MiniTrends 2012: A Conference on Translating Emerging Trends into Business Opportunities

August 13, 2012

Discover, Evaluate, Profit! Join us in Downtown Austin on October 17-18, the place Forbes’ calls the “Best Big City for Jobs,” to listen and participate as business leaders and forward thinkers discuss starting new ventures or growing established organizations through attention to MiniTrends—emerging trends that will soon become important, but are not yet widely recognized. Find out what future trends and convergences they see on the horizon and how you can find profitable emerging trends of your own!

Achieving and sustaining success in the current environment of unprecedented marketplace innovation means being constantly alert to new and exciting MiniTrends that provide business and technological opportunities. MiniTrends offer great opportunities to those alert enough to recognize them, perceptive enough to appreciate them, and clever enough to take advantage of them. Austin is a growing entrepreneurial hub that offers a culture built on collaboration, innovation, and creativity. What better place to find out how you, too, can develop a Minitrend Mindset?

You Should Attend if You are:

• An Entrepreneur wishing to identify, assess, and exploit attractive new business opportunities
• A Decision Making Executive, Director, Manager, or Professional in a Small or Mid-Size Business wanting to gain advantage by recognizing and utilizing emerging trends
• An Innovative Thinking Executive, Director, Manager, or Professional in a Larger Business aspiring to distinguish yourself by your special insights and perceptiveness
• An Investor interested in uncovering attractive new investment opportunities
• A Job Seeker wishing to define employment opportunities

What You will Gain:

• A creative mind-set and resources for finding and taking advantage of emerging trends and opportunities relating to your own area of expertise and interest
• A preview of MiniTrends that thought-leaders see developing
• Experience, knowledge, and wisdom from innovative leaders sharing how they use emerging trends to start new ventures or grow established organizations
• Tactics to identify untapped business opportunities from converging trends
• Interaction with speakers and fellow participants to learn, mix, and share ideas
• Strategy and insights to create or grow your organization and, in the process, find your bliss!
• An opportunity to enjoy the Live Music Capital of the World!
• BONUS!! Copy of award-winning book MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends.

Chair: Dr. John H. Vanston, Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc.

John founded TFI in 1978, building the Austin, Texas-based company into a leading authority in custom research and technology forecasting. His MiniTrends concept, designed to increase creativity, innovation, and success, is summarized in MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends. The book has received several Best Business Book awards and excellent reviews and endorsements.

Keynote: David Pearce Snyder, Consulting Futurist; Contributing Editor, The Futurist

David has been in the forecasting business for over 30 years, during which he has built an impressive track record with a wide range of clientele, while compiling a multi million item data base of trends and projections. David has given thousands of seminars on strategic thinking, edited/co-authored five books, and written hundreds of studies, articles and reports on the impacts of new technologies.

Michael Bettersworth, Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology Advancement, Texas State Technical College (TSTC)

Michael founded TSTC Forecasting to identify and analyze new technical competencies needed by employers in order to improve student employability through curriculum alignment with market demand. TSTC Forecasting has published many studies on emerging technologies and occupations. New studies are currently underway in big data, unmanned aerial systems, and social media.

Andy Fish, President, Formula Austin, LLC; President and CEO at LISA – Legislative Information Services of America

Andy Fish and Anne Fish started Formula Austin LLC last year to plug visitors into Austin’s culture and business scene in the days before and after the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix, now based in Austin.  Formula Austin aims to link visitors up with authentic Austin experiences and has partnered with 42 local businesses, professionals and musicians to offer a large variety of activities.

Dr. August E. (“Augie”) Grant, J. Rion McKissick Professor of Journalism, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina

Augie is a technology futurist who specializes in research on new media technologies and consumer behavior and market opportunities for emerging technologies. He is Editor of Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, now in its thirteenth edition, which is used extensively in industry and has become one of the top-selling textbooks in the field of Communication Technology.

Christopher Justice, Chief Executive Officer at Sparksight, Inc.; Founder, Justice Pest Services

Christopher co-founded Sparksight®  in 2006 and has built the company into a well-respected design agency that specializes in event management, high definition video production and digital marketing. Combining wisdom and humor with common sense, Chris is a master at building better businesses through a combination of face-to-face and online marketing techniques.

Dr. Luis Medina, CEO, Tech BA — an Initiative of the Government of Mexico partnering with the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas

Luis has an extensive career as an entrepreneur in the business world as well as in academia both in Mexico and the US. As CEO of Tech BA he has interviewed, selected, trained, and helped  many Mexican technology companies define and successfully implement their business plan to enter the US market in a variety of segments.

Joy Miller, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, City of Austin Small Business Development Program

Joy is a marketing and outreach professional with over 20 years of leadership experience in process improvement, human resources, and operations. She communicates with and counsels aspiring and existing small business owners in presentations and in personal communications to ensure understanding of City of Austin resources and assistance available to them.

Lani Rosales, Chief Operating Officer, AGBeat.com

AGBeat is one of the fastest growing digital magazines in the entire industry. Lani became the Editor-in-chief of AGBest in 2010, and was recently promoted to COO.  AGBeat condenses news information on technology, business, social media, startups, real estate, economics and more, so the reader doesn’t have to. Formerly focused strictly on marketing, Lani was named one of Real Estate’s 100 Most Influential, as well as 12 Most Influential Women in Blogging.

David Smith, CEO, HBMG Inc.

As a noted futurist, technologist, and business leader, David brings more than 30 years of experience in digital convergence, strategic planning, and emerging technologies.  He has assisted in creating and implementing plans for Fortune 100, emerging companies, universities, and government agencies. David is responsible for the global strategic planning, product development, and business execution at HBMG.

 Dr. Lawrence Vanston, President, Technology Futures, Inc.

Larry is an expert on the future of telecommunications and its significance to organizations and people. Since 1985, he has been the director and principal author of ongoing reports commissioned by the Telecommunications Technology Forecasting Group (TTFG), presently comprised of AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon, and Windstream. Larry directs TFI’s popular TFI Asset Valuation Conference, now in its 7th year.

Dr. Peter Zandan, Global Vice Chairman at Hill and Knowlton, Board member at Next Big Sound, Inc., Investor at Klout, Sr. Advisor at Public Strategies Inc., Sr. Advisor/Chairman at Earth and Sky

As an angel investor, Peter serves as an advisor and strategic investor in early-stage companies. At H+K Strategies, Peter helps direct strategic initiatives and is the worldwide research practice group leader where he provides assistance for clients in the financial services, energy, technology, healthcare and retail industries. His experience as a successful CEO/Chairman/founder of a public company, IntelliQuest, helps inform the advice and counsel he provides.

More speakers to be announced soon!