Glen Hiemstra

In this keynote Glen offers a sweeping and entertaining overview of the key trend areas shaping the next decade and beyond: demographics, technology, the knowledge-based economy, and the next energy revolution. The predictable but often surprising nature of the future is explored. Listeners are challenged both to wake up to the future and to take the creation of a preferred future into their own hands. Specific developments that are noted, depending on customization to the audience, may include telepresence, nanotechnology, 3D communication and entertainment, consumer and brand trends, the real situation with oil and energy, aging and youth demographic trends, confronting the great divides in society, environmental challenges and green business opportunities, and biotech advances that offer the hope of longer and healthier lives. This speech inspires listeners to develop successful strategic leadership and to create the future. Full of surprises, this customizable keynote offers a balanced view of the future, and a hopeful vision for the rest of the 21st Century.

This is a keynote focused on moving beyond the economic collapse of recent years. In 2006 and 2007 Glen was one of the early voices to warn of an impending economic crisis, more than a year before it happened. Now encourages audiences to look forward and the possibilities are far greater than most people imagine. Glen reviews the key trends shaping the next several decades, as we deal with the global economic re-set. He suggests that a new vision for a preferred future will emerge based on revised values, innovation, the network effects of advanced communication, and new technology. No field of enterprise, no nation, no community is unaffected by the changes which are happening, and all can create new opportunities. By acting wisely now you can lead your enterprise to a future that is more sustainable, of higher quality, and happier than what has come before. Glen believes that we have a rare opportunity to create a world that works, but we have to get really smart and really courageous in the coming decade. The future can be a new renaissance, if we are willing to think in the future tense.

In the way that we envision and build and modify and retrofit the cities of the future we can unlock the mystery of whether we are, quite literally, going to make it or not. Canadian sustainability futurist and expert Dennis Walsh, and American futurist and Founder of Futurist.com Glen Hiemstra observe that our great human migration to urban areas continues, and that city life is especially attractive to the youth of today. The vitality and promise of the Millennial Generation and those who will follow is not lost on cities, which compete aggressively to attract them to live and work in metro areas.

Glen Hiemstra explores the global changes that will revolutionize business and reveals the ways individuals and organizations can profit from those coming developments. Surprising demographic shifts, energy shortages, new technologies, environmental changes, and issues of race and religion will change the way we live. They will also lead to new and exciting business opportunities. Only those who foresee those opportunities will be in a position to take advantage of them.