powerful CEO keynote speech. Effective executive education, programme development and manager training. Work-life balance and workplace motivation, leadership styles and team building. Staff retention, motivation, recruitment and talent development. University degree courses, MBAs and career progression. Why staging, lighting, theatre and performance really matter in successful corporate events. Videoconferencing, virtual teams, virtual working and virtual organisations why most people do not like videoconferencing and how to make video interviews or presentations work in conference programmes. How to create and deliver great lectures using powerpoint and other technology. Innovation and creativity in conference planning or business school programmes. Impact of global warming, climate change and energy prices on demand for corporate events, corporate travel and event location. Secrets of great event production, staging and use of multimedia. Presentation by keynote conference speaker, author and broadcaster Patrick Dixon author of Sustainagility, Building a Better Business and Futurewise.

Leadership, Motivation, Management, Industry Trends Analysis - What is a...

2011-07-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Take hold of your future: trends analysis, growth strategies, leadership training, motivational speaker. Patrick Dixon ranked one of world's 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) Great events change people: 4,500 event organisers(MPI. Keynote conference speaker (MPI).Future corporate events: motivational leadership programmes, executive education, team development, innovation seminars, strategy workshops, consumer groups, marketing forums, competitor analysis think tanks, team building exercises and motivational client events. Effective management depends on great communication of leadership vision, mission and strategy. Future of banks, banking, insurance, health, technology, social media, advertising, telecom, mobile phones, smartphones, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, oil industry, energy, environment, green tech, pharmaceutical industry, education, government trends, regulation, compliance, human resources. Conference organisation and event planning. Great leadership speeches, motivational tools for team leadership, and how to communicate with large audiences. Change management, business transformation and vision building. Video by keynote conference speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon. How to motivate business leaders for high performance, profitability and shareholder value. Industry trends for successful events in banking, banks, financial services, investments and fund management, insurance, retail, manufacturing, logistics, services, advertising brands, marketing, aviation, travel, transport, tourism, construction and real estate, government and non profit organisations, energy, sustainability, sustainable innovation, green technology, open innovation, crowdsourcing, outsourcing, food and drink / beverages, fast-moving goods (FMG), IT and communications, mobile phones, smart phones, satellite, entertainment industry, music industry, media, public relatiions, human resources, change management, strategy, risk management and other sectors. Secrets of successful corporate events, and how to give a great, inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, powerful CEO keynote speech. Effective executive education, programme development and manager training. Work-life balance and workplace motivation, leadership styles and team building. Staff retention, motivation, recruitment and talent development. University degree courses, MBAs and career progression. Why staging, lighting, theatre and performance really matter in successful corporate events. Videoconferencing, virtual teams, virtual working and virtual organisations why most people do not like videoconferencing and how to make video interviews or presentations work in conference programmes. How to create and deliver great lectures using powerpoint and other technology. Innovation and creativity in conference planning or business school programmes. Impact of global warming, climate change and energy prices on demand for corporate events, corporate travel and event location. Secrets of great event production, staging and use of multimedia. Presentation by keynote conference speaker, author and broadcaster Patrick Dixon author of Sustainagility, Building a Better Business and Futurewise.

Ageing nations - social and health impact of demographics - economy and ...

2011-06-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Ageing population, demographics, balance in age groups, birth rates and death rates. Population growth and decline. Baby boomers and baby boom. Migration and immigration patterns and public policies. Antiageing therapies, science and research -- how to stop your biological clock. 65% of health care spending on people over 65 years old. Aging process -- physiology of aging and remedies, antiaging therapies. How to stay young. 7 key mechanisms of ageing in human cells. How we share common aging processes with many other animals. Shared genetic code and cell structures. Non-aging fish and whales. Genetic basis of ageing and aging as a treatable condition. Genetic damage inside nucleus of cell, damage to mitochondrial DNA. From health to performance, from sickness to wellness. Better memory, more energy, better sexual performance - Future of health care. Patrick Dixon is a health care keynote speaker at many health conferences. How patients, clients, over the counter therapy customers, and consumers of health care products will manage their own treatment. Patient choice and public health policy changes with government budget health cuts, health care rationing, post code lotteries. Private and public funding for health care treatment. How doctors and nurses will manage patients who often know more about their own medical condition, have made their own diagnosis, have made decisions about their own treatment (patient autonomy). Impact on over the counter pharmaceutical industry, chemists, drug stores, pharmacies and retail sales of health related products. Wellbeing, disease prevention, health promotion, vitamin and health supplements, dietary supplements. Future of the pharmaceutical industry with non-prescription medicines, remedies, therapies, drugs. Prescribing new treatments using new diagnostic tools, and patient clinical care pathways. Health policy development by governments, and health insurance companies. Patient survival and increase in life expectancy with early diagnosis and treatment using equipment bought by consumers for home use. Future of the NHS and national health service, medicare in America. Funding of health care in future -- people expected to fund their own health needs.

50 Great Reasons to Book Patrick Dixon as Keynote Speaker

2011-06-23T00:10:00.000-07:00

50 Great Reasons to invite Patrick Dixon as keynote speaker to your corporate event

The biggest single reason that corporations book Patrick Dixon as a keynote speaker is to ensure an important event gets off to a really great start, with world-class content and delivery, which people remember for a long time.

Organising a corporate event can be an exciting but stressful process. Careers are often made or broken in the process. And every year, people expect your event to be even better than last time.
Events are a great opportunity to share vision, shape strategy, drive growth, deliver change, transform thinking and motivate teams.

The stakes are very high to get it right

The greatest cost is usually the time of those who attend.

The greatest risk is a programme that fails to fire up participants. Too many internal speakers or external speakers who are average performers.

Listening to a really great speaker is like watching a solo performance by a virtuoso musician, or by one of the world’s most talented stage actors. You can hear a pin drop, with total intense attention. Time stands still. You will talk about this moment for years to come. You need to be right there, to breathe the same air – the audience experience cannot be captured fully on camera.

And if the content is powerful, your future will be changed.

All great speakers touch mind and emotion. Very few people know how to involve a large audience in a personal way. Working an audience is an art rather than a science. Great ideas, insights or data slides are not enough. It’s all about how the story is told. Pure magic at best – embarrassing nightmare at worst.

50 reasons that event organisers invite Patrick Dixon

Great experience last time – or recommended strongly by friend who heard him speak, has read his books or seen web videos - 4 million views, 13 million visitors + 41,000 on Twitter.
High-impact, high energy, relevant keynotes with practical insights
One of world’s best and most experienced communicators – professional
Superb at firing up very large audiences - 4,000 or more - so each person feels involved
Entertaining, provocative, memorable, inspiring
Visually engaging and unusual presentations - in addition to great content
Highly interactive – audience feels totally involved from the start
Fast moving - in flow of ideas, and across stage / into the auditorium
Fresh insights on future, strategy, leadership, growth opportunities
Passionate about making a difference - "life is too short to waste on meetings that don't matter"
Broad horizon from experience of many corporations, industries, nations
Outside perspective reduces risk of institutional blindness
Warm, personal style which engages, energises and motivates
As a physician by first training, he brings a human touch - audiences feel he cares
Superb stagecraft – more a theatre performance, than a formal lecture
Delighted audiences - high ratings in feedback – time after time
Totally committed to success of your entire event, not just his session
Customised keynote presentations – as you want, content shaped by you
Takes time to research your organisation, industry and audience
Element of consultancy in events for your own people
Delighted to join conference calls with CEO / organisers / other speakers
Keynote will fit precisely into your event theme / programme
Sets up your entire event, as a perfect keynote opener, bridge to what follows
Outstanding at drawing whole event to a close, inspirational, taking audience into their future
Takes time to really understand what you are trying to achieve
Flexible – adapts easily to unforeseen programme changes. eg Fills in when another speaker fails to turn up. Adjusts session length at very short notice
Adapts material rapidly to respond to previous sessions / speakers
You know what kind of keynote you are getting – 100s of videos online
Delegates benefit before and after event from huge web resources
Personal e-contact is encouraged - using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, e-mail, SMS
Huge range of multinational clients and types of events spoken at
Relates well to mixed audiences, multi-language, multi-culture
Superb facilitator of entire days with boards / senior teams
Aims to help you take good care of VIPs at client events
Works hard – before, during and after the keynote
Delighted to attend dinners the night before
Usually stays until delegates have had opportunity to meet him if they wish
Always willing to talk to journalists / media to help promote event
Always happy for you to make a video – if he also gets a copy
Always happy to sign books for participants
World-class moderator, chair, panel leader
Superb host of other speakers / panellists if chairing
Full use of your technical capacity eg big stage, multi-screen, mega-screen
Able to work in 3D if you have the technology
Easy and fun to work with – you feel you found a friend
Delighted for you to talk to other clients about their experience
Low maintenance – usually books own flights, ground transport
Money back guarantee if keynote fails to deliver – never happened yet
Once booked, you can concentrate on other things with confidence
Will help you sleep at night – organising events is stressful, make it less so

Patrick Dixon - watch conference keynote presentations on trends, strategy and growth

2011-06-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

Patrick Dixon - watch conference keynote presentations on trends, strategy and growth: "You can select from more than 300 recent conference presentations and keynote speeches by Dr Patrick Dixon for multinational companies. You can also watch over 300 videos. This page is for clients and for those interested in booking lectures. No static slides or videos can do justice to large-scale multimedia 2D or 3D events, which have more in common with the experience of theatre - interactive, dynamic, provocative and entertaining as well as profoundly challenging and often disturbing. Dr Dixon is often described in the world's media as Europe's leading Futurist and has been ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers50 2005 survey).

Style and content of presentations varies hugely with size of audience, nationalities present, audience interests, corporate in-house seminar, client event or business school classroom. Each multimedia package is created in a unique process, in close consultation with event organisers. Before looking at individual sets of powerpoint slides further down this page, you may find it helpful to select from one or two of the following where you will find an integrated, industry-focus with relevant videos, slides and text."

Future of Marketing - Marketing Videos, Conference Keynotes

2011-06-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

Future of Marketing - Marketing Videos, Conference Keynotes: "Welcome to the future of marketing - watch videos on direct mail, network marketing, email, strategies, ideas, relationship marketing, campaign slogans, market research, selling to consumers, consumer trends. Huge number of marketing resources on this site, which has had 12 million unique users, plus YouTube marketing videos - over 4 million video views of Patrick Dixon's keynotes, marketing presentations and seminars. Read about the ultimate marketing slogan and the fundamental values that will underpin all effective marketing in future.

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Dr Patrick Dixon introduces future of marketing and why traditional advertising is dead in an online world ruled by virtual communities."

Clouds and Crowds: Seize your Digital Future

2011-06-08T07:34:00.001-07:00

Clouds and Crowds: Seize your Digital Future: "CLOUDS

A digital world which is independent of any particular technology, device, platform, operating system. Everything everywhere, all the time. Corporations need to catch up with how their own teams are behaving in their private lives - storing all their e-mail, photos, videos, documents on remote servers owned by organisations like Facebook or Google. 25% of large corporations plan partial migration into the cloud in the next 2 years, 11% in 12 months. This is already a $56bn / year, and will be $150bn by 2013, according to Gartner. As part of the same trends we can expect to see rapid growth in software as a service – hosted on other company’s servers."

Clouds and Crowds: Seize your Digital Future

2011-06-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Manufacturing - Future Trends

2011-06-08T07:32:00.001-07:00

Manufacturing - Future Trends: "Future of manufacturing – articles, videos and presentations on the future of manufacturing by Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon, presentations for companies such as Siemens, Gillette, Nokia, Ford, Toshiba, HP, General Electric and Airbus.

Issues for manufacturers: controlling risks and quality in outsourcing and offshoring, supply chain management, prices of raw materials – especially energy. Finding next generation efficiencies – perfection in process management. Future of engineering and robotics, 3D modeling, faster prototyping, speed to market and innovation. Sustainability: protecting the environment in a profitable way.

Challenge in manufacturing: maintaining competitive advantage in manufacturing when most products in an industry sector are converging in design, price and quality – yet most real innovation is divergent, doing things differently to serve customers better.

Strategy: manufacturing leaders need to be agile, with more than one strategy to be successful in risky and uncertain times.

Greatest manufacturing risk: institutional blindness – when manufacturing management are surrounded by too many people who have been in the same industry too long.

Greatest manufacturing opportunity: breath-taking innovation which really captures the imagination and passion of customers."

Future of the Automotive Industry (Auto Trends)

2011-06-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

Future of the Automotive Industry (Auto Trends): "Future of automotive industry – articles, videos and presentations on the future of the auto industry by Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. There are many key trends which will impact automotive manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, customers and drivers over the next decade. Here are a few which relate specifically to energy use, development of electric cars and more efficient trucks / lorries, plus new public transport / buses.

Revolution on the roads
Expect to see many rapid improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency using petrol and diesel, and many new ultra-efficient hybrid vehicles. Even if we only saw 30% energy saving in 30% of vehicle miles driven in developed nations over the next decade, we would save at least 9% in motoring energy use (at today’s rate of miles driven a year). That would be the same as cutting today’s global emissions by more than 1%.

Greening of the world car fleet is happening rapidly. JD Power Consultancy estimates that a third of emission cuts by 2020 will come from improving petrol and diesel engines, and 14% from miles driven in electric vehicles.

If all vehicles in America were hybrids, and half were plug-in hybrids (larger batteries), US imports of oil would fall by 8 million barrels a day or by 80% of daily consumption."

Future of the Food Industry

2011-06-08T07:31:00.001-07:00

Future of the Food Industry: "Future of the food industry – articles, videos and presentations on the future of the food industry by Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. Clients in the food industry include the Irish Food Board, Tetrapak, Rexam, Unilever, Danone, Sara Lee, Femsa. Food is an emotional business – just think of a mother’s anxieties when there is yet another scare about contamination of baby food. The same applies to drinks. So if we want to understand the future of food and beverages, we need to understand how consumer emotions are changing.

Food is fundamental to nutrition, health, growth and general well-being. Yet food can also be a poison, with 1 in 3 newborn babies born in New York this week likely to develop adult-style diabetes at a young age because of obesity. The food industry will become (even) more tightly regulated, but smart companies will always lead the way – as we have seen in nation after nation on issues such as clear food labeling, reduction of salt content and saturated fats.

The food industry is beset with many ethical issues which will grow in strength – whether safety of genetically modified food, sale of cloned cows, human breast milk from genetically engineered cows, animal welfare, irradiation of food to improve shelf life, sustainable farming and fishing."

Future of Packaging Industry

2011-06-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

Future of Packaging Industry: "The perfect mass-market retail package always protects what is inside, and promotes the brand on the outside – with distinctive shape, unique opening method, and other instantly recognizable brand elements. It is light-weight, compact, low cost, easy to track through the supply chain, and easy to recycle.

The perfect premium-market retail package can become a fashion icon in it’s own right – a collector’s item even after the contents of the package have been removed or used up. Ecological issues can fade away. The premium package is a public statement about the customer’s own personal brand image.

It says: “You made a great decision” and is all about theatre: prepare to enjoy the moment of revelation, a total sensory experience as the package is opened. How it appears, the sound the packaging makes, how the packaging feels (weight, texture, hard or soft), how it sounds when you shake it, the aroma it releases."

Future of New Brands and Branding

2011-06-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Future of New Brands and Branding: "Brands are all about emotion – and emotion connects with memory, self-image, hopes, dreams and aspirations. Strong brands appeal to many different senses: sight, touch, smell, taste, sound – either within the brand itself, or in the way it is marketed.

Brands can be very long-lasting – especially if they trigger positive childhood memories. Just look in your own kitchen storage areas. You are likely to find in there some brands that your mother introduced you to.

All brands create tribes and tribalism is the most powerful force in marketing and brand development today. We identify with a lifestyle, group, community, culture. If you want to understand the future of your brand, connect with customer emotion, and consider how those emotions could change.

Superbrands can be created rapidly – look at the rise of Lady Gaga in the first three years after her launch as a singer, or YouTube which became the world’s largest TV station within 3 years of launch. Neither of them achieved Superbrand status because of mega advertising campaigns. Both were driven to a significant extend by people who connected emotionally, and promoted to their own friends."

Future of Aviation Industry - Radical Change

2011-06-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

Future of Aviation Industry - Radical Change: "Future of Aviation and Airlines: The travel and hospitality industries are amongst the most vulnerable to global or local shocks. That means contingencies, cash reserves, hedging of major risks such as oil prices. But most of all it means agile and bold leadership who think ahead, with more than one strategy depending on how events unfold.

Airline manufacturers and airlines themselves will continue to exploit significant energy savings over the next 20 years from a wide range of new technologies, including better airline engine design, lighter composite fuselage, more direct aircraft routing. Efficiencies will also be gained from fuller planes, faster turnaround, economies of scale (consolidation of smaller airlines). For more on greener aviation, see below."

Rapid Innovation - How to grow your business

2011-06-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

Rapid Innovation - How to grow your business: "(Article on Future of Innovation by Patrick Dixon, Chairman of Global Change Ltd, and advisor to many multinationals on innovation, change management, trend spotting and related issues. Also below: INNOVATION FORUM structure, lectures and videos on Innovation)

Here is a strange paradox: many CEOs complain about lack of innovation, but their own workers often say their leaders are hostile to new ideas. That’s why I find innovation workshops are often so electrifying, as they unleash all this frustrated creative power.

The first thing to do is change your culture. For example, always reward those whose ideas are used, honour them publicly, give them ongoing profile, show them why their innovation has made such a difference, and before long you are likely to see more innovations."

Change Management - How to Drive Growth

2011-06-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

Change Management - How to Drive Growth: "Most Change Management Is Waste Of Time
Every year billions of dollars are wasted on change management programmes - trying to make people change the way they work. Resistance to change is a number one killer of healthy corporations.

Past decades are littered with the debris of failed corporations that had the wrong products, wrong services or were unable to compete because of archaic management structures, out-of-date systems and bad decisions. But making things happen differently inside a big organization is a huge challenge.

Boards may spend days, weeks or months approving a battle plan, and executive teams work hard to flesh out the details, often running up huge consultancy bills on change management in the process.

Change management programmes must flow out of corporate strategy, which in turn should be based on the Vision and Mision of the organisation - but that vision, mission and strategy must be right, sharpened by smart interpretation of current trends and insight into the future. Strategies are often overtaken by events - changes in consumers, customers, competitors, technologies and other industry trends."

Conference speakers - futurist

2011-06-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

Globalchange.com: "How to grow your business. Over 13 million different people have visited these pages, with 4 million video views, and 350 conference keynote presentations on future trends by Patrick Dixon, Chairman of Global Change Ltd. He has been ranked one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers50 2005), and is author of 15 Futurist books including Futurewise, Building a Better Businesss and Sustainagility. NEW VIDEOS AND ARTICLES: join 40,000 followers of Patrick Dixon on Twitter - he will follow YOU and answers most posts, see @patrickdixon conversation. Book Patrick Dixon to speak at your event."

Conference Speakers - Secrets of Great Conference Speakers and How Conference Speakers can Make or Break Your Career

2011-06-08T05:57:00.001-07:00

Watch video about high impact conferences and events. How to select a great conference speaker. How to make your conference one of the most successful and significant that anyone can remember. Further customised industry keynotes for conferences are below.

Conference Speakers Can Make or Break Your Career

Conference speakers can make or break your corporate event, workshop or seminar. Get the best corporate lecturer around and your reputation as a conference organiser will shine like the sun.

Make a mistake with a keynote presentation in your conference programme and it's the end of your career. Great conference speakers enable you to sleep at night, knowing you will have trully outstanding, world-class keynote which will set up the entire conference for all that follows.

The trouble is that the best global authorities, writers and accademics can be the worst performers and conference speakers when giving lectures in front of a live audience. Been there, heard that. It's hard to wow a sophisticated conference audience of senior executives or board members in a one hour speech - increasingly so in a multichannel, mobile e-world where attention spans are measured in seconds.

Instant full attention

Here is a highly customised presentation for Globe Forum - 700 green tech entrepreneurs, investors and multinationals. Great conference speakers are able to capture instant full attention of participants, with an intense flow of sharply relevant insights, just right for that audience, that conference, that part of the programme, backed by high-impact images or video on a big screen.

A poor conference speaker is obvious in the first sixty seconds. There is no spark, no passion, no fire. No chemistry with the audience. You can feel the wave of disappointment around the room. Energy levels fall rapidly. The lecture delivery is flat, pace is slow and the content difficult to follow or even irrelevant.

Worst of all is a conference speaker who reads a speech, or is constantly referring to detailed written notes on printed powerpoint slides. Such a conference speaker is at high risk of failure. Unable to really focus on eye contact with the audience, so robbed of the most important insight of all - which is the ability to read the inner thoughts and feelings of hundreds of people simultaneously.

Sense the mood - mind reading

All great conference speakers can sense the mood of an audience. They can see when an audience is engaged, amused, puzzled, worried, confused, bored, stimulated, entertained. They play an audience with the same skill as a world-class stage actor or comedian. They know when to linger on a point and when to move on. They can read the unconscious signals from the VIPs in the front row, the leadership team, the event host, the event organiser.

World class conference speakers have total mastery of their material, needing few prompts or reminders, able to move around freely without getting lost in their flow of thought. So they can spend all their intellectual effort in adapting their messages in real time as the presentation unfolds. World class speakers blend very familiar content (to them) with fresh and new material which has been developed for that audience alone.

Avoid lazy conference speakers

Here is an example of a conference keynote which is totally customised for the audience (international journalists at Ricoh media event).

Sadly, some conference speakers are lazy and arrogant: they rely on the contents of their well-sold book, and use identical sets of slides from one event to the next. For them, customisation means only changing the cover slide. They rarely bother to attend dinner the night before or to engage in meaningful conversations with participants before they go on stage.

Lazy conference speakers are anti-social: they spend little time talking with the event organiser, CEO and others before arrival. They fail to listen to the sessions before, or to adapt their material to respond to what has been said previously. They fail to understand the story-line or "red thread" running through the event, and their place within it. They often arrive late and leave as soon as they possibly can after walking off the platform. Such conference speakers insult their audiences and neglect their responsibilities to event organisers.

Of course, all in-demand conference speakers have numbers of days each year when their schedules are so tight, that the only way they can sqeeze in your event is by spending less time at your conference than they would usually like. But the real issue is their attitude: does this conference speaker really get what you are wanting to achieve? Are they really interested serving you, or are you serving them?

Committed to your success

The best conference speakers see their role as servants not prima-donnas. They may be very well-known celebrities on the conference speaker circuit, but they are always willing to do what they can to ensure the whole event is an outstanding success. They are helpful, courteous, friendly, considerate of support teams and technicians, and take good care of the most important people to the client.

Event organisers should demand:

* World class keynote presentation content
* Conference lectures that make people think in radical ways
* Immediate practical take-home messages from every presentation
* Total focus on the interests of the audience in every conference speech
* Lecturer fits keynote material into whole theme of conference
* Interesting, entertaining, dynamic
* Kind of corporate keynote presentation where conference audiences want more
* Outstanding visuals - innovative use of images / video and other elements, adapted to stretch the full capability of all the technology / screens available

Future Trends, Growth Strategy

"Take hold of your future - or the future will take hold of you"

One of the greatest risks to any business is institutional blindness - too much time with people who have a similar world view. See video above for Nokia.

Patrick Dixon is one of the world's leading conference speakers and has advised many of the world's largest corporations on a wide range of strategic issues and trends. A well-recognised authority on growth strategy, trends and change management, he is often described as Europe's leading Futurist. As a corporate lecturer at large global events, Dr Dixon aims to help conference participants touch and feel the future with multimedia presentations on every aspect of what tomorrow's management challenges may be like.

Every great leader spends time considering the future: vision and strategy must be based on deep understanding of what the world is today and what it could become tomorrow. All successful business leaders are experts on consumer and competitor trends and have an intuitive feel for where those trends may change most significantly.

Every conference speaker should bring change to an organisation. It's not enough for a futurist to make informed guesses or detached, philosophical comments on public platforms, or as part of workshops, seminars, think tanks or client events. A successful futurist has to be able to see, feel and taste the future and communicate different scenarios in ways that are relevant, realistic, down to earth and life-changing.

No conference keynote speaker on the future can predict specific events such as the exact moment to buy or sell a stock, but (despite many uncertainties) underlying mega-trends are vital for every corporation. The key for a successful corporate lecturer is not only being able to interpret the outworking of those trends and to be as accurate as possible about timescale, but also to be an interesting, entertaining and mind-stretching speaker.

Designing a great corporate event is an art, and great executive conferences are rare. The secret of success is a great opening visionary lecture that sets the scene, and creates the whole atmosphere, energy and drive for the conference. A great speaker brings an electricity into the conference auditorium almost before they begin to speak, instantly grabbing attention and carrying conference participants along on the crest of a wave to a wonderful climax.

Great presentations are hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally - for the speaker of course - but should also be stimulating, enervating, exciting and engaging for senior executives.

YouTube videos of conference keynote presentations on various issues:

Economics, Finance & Financial Services
Banking - many of Patrick's clients are global banks, investment funds
Economics issues - Patrick creates a big picture of global trends
Insurance - Patrick has worked with many of the world's largest insurers

Technology
Technology - Patrick works with many of the world's largest computer, software, telecom, internet and biotech companies
Online communities - Web 2.0 - how online communities will drive your business
Mobile phones - future of telecom, wireless devices, virtual communities, positional advertising
Convergence and divergence - why all competitive advantage comes from divergence
RFID technology - impact on retail, wholesale, distribution and manufacturing

Health and Education
Health care - key trends in health, ageing, biotech, hospitals, clinics
Pharmaceutical industry - impact of the biotech revolution
Education - future of teaching in high schools, colleges and business school

Leadership, Management & Strategy
Change management - a recurring theme
Risk management - preparing for the unexpected
Innovation - smart innovation, open innovation and crowdsourcing
Leadership - effective ways to drive organisations forward
Logistics and supply chain - critical issues in manufacturing and wholesale
Motivation - how to inspire people to make great things happen
Women at work - challenges for corporations in winning war for talent
Outsourcing - what is going to happen next

Marketing
Advertising - why traditional approaches are dead in an online world
Customers - how customer demands are changing and why
Customer focus - why many corporations need a reality check, to succeed in future
Marketing - future of marketing and brand development

Travel, Tourism, Energy, Resources and Environment
Travel - future of aviation, road, rail, shipping - for business and leisure
Biofuels - food for fuel? Next generation biofuels.
Commodities - impact of emerging markets
Energy industry - future energy from oil, gas, coal, nuclear, renewables
Petrochemical industry - how the industry will change and why
Climate change - why the future is about emotion, not just the science
Sustainability - what does it mean for your business?

Other Topics and Types of Audience
Real estate - key trends in commercial and residential real estate industries
Retailing - developing the customer experience

Looking for other topics? Search on Patrick Dixon's YouTube Futurist channel.

Dr Patrick Dixon chairing conferences and running panel interviews

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - 5 minute intro of session on future of entertainment, media, advertising, online communities such as YouTube and perhaps the ultimate consumer experience - space travel with Virgin Galactic

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Chairing session on future of broadcasting and the BBC - guest Mark Thompson, Director General BBC

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Chairing discussion with co-founder of YouTube Chad Hurley - on meteoric rise of YouTube

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Space Tourism and Virgin Galactic - Chairing session with remarkeable video of early flight, discussion and then closing with whole panel of 5 on range of issues relating to entertainment and virtual life

Clients Listed by Industry

Technology, Engineering, Software and Computer Manufacturers

Google, Microsoft, Toshiba, HP, IBM, Phillips, SAP, Siemens, Symantec, Infosys, Ricoh, Actinic, ARBS, Asco, Capco, Compaq, Comverse, European Internet Foundation, Fujitsu Siemens, Georgia Technology Forum, ITS, Kyocera, Leadbay, NCR, SolidWorks, Toshiba, Unaxis, Unisys, Zellweger Luwa

Media, Telecommunications

Nokia, AT&T, Vodafone, O2, Belgacom, BT, AIC Carriers World, Mobilcom, MTN, Amdocs, Carlton TV, Etisalat Telecom (UAE), Idea Cellular, i-Comverse, Loral (satellites), Telenor, Times of India, Qualcomm, SABC (S Africa), TDC

Banking

HSBC, UBS, Credit Suisse, RBS, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds TSB, Skandia Bank, ABSA bank, Bank of Ireland, Britania Building Society, Clariden Bank, ABN AMRO, CUES, Fortis, Friends First Bank, Macquarie Bank, Minsheng Bank, Morgan Stanley Investment Bank, North Island Credit Union, PrivatBank (Ukraine), RMB, Saga, SEB, Skandia, Sumitomo Bank, Bank Vontobel,

Insurance and other Financial Services

Allianz, Aviva, Prudential, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services, Swiss Stock Exchange, 3i, AA (UK), AIG, Roularta, ICBI - fund managers, Asset Management Advisors, Income (Singapore), Birla financial services group, International Mutual Funds Institute, Kazakstan Investment Forum, Lombard, Morley Fund, Saga, Acromas, Winterthur Insurance, Family Office, Kiln Group

Transport - Airlines, Travel, Shipping, Hotels, Tourism and Automotive Industry

Air France, KLM, Airbus, Swiss Airline, Virgin Atlantic, Dassault Falcon, Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Automobile Recycling Netherlands (ARN), Dubai Ports Authority, EADS, Ford, Hotel Ecoliere de Lausanne, Portuguese Tourist Board, Reg Vardy - auto sales, Saga, Stagecoach, Tourism in Ireland, North West Tourism, World Economic Forum Governors of Aviation Travel and Tourism meeting (Davos)

Logistics, Distribution, Supply Chain Management, Packaging Industry

Fedex, DHL, ISS, Danish Post Office, Deutsche Poste, Swedish Poste, UK Post Office, IBS, Rexam, Tetrapak

Energy, Chemical Industry, Mining, Metals, other Commodities

BP, ExxonMobil, General Electric, BASF, Copesul (Brazil), European Petrochemical Association (EPCA), Hindalco, Houston Energy Forum, Royal Dutch Chemical Association, SHV Gas, Sulzer, Vattenfall, Veitch

Food and Drink

Carlsburg, Unilever, Kraft Jacobs Suchard, Sara Lee, Diageo, Danone, Femsa, Bord Bia - Irish Food Board, European Coffee Federation, Food Business Forum, Nutreco, RPC, Schwan's Frozen Foods, Tetrapak

Health Care, Pharmaceutical Industry, Medical Technology and Cosmetics / Lifestyle

GSK, Roche, Novartis, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Gillette, Johnson and Johnson, 3M - dentistry, Avon, Siemens Medical, Phillips Diagnostics, BUPA, Coloplast, Genentech, Henry Schein, ICPM - International Conference of Pharmaceutical Medicine, NHS, Smith and Nephew, St Joseph's Hospital Foundation Ontario, Voluntary Hospitals Association, Institute of Clinical Research

Government and UN

World Bank, UNIDO, UNAIDS, EU, US Federal Government (Pentagon), Abu Dhabi Police Authority, UK Department of Trade and Industry, Irish government, South Korea Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, Jebel Ali Free Zone (UAE), Kazakhstan government, Lithuanian government, Portuguese government, State of Connecticut, Welsh Assembly, UK Parliament, London Connect

Marketing, Advertising and Design

McCann Erikson, Belgium Marketing Federation, Danish Design Centre, Marketing Forum Turkey, Finland Marketing Federation, Malta Marketing Association, Pinnacle Communications, Portugese Marketing Association, Marketing Communication Consultants Association (MCCA), plus many presentations on marketing / brand to clients in other lists

Professional Firms - Law / Legal / Accounting

Accenture, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Charles Russell, Eversheds, Freshfields, Linklaters, Regulatory Affairs Professional Organisation

Management, Consulting, Training, Service Organisations

Forbes, Fortune, American Management Association, American Society for Training and Development, ISS, CIONet, Concours Group, CSC Consulting, European Federation of Management Development, European Federation of Facilities Management, European School of Management and Technology, European Institute for Research Management, Globe Forum, Global Future Forum, HMS, IBEC (Ireland), ICBI, Indian School of Business, Informa, Institute of Management, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, ISS, KPMG, Latitude, Leading Edge Strategy Group, Leadership Trust, Linkage, Management Centre Europe, Management Centre Turkey, MPI - Meetings Professionals International, POM+, P Richmond Events, Ruling Companies, Said Business School Oxford, ServiceMaster, Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Organisation, Stan Am Rheim Leadership Summit, Strategos, University of Salford Management School, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Belgium, Wheaton College, ZFU

Real Estate / Construction / Engineering

Balfour Beatty, Corenet Global, Johnson Controls, Knight Frank, Siemens Group, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Anglian Circle Housing Association

Retail, Textiles, Engineering, and some other Manufacturing - note: many manufacturers classified under industries above

Oxxo, Femsa, Aditya Birla, American Apparel Manufacturers Association, C&A group, Rieter, Saks Group Inc

Non-Profit Organisations

American Association of Retired People (AARP), AIDS Care Education and Training (ACET), UK Church Commissioners, Premier Radio, Tear Fund, Transformational Business Network (TBN), Trinity Forum, Sustainability Forum, Young Presidents Organisation (YPO)

Future of food and drink industry: fast, quality, value. Keynote confere...

2011-05-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Future of convenience stores, corner store retailing, food and drink industry, OXXO brand owned by FEMSA in Mexico. Fast food and drink, drink bottling including Coca-Cola, logistics, distribution, manufacturing, wholesaling, warehousing. Nutrition, performance and health foods, obesity, diabetes and social responsibility. Futuro de las tiendas de conveniencia, venta al por menor tienda de la esquina, la alimentación y la industria de las bebidas, una cadena OXXO propiedad de FEMSA en México. De comida rápida y bebidas, envasado bebidas como Coca-Cola, logística, distribución, fabricación, venta al por mayor, el almacenamiento. La nutrición, el rendimiento y la salud los alimentos, la obesidad, la diabetes y la responsabilidad social. Impact of ageing -- medical research into aging process. Future of community shops. Employee engagement, customer excellence, brands, branding and corporate image. Energy efficiency and helping the environment. Mexico, Panama, Chile, Brazil, Argentina economic development. Conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon, author Futurewise -- video. Soft drinks, carbonated non-alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, bottled water, dairy and other milk based drinks -- key industry trends. Impact of revolutions in Middle East, Tunisia, Egypt, unrest in Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen. How small trends create big futures. Managing uncertainty, agile leadership styles. Future of marketing, management and motivation. Globalisation -- mergers and acquisitions. YouTube, social networking and future of broadcasting. Future of oil prices, energy costs and energy savings. Fuel from food contribution to rising food prices and riots. Demand for commodity prices and impact on manufacturing, logistics and distribution. Sustainability and sustainable economic growth. Demographics and urbanization, tribalism and globalization. Future ethics and government regulation. Future of Latin America and emerging nations economic growth. Why the future will be driven not by innovation or technology, but by emotion, and why trust is so vital to corporate success in food and drink industries. Team building and change management. Examples of fear in Swine Flu, Bird Flu, nuclear accident following Japan earthquake and Tsunami. Institutional blindness and seeing world through eyes of our customers. Customer excellence and exceeding expectations in customer service, products, systems and processes. Operational excellence must be built on clear strategy which in turn requires accurate view of future trends, competitor activity -- as well as clear corporate vision and corporate mission / purpose. Impact of mobile digital technology / smartphones on customer choices and workplace. New patterns of use of email, impact of ipad, iphone etc, wireless payment systems impact on retail and financial services, death of traditional credit and debit cards. Key to all change management, all leadership and all motivation -- basis of every mission statement and corporate purpose: corporate ethics. Building a better world. Summary of the most powerful leadership speech in the world. How the most powerful and evil leaders use the same foundations in their speech -- how to use the lesson to make great things happen. Spanish translation.

Silent Conference - future of conferencing

2010-05-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker and futurist explains corporate event which is silent how it works. Future of corporate events, lectures, presentations, keynotes, workshops and seminars. Leadership, motivation, marketing and management seminars with multiple workshops and seminars in same conference hall. Video made at Globe Forum Sustainagility conference session.

Future of Corporate Events

2008-08-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

Outline of opening keynote to 4,500 people at MPI conference in Las Vegas by Dr Patrick Dixon.

Slides of MPI keynote and video

Future of corporate events, conferences, workshops and seminars. How the conference world will change. Impact of new technologies, increasing globalization, economic instability and growing concerns about carbon footprints / climate change.

Corporate event management is about to experience a revolution which presents exciting opportunities but also many significant dangers. Event organizers will be at the cutting edge of corporate transformation – and the faster things change, the more central your role will become. So when we look back in 2020, who turned out to be the bright stars of the future, who re-invented the industry, and why?

One of the greatest risks in any organization is institutional blindness – when we lose perspective about things which are obvious to those outside our team, corporation or industry. Risk of institutional blindness amongst professional event organizers, at a time of rapid global transformation. Correcting institutional blindness, giving a wider picture, is a vital part of every corporate gathering.

Meeting professionals and learning departments – opportunities for closer collaboration or even fusion into one-stop shops for ultimate learning experiences. How greatest opportunities in future will often come by far closer creative partnerships. Opportunties for outsourcing – but dangers also in outsourcing corporate thinking and strategy development – because so influenced by forum / event management / intellectual capital.

Why most conference formats are still stuck in a late-twentieth century time-warp. What has really changed in the last 15 years apart from Powerpoint replacing 35mm slides - and a few more videos? Corporate events can be the most powerful and time-effective drivers of business success - but can also be the greatest wasters of time and energy. So what does a third millennial corporate conferencing industry look like, in a world increasingly driven by time-pressures, online communities and networks, where attentions span is measured in seconds and multi-tasking in meetings is normal.

Why corporations are going to be far more sensitive about the “total opportunity cost” of meetings than in the past. Growing need to prove tangible value, measurable benefits to individual executives and the whole organization. Need for sharper definition of meeting purpose, clearer aims and objectives, and why organizations will be under pressure to achieve multiple objectives during the same time-frame eg client events scheduled alongside internal meetings.

Why audience experience is even more critical in an increasingly virtual world where delegates really want to breath the same air, feel, touch, engage and be changed. We should be thinking about “theatre”, while most conferences have more in common with classroom, lecture or (badly made) TV program. (More on this later).

Life’s too short to waste on things that don’t matter, that we are not passionate about. Why the future of conferencing is about emotion: engaging with issues that are of immense significance to participants, things they really care about.

Ideas can be read about, researched, Googled and the rest – but we are about changing people’s minds and how they feel – which is entirely different. Gather people together for a life-changing experience, not to force-feed their minds with data sheets and graphs.

Does it really matter to me? Simple test for every speaker and every part of every presentation. Am I really passionate about this? If not, dump the slide and move on. Don’t expect the audience to care either and why waste their time, they can get it all online.

Why tribalism is vital to business success and every event builds a tribe: every brand is a tribe, every team creates a new tribe, every customer group is a tribe and every corporation is a tribe of tribes. The reason most mergers destroy shareholder value is that the Excell spreadsheet numbers stacked up fine but the tribes did not. The stronger your tribe, the stronger your business will be – customer loyalty, staff loyalty, war for talent. Conferences are one of the most effective strategies for building tribal identity, and tribal gatherings will be vitally important in future. Five ways to turn your events into more effective tribe builders.

Reality check: do’s and don’ts of conference technology. How budgets can rise and audience experience fall with clumsy use of new tools . Good and bad use of electronic polling, e-briefing packs, digital devices given to delegates, SpotMe and similar meeting enhancers.

Using virtual teams and websites to prepare participants for an event, shape future events with participant input, and deliver stronger results.

Key question: who is making the decisions about who attends your meetings? If people were given a totally free choice, would they chose to attend at all, and if so, for how long? Are they attending entirely as a free choice or to be seen, to get on, to play their cards right?

Work-life balance impact on conference planning. How career objectives are changing and why work-life balance is now number one or two career priority. How conference organizers have often failed to keep pace with growing angst over time away from home. What it all means for program design, location, length, timing of start and weekend travel.

Third millennial clients events – new shapes and strategies for new situations. Expect growing demand for premium client events, positioning corporation as thought-leader rather than merely as a smart organization with great products or services. Ever greater search for out-of-conference client experiences – risks and opportunities. Culture – but whose culture? One person’s heavenly experience is another person’s discomfort – or even embarrassment. Challenges with after dinner speakers, comedians (big risks), and conflict with other needs – enough time to talk at dinner to other guests. Opportunities for community experiences – eg table magic, busking musicians, roving entertainers…. May be great venue but 25 minutes each way in a coach?? Beautiful setting but pity the weather was so cold for outdoors reception – backup plan?

Difference between excellent event and truly world class is the elusive 0.5%. Expect huge efforts to discover a new formula – which will be difficult since part of the secret is constant innovation, creativity, the elusive element of surprise, the ability to outshine an audience’s expectations.

Why the details really matter: eg name badges too small or too low to be read from two metres away, hotel check-in with room details already printed and keys in envelopes, enough serving points for rapid coffee breaks to actually happen, free internet high speed wireless networking for all participants in all areas including hotel rooms (life’s too short), dinner tables that are not too large and round (ever tried talking to someone other than on immediate left or right – long thin tables win every time), name boards in front of participants on tables that are large enough to be read from a long distance away, very brief pre-reading – who really bothers when faced with going to bed at 3am on last night at home for a week?

From Lecture to theatre: why performance will be everything. Lectures are about imparting data but computers do that faster at home. Theatre is about engaging in a community experience, about changing how people feel as well as how they think. Lectures can be watched at home, TV programmes on a mobile on a train, but theatre requires total presence and demands audience commitment. People don’t drift into a performance late, nor rush out to take a call, nor do e-mails at the same time.

So what does it mean to create theatre out of a lecture? Lessons from theatre are many – but almost totally ignored by event organizers and presenters.

Seating is critical. Just think how much people will pay to be 5 rows nearer the action. Round tables are great for group work but almost useless for theatre. Raised seating can work wonders, theatre in the round or why not use a real theatre rather than try to create one in an old aircraft hanger or exhibition hall. Lighting is everything. Poor lighting means a disastrous show. Brilliant lighting engages and holds attention. Lighting creates atmosphere, tension, expectation, mood and focuses where the audience looks. Most hotel ballrooms are entirely unsuited to third millennial events – lighting is just one of their drawbacks. Movement creates an irresistible force – it is almost impossible to keep looking at a performer who is motionless, if another performer is moving rapidly across the stage. Staging – just look at the trouble rock concert organizers go to with stage extensions, and creative postioning, to allow performers to move right into an audience. Intimacy is created when a performer turns to address the audience directly – seen most powerfully in solo stage performances of plays.

All of these things can be developed at relatively low cost in medium and large sized venues. Turning lectures into theatre enhances the power of every idea, increases speed of understanding, assists memory, is interesting and entertaining. It requires joint planning by event creators, event designers, the performer (presenter) and the entire technical team.

The most important thing of all: informal networking. Then there is the most important part of conferencing which is not what goes on in sessions, but in informal meetings during every unstructured moment. How do we push this kind of activity up a level? Importance of virtual or physical message boards. Opportunities to integrate with what people already use eg SMS and mobile phones. Match-making with table or seat pre-allocations – when and where to do this.

Culture, language and jet lag. Radical approaches needed to biggest unsolved challenge for global teams: daylight. Issues in video conferencing, and short conference meetings. Need for creative timing of sessions – for example starting afternoon and ending at night if fits better with most body clocks. Form of torture is sleep deprivation in a prison cell. Variation on this is sleep deprivation in an important meeting. What language are you using, English? International English or American or British or Australian English (it really matters). What speed? Who is really going to take the translation (pride issues). How many languages are we using for the slides on screen?

Virtual conferences – how to make them happen better. Despite premium for breathing same air, expect more events to have virtual audiences grouped around a physical event. How to make video work for you. The most important rule is audience engagement and

The greatest tool is….. eye contact. 20 second demo in meetings – get everyone to turn to neighbor and talk about what they usually eat for breakfast – with no eye contact – look only at hair line…. Or eyebrows. It is a disturbing and strange experience. Welcome to video conferencing – screen in one place, camera above, no true eye contact in most cases. Same in video links with corporate events – watch audience light up when the speaker for a few moments turns direct to camera and talks to a remote site directly, returning to do the same regularly. (demonstrate this in my presentation – few seconds to do)

Second rule: pay attention to audience and speaker dynamics. If a speaker would usually pace the stage, don’t videolink them in sitting at a table in front of a microphone. Even better, display behind them an identical set to the one we would see on a huge screen if they were standing in front of us in the flesh right now. (demonstrate this in my presentation – few seconds to do).

Economic and environmental worries - impact on conferencing: Impact of economic instability – more short-termism in conference cycle management. Oil prices, dollar – euro and other issues likely to impact global conference planning. Why environmental decisions about your next events will be driven by emotion rather than science (which only gives us a range of guesses about life in 50 years time). Working out carbon-impact of your next event and why it really matters. How to future-proof your events from environmental critics. How some corporations will significantly alter pattern of corporate travel with new restrictions which will impact events. Carbon trading and offsetting – how it works, why it will be increasingly controversial (because of some rogue schemes) and why despite this it will become a key part of conference planning.

Emerging markets – the next big think in conferencing – obsessions by many corporate, opportunities for interesting and exotic new conference locations. Discovery programmes – total immersion in new experiences, kinds of organization, culture as tools for new learning and insight.

And finally – winning the war for talent – attracting next generation of high-flying, radical, creative thinkers with passion for excellence and world-class ability to make great things happen. The secret is purpose and the hunger to find it at work (surveys). It is not enough to pay more. Offering a better work-life balance is also not enough (though without it the best talent will often walk away). When people see that you are making a difference, that the world changes because of what you do, that lives are touched, careers energized, life-ambitions fulfilled, that organizations are transformed for the better and that people are empowered to take hold of their own future… then you will find you have the pick of the talent.

Take hold of your future events- or the events will take hold of you.

This is an extraordinary time to be alive – and through our events we are privileged to be guides to those who attend, as they seek answers for their own futures.

11. Great Presentations - secrets - great lighting

2008-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Secrets of successful corporate presentations. Great lighting and careful staging really matters for larger events. Keep powerpoint slides simple. How to use powerpoint. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide. Communicating with audiences.

8. Powerpoint Secrets of Great Presentations

2008-04-19T12:00:00.001-07:00

Secrets of successful corporate presentations. Keep powerpoint slides simple. How to use powerpoint. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide. Communicating with audiences.

10 Allow Questions - secrets of great presentations

2008-04-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 10. Allow questions. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

9. Fit into whole programme: secrets of great presentations

2008-04-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 9. Keep your key messages in context of whole event. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

7. Use lots of energy! Secrets of great presentations

2008-04-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 7. Use lots of energy. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

6 Move around -- secrets of great presentations

2008-04-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 6. Movement is a really powerful way to keep audience focussed. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

4 Watch your audience -- secrets of great presentations

2008-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 4. Watch your audience. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

4 Watch your audience -- secrets of great presentations

2008-04-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

2 Know Your Audience -- secrets of great presentations

2008-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 2. Know Your Audience. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.
Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

3 Listen to event organiser: secrets of great presentations

2008-03-31T07:58:00.001-07:00

How to give great presentations -- part 1. Passion is everything. Secret of great keynote conference speeches. How to give great lectures. Powerful presentation tools and tips. How to use Powerpoint. How to reach an audience. Connect with audience emotion. Understand needs of audience. Watch audience responses. Keep close to event organisers. Prepare very carefully. Adapt key messages. Take care over humour, jokes and culture. Guide, conference preparation tips and tools. How to win an audience over. Keep messages simple and relevant. Guide to great presentations by Patrick Dixon, Futurist and keynote conference speaker -- has spoken to audiences in 50 nations, up to 4 countries a week, 30-2000 people each time, and ranked as one of the most influential business thinkers alive today.Presentations, lectures, conference, powerpoint, keynote, speech, event, workshop, seminar, prepare, success, tools, guide

Tribalism in education -- radical force for future

2008-03-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Every class and school is a tribe. Power of tribalism in future world. Need for students to understand tribalism as force in family, community, nation, culture, brands, identity, belonging. Every group creates own tribes. Religion as tribal force. Future of traibalism. Clash of cultures. Christianity and Islam. Understanding other people's culture and tribes. Links of tribes to protest movements, activists and terrorist groups. Video on future of education, high schools, colleges, universities, curriculum, trends, syllabus, exams, assessments, business schools, MBAs, degree courses - by Dr Patrick Dixon, Futurist conference keynote speaker for NAIS.

Future technology and education

2008-03-28T08:32:00.001-07:00

Future is about emotion -- look at power of chat screens. Intense connection for students. Passion to connect with other people. Harness new technology in education sullabus. Video on future of education, high schools, colleges, universities, curriculum, trends, syllabus, exams, assessments, business schools, MBAs, degree courses - by Dr Patrick Dixon, Futurist conference keynote speaker for NAIS.

Six Faces of the Future

2008-03-27T05:03:00.001-07:00

Managing speed of change - risk management - leadership

2008-03-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

Speed of change. Change management. Leadership styles and decisions. Web marketing. Online sales. Impatient consumers and consumer choices. Rapid innovation. Business profit. Agility in teams. Contingencies. Managing uncertainty and risk management. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon.

People do crazy things under pressure - consumers + managers

2008-03-21T05:01:00.000-07:00

People do crazy things under pressure. Executives, consumers, shareholders, clients, workers all act irrationally, with emotion. Understand consumer choices. Win team loyalty and war for talent. Irrational and illogical customer decisions. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon.

Too late for outsourcing?

2008-03-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

Huge salary inflation impact for senior executives in India and China make outsourcing economics harder. Up to 100% wage inflation in China and 40% in india for experienced business leaders. Reverse outsoursing. Business efficiency and strategy needs review. Operating costs of managing outsourced operations. Why outsourcing operations can fail. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon.

Motivation at Work - how to increase workplace motivation

2008-03-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

Motivation at work. People don't get passionate about shareholder value or business profits or excel spreadsheets. They get passionate and motivated about challenge, great teams, vision, important goals, having fun, about family and friends, about the community and world they live in. Connect with passion and you will motivate teams to change organisation, business and world. Work-life balance, family, children. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon. Business productivity and motivating teams. Team leadership, targets, bottom line profit, increasing shareholder value. CEO speeches, annual general meetings. Publicly listed corporations. Attracting talent, retaining talent, winning the war for talent. Human resources and making a difference. Why workplace motivation depends on corporate vision, workplace passion and clear purpose. Connectedness and engagement at work. Business priorities, strategy and objectives must connect with individual passion - key to business success.

Trees cannot solve global warming

2008-03-18T04:15:00.000-07:00

Old carbon dioxide needs to be stored underground. Carbon capture technology and carbon sequestration. Carbon offsetting and carbon trading. Balancing carbon footprint. Developed world and emerging economies carbon revolution. Carbon saving attention move to investment in solar, wind, wave energy generation. Nuclear fission and fusion. Lessons from scientific research. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon.

Innovation - conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon

2008-03-17T04:06:00.000-07:00

Future of innovation, trends, change management and business success. Managing organisations. Future leadership styles. Speed of change. Change management. Leadership styles and decisions. Web marketing. Online sales. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Dr Patrick Dixon.

What have you got wrong as a Futurist

2008-03-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Most debates over the future are issues of timing rather than what will eventually take place (probably). ? Telling difference between high probability trends, likely, possible and unlikely -- plus the wild cards, areas of huge uncertainty.

How do you become a futurist? -- conference speaker

2008-03-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

Book writing, research, website, lecturing and consulting to smaller and then larger corporations, becoming an authority in international media. The more you work with different corporations and the more countries you work in, the deeper your insights are likely to become. Break out of traditional thinking, take a fresh view on the world, watch people, learn all the time, be hungry to understand what does not at first make sense. You will be judged by your own track record of correctly anticipating important new trends. Can the future be predicted? Telling difference between high probability trends, likely, possible and unlikely -- plus the wild cards, areas of huge uncertainty. Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker and futurist.

Motivation at Work - how to increase workplace motivation

2008-03-03T12:24:00.001-08:00

Outstanding conference staging

2007-06-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Two recent conferences that I have been involved in stand out for me. The first was Google Zeitgeist in the UK ,which was once again a spectacular success not just in content and structure but also in the way it was staged. Brand Fuel created a unique high-tech, TV studio type environment for several hundred European CEOs and senior business leaders. Loads of lights and gantries. Well positioned screens around the room. Lots of ground-breaking video clips brought by panellists to illustrate how they are shaping the future.

The other was the MTN global leadership summit. This was held in South Africa. Massive screen across the entire stage area. Stage itself projected right into the audience in three spokes from the centre, again with brilliant varied lighting, and huge globes onto which all kinds of images were projected to create a feeling of different worlds. It created a sense of theatre the moment people walked in. You can see the results by watching video clips....

http://www.youtube.com/pjvdixon

Tips for conference organisers

2007-06-19T03:36:00.000-07:00

Do make sure that the conference venue is easy to get to by a variety of routes – especially if the conference is relatively short. I went to speak at a conference in the Lake District today (Northern England) – beautiful setting by Lake Windermere but no airports anywhere near and roads in and out are slow. Fastest rail to London over three hours.

Delightful of course once you arrive, but limiting for an international event (the participants were almost all from the UK and many from the North.

Future of Kazakhstan

2007-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Interesting visit – giving a presentation on the investment potential of the country at a conference in Karaganda opened by the Prime Minister. Kazakhstan is a spectacularly vast and beautiful country, with massive resources of oil, gas, coal, copper, uranium and many other minerals. Kazakhstan is the size of Europe, yet most people in Europe cannot place it on a map. Kazakhstan suffered under the former Soviet regime, was host to many Gulag camps, has been affected by industrial and nuclear pollution on a massive scale, is severely short of water (hence death of the Aral sea), and yet life expectancy and incomes fell from already low levels when Communism ended.

The ending of Russian control created high expectations but the reality was half a decade of chaos and uncertainty as reforms gradually worked through and internal markets began to develop. Living standards fell sharply during those years and life was very tough for millions of people.

Rapid development of oil and gas fields in the early 2000s has resulted in huge economic growth, and Kazakhstan is likely to see continued inflation in real estate prices as well as in other sectors. Government income will rise rapidly as new oil and gas fields come on stream through 2008 onwards, and we can expect major investment in large-scale infrastructure as well as in health and education. At the same time, expect major environmental initiatives, some linked to ecotourism, of which one will be renewed regional efforts to allow the Aral Sea to recover.

Kazakhs are returning to the country and birth rates are rising, while significant numbers of Russians continue to leave. The net effect is likely to be population growth of around 0.5m to 1m every two years. There is a feel of optimism and yet there is a long way to go in improving basic health care and social support, especially for the elderly or vulnerable. Kazakhstan is likely to find that oil and gas wealth is a mixed blessing. As energy exports rise, so will the value of the national currency, making other exports more difficult for tens of thousands of small and medium sized businesses on which the wider and more sustainable future of the economy will depend.

As we have seen in many other oil-rich nations, huge energy reserves can create other challenges ranging from national security threats from energy hungry neighbours, to internal threats from groups keen to take power and cream off wealth for themselves. Neither seem a significant issue at present in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is strategically placed with political stability, good relations with neighbouring nations, carefully balanced diplomacy with both Russia and the US, and greater religious tolerance than some of its neighbours (the country is roughly half Muslim and half Christian).

There are huge business opportunities here for people who are sensitive to history and culture, globalised in outlook and well connected to people who matter.
The visit was interesting for another reason: the AIDS foundation I started in 1988 (ACET) has trained community workers in HIV prevention in Kazakhstan and other countries in the region so it was helpful to meet key people and learn about the spread of HIV and practical steps being taken to save the lives of young people at risk.

Watch conference speakers before you make decisions

2007-06-17T12:33:00.001-07:00

The most important thing in selecting a speaker is to talk to people who have booked the conference speaker before - and also if you can to go and see the person perform. If you can't then at least insist on looking at some videos. Be aware however that a video cannot capture the electricity that an audience feels in an inspired live performance. A great speaker will always deviate substantially from his or her own familar material, in order to connect with the particular needs, culture, experience, interests of the audience and to fit in with the other speakers / theme of the event. That is why it is so vital to browse around and get to understand how a conference speaker works.

Here are some videos of presentations I have given recently - some speakers hate letting go of their material and many websites of conference speakers have very little video available. What are they afraid of? Someone stealing their thunder? Running out of fresh insights?

Give me a call if you want to discuss your event:

+ 44 7768 511 390 - or SMS or leave a message. I will phone you right back as soon as I can. Or you can call Leigh Bureau on + 353 1 230 2322.

Future of phones, computers, consumer choices and lifestyle changes in emerging markets - staged multimedia event for 450 of MTN's global leadership team - South Africa 2007.

Future customer trends, consumers, marketing, products and services - event for 350 clients of Siemens, mostly Chief Technology Offices, or Chief Information Officers, from multinationals.

How the future of America will be dominated by older consumers, lifestyle choices and growth of financial and political power of senior citizens - presentation for national leadership team of AARP (American association for people over the age of 50) - 2005..

Future technology trends and what people really want - personally and in business - seminar for 25 leaders at Dimension Data in Johannesburg with video-linked audiences in three other site - 2007.

The Future of Education - lecture for 100 Head Teachers of US high schools (NAIS). What kind of education do tomorrow's citizens need? How does the way we teach people need to change? What kind of world do we need to prepare students for? - 2006.

Future trends and their impact on investment banking, fund management and related financial services - Credit Suisse seminar - 2006.

Future of Consumers, Technology and Communications - one hour presentation for 600 clients of Toshiba in Sydney. Major shift, new fashions and fads, convergence and divergence and the need to make a difference - 2006.

Future of the European Petrochemical Industry - logistics and supply chain - half hour keynote presentation for the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA). This is an example of a highly customised presentation for a specific audience - 2007.

How to Make Great Things Happen - presentation for 250 government workers organised by the Welsh Parliament (Assembly). Participants from health, education, police, fire services, social services, transport. Keys to effective leadership, change management and improved productivity - 2007.

Take Hold of Your Future - technology and other major trends affecting the future of large cororporations. Event for 2,000 clients of Fujitsu Siemens - 2005.

Futurewise - Six Faces of Global Change and the Future of Banking - keynote lecture to 400 financial intermediaries of UBS, with focus on fund management, financial services and wealth management - 2006.

Future of medicine, biotechnology, health care, the pharmaceutical industry - and related trends - biotech investors conference in Switzerland - 2003.

Future of Logistics, Distribution, Global Transportation and other Trends - client event for IBS - 2005.

Future of digital technology and other global trends - client event for 2000 CIOs and CTOs of Fujitsu Siemens on major trends and their impact on multinational business - not only in technology - 2006

Dr Patrick Dixon chairing conferences and running panel interviews

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Chairing session on future of broadcasting and the BBC - guest Mark Thompson, Director General BBC

Google Zeitgeist CEO Summit - Chairing discussion with co-founder of YouTube Chad Hurley - on meteoric rise of YouTube

Short video clips on major issues

GOOGLE VIDEOS

The truth about global warming

Mobile phone radiation - truth about health scares, cancer and other issues

Future of government, politics and single issue activism - radical

Why most new phones will be sold to people on low incomes in poorest nations

Power of tribalism - in conflicts, communities, corporations

How low cost prevention programmes can stop AIDS in Africa

Impact of low cost computers and phones in Africa and Asia

The scandal of unreliable and bug-ridden technology

Urbanisation, demographics and mobile phones in emerging nations

Convergence and divergence in technology products innovation

How mobile phones are having an impact in places like DR Congo

How to lose 30% of your business in 30 seconds

Impact of SMS and mobile phones on life in Africa

Market research - why consumers can't be trusted to give right answers about future

Market research and consumer emotion - listen to your customers but don't believe what they say

Managing uncertainty - wild cards: low probability, high impact events

Why market research does not work - and future of marketing

Human cloning - who is carrying out human cloning research, how it is being done and why. Why investors are moving away from human cloning and human embryo experiments to invest in adult stem cell technology.

Managing rapid change - secret of change management and leadership

Take hold of your future or the future will take hold of you

Book Patrick Dixon for an event

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

10 billion computers the size of a grain of sand

Connecting with emotion of customers online

1 billion new consumers - future

Human cloning - part one - who is doing human cloning

Human cloning - part two - why investors don't like cloning

Future of genetic engineering

Future of Ukraine - economy and country

Future of Malaysia Economy

Future of Kazakhstan - economy

Future will be driven by emotion - take hold of your future!

Make It Work! Scandal: technology sold which doesn't work

Motivation, leadership, change management, passion

Mobile phone sales in emerging economies - bottom of pyramid

Why consumers won't wait - impatience online

Can we stop getting old - reverse ageing? New research.

Impact of ageing population in Europe and Russia

Secret of Change Management - by Patrick Dixon

Purpose of fund management - by Patrick Dixon

Fund Management Risks - Potential Crisis - Patrick Dixon

Wild cards - low probability, high impact events

Tribalism - greatest force in world today

Low cost mobile phones in emerging nation / Africa

Why market research gives wrong results - blogging

Mobile phone radiation - health risks - facts

Convergence and Divergence - future technology and consumers

Mobile phone impact on poorest nations

The world is changing faster than you can make decisions

Stopping spread of AIDS in Africa

Truth about global warming and practical answers

Future of Malaysia

Chad Hurley interviewed by Dr Patrick Dixon at Zeitgeist Europe 2007

2007-06-05T01:20:00.001-07:00

Chairing of event for Google CEO Summit on the fascinating growth of YouTube to a $1.6bn company in just 15 months.

Wild cards - low probability, high impact events

2007-05-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

Managing uncertainty is a major challenge in future - video extract from MTN global leadership summit in 2007

Should you use speaker bureaux to locate speakers for an event?

2006-05-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Simple answer is yes and no. The best thing is to do some of the initial research yourself online, and start with your own short list. Look at copies of recent presentations and videos online (yes any well established speaker should have a site offering this kind of material).

Then it is worth approaching one of the longer established agencies (eg Leigh Bureau http://www.leighbureau.com) for advice on extending your own list. Speaker Bureau can only really advise on the people they represent but be wary of bureaux who seem to have a huge number of people on their books. Many don’t, they just copy biographical details of people like me without permission and hope for the best.

But speaker agencies will also be able to give invaluable advice about theme, content, what other organisations have found works in your area etc.

Then do a Google search on your favoured list, and see what others are saying about them. For a start, type their names in speech marks into the engine and count how many web pages are talking about them.

And the next and most important thing is to insist on a personal conversation with the speakers before you make any decisions.

Conference speakers need proper briefing

2006-04-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Many conference organisers have only an outline in their mind when they first start to look for speakers to fill their programmes. Great ideas develop best together, and the strongest corporate events often come out of early conversations with world class thinkers, about what the biggest issues will be for participants in a few months time.

All great conferences are meeting points between the organising team, their faculty of speakers and participants.

The most important thing is to know what you want out of the event, what take home messages you want people to have in their minds as the event closes, and what you want them to remember in a year or two.

The next most important thing is to line up your biggest speakers as early as possible. People who have a great reputation for delivering wonderful, provocative, thought-provoking and entertaining presentations.

One reason for early action is that diaries get booked up a long time ahead. Another reason is that they will bring with them vital insights which will help your conference develop - at least that is what you hope. The best speakers at conferences are usually team players whose greatest concern is the wider success of your event, rather than just their own time slot. They get involved, they make themselves available before and after their own sessions, and contribute in many other subtle ways to the atmosphere of the event.

Try to avoid speakers who seem to have no interest in you or your event apart from turning up (briefly) to give a their standard message and getting paid.
Audiences can tell the difference and you will too.

Tips for conference speakers

2006-04-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Always listen to the client and never give the same presentation twice.

Make sure that every presentation you give is a unique process that comes out of a conversation with the conference organisers and the people they report to. Each element in a conference should continue the story line in a joined-up way to build a powerful and comprehensice picture for participants.

Listen to your audience, watch their every move. Every gesture and subtle change in posture or expression can be giveaway signs of what is within.

Involve them, tell the stories, look for reaction, and ask questions.

Straw polls can be very revealing to you and the organisers as well as to participants, helping us all to understand what people are really thinking and feeling about particular issues, or to identify common experiences.

Attention to lighting and "theatre" for successful conference presentations

2006-04-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

All great presentations have an element of theatre to them as well as being packed with provocative ideas. And the cast of the show is mostly in the audience. All effective speakers engage their audience, challenging them, engaging with their reactions, playing on their minds and emotions. Life’s too short to sit and listen to a stream of words if there is no passion behind them. You might as well get a copy of the speech and read it through by yourself in 3% of the time.

And as every great speaker knows: if you don’t feel passionately that what you are communicating is really important, don’t bother.

Passion engages more than anything else, but with passion you also need persuasion, so that the personal passion of the speaker connects with each member of the audience and becomes their own.

Yes of course it is true that different people express passion in different ways, and some feel uncomfortable about the word, preferring to think of themselves as rational, logical analysts. But without passion, human beings become robotic, making perfect logical decisions that they care nothing about.

And if they care nothing about your message, why should they listen?

Conference speakers

2006-04-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

How to chose great conference speakers and make successful events