MiniTrends 2014 Conference – Just 5 Weeks Out! – Sept 26, Austin, TX

August 21, 2014

We’re only 5 weeks out from MiniTrends 2014: Insight, Innovation & Strategy scheduled Sept. 26, at the beautiful Holiday Inn Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin. The conference is really shaping up to be fantastic. Our Keynotes alone—Brett Hurt of Bazaarvoice, top Futurist David P. Snyder, award-winning Author Dr. John Vanston, and USA Today’s Road Warrior of the Year Joyce Gioia—make the conference worth its weight in gold!

MiniTrends 2014 Conference – Call for Sponsors – Sep 26, Austin, TX

July 21, 2014

Increase your business and branding by becoming a Conference Sponsor of MiniTrends 2014: Insight, Innovation & Strategy on Sept. 26 in beautiful downtown Austin. The event provides a highly targeted group of decision makers focused on new business opportunities, new technologies, collaboration, innovation, and creativity. Contact us at 512-258-8898 or info@tfi.com to discuss options.

There are a variety of sponsorship plans to fit your business and communication goals. If you’d like other options, please contact us at info@tfi.com.

The theme this year is turbo-charging the attendee’s company’s profits and success. Keynotes include world-renowned Futurist David P. Snyder, Austin Tech Leader and Bazaarvoice Founder Brett Hurt, and award-winning Author Dr. John Vanston, plus other distinguished thought-leaders and visionaries.

Special Limited Offer: Send two attendees and you will receive a FREE sponsorship.

Sponsorships Levels: $500 – $5,000. Contact us to customize.

Contact: Carrie Vanston, info@tfi.com, (512) 258-8898

If you are not the appropriate person for discussing sponsorship, please let the  person who is know about this important conference. Thank you!

Why Be A Sponsor?

• Establish valuable and profitable business relationships with attendees and their organizations.
• Enhance your company’s image and brand to valuable new markets and clients
• Grow your organizations reputation as a company that is on the cutting edge of business and technology.
• Showcase your organization at the MiniTrends Conference and post-conference activities.
• Empower your organization and stakeholders to combine MiniTrends methodologies with new innovation strategies.
• Customize sponsorship opportunities based on your specific interests

World-Renowned Futurist David P. Snyder Keynotes at MiniTrends 2014

June 20, 2014

We are delighted to announce David Pearce Snyder as our distingished Morning Keynote for MiniTrends 2014: Insight, Innovation & Strategy. David is a Consulting Futurist with over 30 years experience and a long-time Contributing Editor for the popular magazine The Futurist.

Speaking on “MiniTrends and Macro-Change: Turbo-Charging Your Future,” David helps you see the future through a matrix of many emerging trends – MiniTrends – that reflect the macro-changes that you must anticipate to be successful as the future unfolds. His multi-million item database of trends and projections provide the foundation for his forecasts.

With an amazing track record with a wide range of clients and a deep knowledge of predictable forces rapidly reshaping our future demography, economic structure, productive technologies, and decision-making processes. David provides attendees with information, ideas, and insights to guide their business, cause-related, personal, and investment decisions.

David has been Contributing Editor of World Future Society’s The Futurist magazine for over a quarter century and has given thousands of seminars on strategic thinking. David has edited/co-authored five books, and written hundreds of studies, articles, and reports on the  future impacts of new technologies.

David will provide you with an amazing experience. Join David and other outstanding speakers at this premier event for innovators, futurists, technologists, trendsetters, and blue-sky thinkers, the 3rd Annual MiniTrends conference, MiniTrends 2014: Insight, Innovation & Strategy on Friday, September 26th, 2014, in Austin, TX.

Hosted by award winning author and renowned futurist, Dr. John Vanston, this one day event gives you the insight you need to stay innovative and to thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.

Take Advantage of Early Bird Registration!

All attendees receive Continental Breakfast, Breaks, and Lunch followed by a Networking Reception!

Meet John & Carrie at WorldFuture 2014 in Orlando

June 17, 2014

MiniTrends’ leaders Dr. John Vanston and Carrie Vanston are excited to be conducting a day-long Pre-Conference Master Course at the World Future Society’s annual conference WorldFuture 2014: What If? Our Master Course, MiniTrends and Macro-Change: Turbo-Charging Your Future, also includes our co-presenter and long-time partner, the highly-esteemed futurist David Pearce Snyder and will be held on Thursday, July 10 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

This inspring day begins with David describing the changing world and the forces driving it. He helps you see the future through a matrix of many emerging trends – MiniTrends – that reflect the macro-changes that you must anticipate to be successful as the future unfolds.

Dr. John Vanston & Carrie Vanston
presenting Pre-Conference
Master Course at WorldFuture 2014

John and Carrie, authors of the award-winning book MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, then provide you with the foundation for a strong MiniTrends process with seven ways for you to find, analyze, and profit from important minitrends and their potential business opportunities.

Participants will leave this course with an understanding of:

We hope you will join us in Orlando for WorldFuture 2014: What If? and our Pre-Conference Master Course: MiniTrends and Macro-Change: Turbo-Charging Your Future.

VOTE for MiniTrends Panel for SXSW Eco 2014 by May 16 – “Creating a Profitable & Purpose-Driven Business”

May 11, 2014

PLEASE take a moment to VOTE for MiniTrend’s panel submission for SXSW Eco Conference titled “Creating a Profitable and Purpose-Driven Business” at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/29857 by May 16. 

The panel includes Carrie Vanston, VP, Communications, MiniTrends/TFI; Jeffrey Fry, Chief Executive, The Profit Prophet; Andre Angel, Founder/CEO, TangoTab; and Joy Miller, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, City of Austin Small Business Development Program..Short videos of each panelist can be found at http://vimeopro.com/tablerockers/sxsw-eco-conference.

A third of the decision is directly from votes! You do have to sign in, but it does not take long to vote. Please go to http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/29857 and VOTE NOW.

Thank you so much for supporting the creation and growth of purpose-based businesses and making a difference in the world! 

MiniTrends 2013 Conference – Thank You & Presentation Slides

October 30, 2013

MiniTrends 2013 – Keynote Speaker, Jani Byrne, Dir., IBM

Thank you to everyone who helped make MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility such a huge success! The conference slides are up!

Conference Chair Dr. John Vanston and I enjoyed interacting with everyone and appreciated the contagious enthusiasm. The speakers were fantastic, the synergy between attendees exciting, and the overall response great. Now let’s build on the connections we made and all we learned!

Lt-Rt: Carrie Vanston, Media/Mkt Dir., TFI, Conf Dir; Barbara Springer, TechBA, UT at Austin; Keynote Gary Hoover, CEO, Bigwig GameEntrepreneur; Vanessa Manley, MSTC, McCombs School of Business, UT at Austin, Dr. Gary Cadenhead, Dir, MSTC, McCombs School of Business, UT at Austin. Dr. John Vanston, Chairman, TFI, Conf. Chair

A special shout-out goes to our Keynotes Jani Byrne, Gary Hoover, and John Vanston whose excellent presentations provided the structure of the conference. We also greatly appreciate our wonderful Sponsors and Partners, Planning Committee, and Advisory Board for their integral role in making this such a valuable and fun event.

MiniTrends 2013 Conference Exercise – Impact Wheels

Let’s use the LinkedIn MiniTrends Group to continue to network and keep the energy going until MiniTrends 2014. Please feel free to share thoughts and your own minitrends, experiences, and resources with other members of the LinkedIn MiniTrends Group.

We also have a Facebook Page that we welcome you to “like.” We will be posting pictures from the conference and will let you know when they are up. Twitter is @MiniTrendsBook, #minitrends.

MiniTrends 2013 Panel 2 — l-r: Steve Pearson, CEO, The Pearson Strategy Group, Christopher Justice, CEO, Sparksight, Inc., Andre Angel, CEO, TangoTab, Stacy Zoern, CEO, Community Cars, Jeffrey Fry, Principal, Help Find Care (Photo by Dee Ann Hoeft, Dee Ann’s Photography Studio)

We also encourage you to sign up for our MiniTrends Blog.

Thanks for everyone who handed in evaluation sheets! We appreciated the feedback. Please let us know if you have any more input on how the event went. We welcome ideas from attendees and blog readers on what you would like to see next year.

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to take a look at the MINITRENDS book you received at the conference. A quick read of the Preface (Page xxi) and Chapter 10 (Pg 185-186) gives a good overall theme of the book.)

Please let us know progress you make with minitrends, particularly those using concepts from the book and conference. We use examples in our talks, guest blogs, and/or they may be speaking subjects for you next year.

Also please let us know if your organization or one you know would be interested in meeting with us to find out how we might help bring a MiniTrends Mindset to your organization through presentations, workshops, and/or other in-house services.

We are excited to have you in our MiniTrends Circle! We look forward to continuing the connection. In the meantime, please feel free to contact John, Helen Mary, or me with any thoughts or comments.

Warm regards,

Carrie and the TFI/MiniTrends Team

Top 10 reasons to attend MiniTrends 2013 – Oct 2-3, Austin, TX

September 26, 2013

1: Get 1/2 off by registering now! Limited number of passes. Thanks to our generous sponsors, we have a limited number of 1/2 price passes to MiniTrends 2013 Conference & Master Workshop. Use Code  “SuperHalfOff” while they last! For maximum savings, combine with Early Bird Special which ends tomorrow, Sept 26, at 11:55 pm and attend MiniTrends 2013Conference (Oct 2) for $148 or the Conference & Master Workshop (Oct 2-3) for $173. Prices for Non-profits, Academic, Government, and Students are even lower.

2: Listen to Outstanding Keynote Speakers.

—Jani Byrne, Ph.D. is Director, Marketing – Global Mid-Market, MSP, and Enterprise at IBM. A visionary who marries deep technological innovations and insights with a profound understanding of human and market psychology… an extraordinarily passionate thought-leader who can also simply “get stuff done.” Jani is our morning keynote speaking on “The Next Generation IT Innovations and What’s In It ForYou.” —Gary Hoover is Founder, CEO, Chief Game Designer at Bigwig Games, Inc.; Entrepreneurship Teacher, Hoover Institute; Entrepreneur-in-Residence, School of Information, The University of Texas. He is renowned for founding BOOKSTOP, the leading-edge book superstore that revolutionized the nature of bookshopping, and Hoover’s, the world’s largest Internet-based provider of information about enterprises. Gary’s afternoon keynote is “Making a Difference Through Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership.” —John H. Vanston, Ph.D., MiniTrends Conference Chair, Founder and Chairman of Technology Futures, Inc. (celebrating it’s 35th year), and author of the award winning book, MINITRENDS, kicks off the Conference with “The Importance of MiniTrends and Seven Ways You Can Find Them.”  Other presentations include “Becoming a MiniTrends Master,” and “Planning Your MiniTrends Success.”

3: Great Networking Opportunities.  Meet, mingle, network, and share ideas with speakers and other innovative and entrepreneurial-minded individuals during continental breakfasts, break out groups, breaks, discussions, provided lunch, and the MiniTrends 2013 reception overlooking beautiful Lady Bird Lake. See what all the excitement is about! Watch the video and hear what our MiniTrends 2012 Conference attendees say!! 4: Meet Inspiring Featured Speakers. At the MiniTrends Conference (October 2)

–Jeffrey Fry, Principal, Help Find Care; Chief Executive, Profit Prophet; Director/CMO, MainGain; Executive Director, Firefly Funds; Executive Director, SHINE Night; President, SEDA RICO, LLC. Jeffrey will present “Detecting 10 MiniTrends Using a Tachyon Field.”  –Tarja Meristö, Corporate Futurist, Principal Lecturer at Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Tarja will present “Exploiting Trends for the Future – Finnish Experiences.” At the MiniTrends Master Workshop (October 3)

—Steve Pearson, Lead Strategist, Founder, The Pearson Strategy Group, “Monitoring Your MiniTrends for Success.” –Carrie Vanston, MiniTrends 2013 Conference Director and Media and Marketing Director, Technology Futures, Inc., “Where MiniTrends Hide: Eight Information Sources.”  –Lawrence Vanston, Ph.D. , President, Technology Futures, Inc., “Analyzing MiniTrends: Drivers & Constraints” 5: Meet and listen to expert panelists discussing how profit and social good combine for the good of all stakeholders. Expert Panel One: The Integration of Profit and Social Responsibility

–(Moderator) Ty Rarick, Founder/CEO TSR Consulting –Amy George, Founder/CEO, Blue Avocado –Elijah May, Chief Brand Officer & Host, SocialGood.TV –Cristián Méndez Sâbre, Chief Marketing Officer, Verb Inc.— Dell Education Challenge and Dell Empowering Women Challenge –Joy Stoddard, Development & Outreach Director, Whole Foods Foundationat Whole Foods Market 6: Visit with representatives of our sponsor/partners who share our vision and have helped develop and ensure the success of MiniTrends 2013.

7: Learn how other organizations are being profitable while also being socially responsible. Expert Panel Two: Taking the Plunge: What you can learn from those who have initiated successful value-driven businesses

–(Moderator) Steve Pearson, Lead Strategist, Founder, The Pearson Strategy Group –Andre Angel, Co-founder/CEO at TangoTab; Co-Founder/Chairman, WorkMeter; Co-founder, Servoyant, LLC; Co-Founder/Chairman, CODEKKO Software –Jeffrey Fry, Principal, Help Find Care; Chief Executive, Profit Prophet; Director/CMO, MainGain; Executive Director, Firefly Funds; Executive Director, SHINE Night; President, SEDA RICO, LLC; –Christopher Justice, Chief Executive Officer at Sparksight, Inc.–Stacy Zoern, CEO, Community Cars (Kengura “drive from wheelchair” vehicles)

8: Join in fun group and individual exercises that help you create ideas and provide opportunities to follow your bliss! Individual and group activities at the MiniTrends 2013 Conference & Master Workshopwill help you generate ideas, consider their potential as MiniTrends, develop partnerships, and leave with actionable plans. 9: Hear how and where innovators and entrepreneurs like yourself can get advice and assistance for translating your ideas into successful and satisfying endeavors. Expert Panel Three: Help is Here: How and where you can get advice and assistance for translating an uncovered minitrend into a successful, value-driven business opportunity

–(Moderator) Vicki Flaugher, Digital Strategist, Speaker, and Author of “Famous in Your Niche: Building Your Digital Celebrity For Fun and Profit.” –Bijoy Goswami, Cofounder & Evangelist at ATX Equation, The Bootstrap, Aviri Consulting; Founder/Organizer, Bootstrap Network; CEO, Aviri Inc. –Joy Miller, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, City of Austin Small Business Development Program –Eve Richter, VP of Community & Partnerships, door64; Executive Director at Austin Economic Club

11: Bonus!! A chance to enjoy beautiful Austin Texas! Our MiniTrends 2013 meeting and reception will overlook beautiful Lady Bird Lake. The Holiday Inn Austin Town Lake (800-593-5676) is in a wonderful location to experience Austin’s major attractions. The hotel has direct access to the lake’s hike & bike trails and is a mile from Austin’s famous 6th Street entertainment district.

Again, get ½ off by registering today!! Use Code “SuperHalfOff” while they last! For maximum savings, combine with Early Bird Special which ends tomorrow, Sept 26, at 11:55 pm and attend MiniTrends 2013 Conference (Oct 2) for $148 or the Conference & Master Workshop (Oct 2-3) for $173. Prices for Non-profits, Academic, and Government are $98 and $123, and Students $45 and $53. Early bird ends 9/26, but 1/2 off discount good until event starts or special passes are gone. Day 1: MiniTrends 2013 Conference Wed., Oct. 2, 8:30 am-5:30 pm followed by reception (lunch provided)  Day 1 & 2: MiniTrends 2013 Conference & Master Workshop Wed., Oct. 2, 8:30 am-5:30 pm followed by reception (lunch provided) and Thurs., Oct 3, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm Contact TFI at info@tfi.com or (512) 258-8898 or visit Minitrends 2013 for more information.

MiniTrends 2013 New Keynote IBM Director Dr. Jani Bryne — Oct. 2, Austin, TX

September 20, 2013

Dr. Jani Byrne, Director of Global Mid-Market Marketing at IBM, joins MiniTrends 2013 as Keynote

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Jani Byrne, Director of Global Mid-Market Marketing at IBM, has joined us as Morning Keynote at Technology Futures’ 2nd annual MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility. She will be speaking on “The Next Generation IT Innovations and What’s in it For You.”

Dr. Byrne is a visionary who marries deep technological innovations and insights with a profound understanding of human and market psychology. She is an extraordinarily passionate thought leader who can also simply “get stuff done.”

In her present position, Dr. Byrne is responsible for end-to-end marketing strategies and plans for Mid-Market and Large Enterprise clients, across IBMs hardware / software / services portfolio, leading IBMs focus on Managed Service Providers worldwide. Previous positions have included Director of Strategy, where she created industry-leading strategies impacting IBM STG’s direction and activity, and Director of the IBM Venture Capital Group, where she was strategic liaison to the global Venture Community resulting in significant net profit to IBM.

In addition to her long distinguished career at IBM, Dr. Byrne is a Board Member of The Seton Fund at the Seton Family of Hospitals and Board Member of Austin Chamber of Commerce Technology Partnership.

Conference Chair Dr. John Vanston, Chairman of Technology Futures and author of the award-winning book, MINITRENDS, notes “With Dr. Byrne’s broad knowledge and experience relating to past, current, and future trends, she brings a great deal of value to conference attendees looking for practical ideas and opportunities relating to their areas of interests. We are excited to learn more about ways we can find and take advantage of MiniTrends she sees on the horizon.”

Dr. Byrne, entrepreneur whiz Gary Hoover, and 19 other visionaries & thought-leaders will share leading-edge business ideas and what they see as MiniTrends–big opportunities not yet widely recognized–at MiniTrends 2013 on October 2-3 at the Holiday Inn Town Lake in Austin, TX. Please join us!

#####
Austin-based Technology Futures, Inc. is celebrating its 35th year of providing top-quality custom studies and technology forecasts on key trends to a wide variety of commercial, government, and academic organizations since 1978.

Entrepreneurial Whiz Gary Hoover Keynotes MiniTrends 2013, Oct. 2, Austin, TX

September 3, 2013

We are thrilled to have Gary Hoover as our Keynote speaker at our 2nd annual MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility. He will be guiding us on “Making a Difference Through Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership.”

Gary is a serial entrepreneur renowned for his founding of the first large scale retail bookstore, BOOKSTOP, and the business information products firm Hoover’s, Inc. He recently incorporated his fifth startup, Bigwig Games, to produce business and social science strategic simulation games for the iPad and other tablet devices. He is presently Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin.

Gary travels the world speaking about how enterprises are built and how they stand the test of time.  He is the founder of Hoover Academy where he teaches hundreds of students how to be successful entrepreneurs and he is author of  “The Art of Enterprise.” In 2009, he was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

He is the epitome of entrepreneurial spirit, forecasting and optimizing marketplace trends with successful, revolutionary businesses both for himself and for budding entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps.

His formal and on-the-job education includes studying economics under the tutelage of three Nobel Prize winners, serving as a securities analyst for Citibank on Wall Street, being a buyer for Federated Department Stores and leading acquisitions and strategic planning for the May Department Stores Company.

MiniTrends is Event Partner for July Green Drinks Event, July 30, 6-8 pm, Austin, TX – Free MiniTrends 2013 Registration Drawing

July 28, 2013

Green Drinks Event, July 30, 2013, 6-8 p.m., Austin, TX – Drawing for FREE “MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility” registration and MINITRENDS book.

We are excited to be Event Partner for July Green Drinks Event, 6-8 pm, July 30, at the Rattle Inn, 610 Nueces Street, Austin, TX.  The event is hosted by our friends at Net Impact Austin and Austin Green Drinks.

We are providing a FREE registration to our 2nd Annual MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility (Oct. 2-3) and a copy of our award-winning MINITRENDS book for a drawing at the event!!

The event will celebrate the Green Workforce in Austin. Everyone is welcome, especially those interested in all things green and sustainable wanting to meet others with similar interests to meet the challenges of a sustainable future.

Employers, employees, summer interns and fellows can have fun while reflecting on current and future projects and discussing potential opportunities. This event provides an opportunity to welcome summer interns to Austin, appreciate their great contributions and maybe even tell them why you love working in sustainability in our fine city.

The following are promotional partners that extended invitations to their employees, interns, fellows, and students:

City of Austin, Office of Sustainability
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Public Citizen of Texas
Austin Community College, Environmental Stewardship Program
Environmental Defense Fund
The Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter

Where: Rattle Inn, 610 Nueces Street,  Austin, TX 78701 (map)

When: Tuesday,  July 30th 6pm -8 pm. Come at 6pm for mingling, networking and happy hour specials.

The Austin Green Drinks Happy Hour series creates opportunities to meet with other accomplished environmental, sustainability, and clean tech professionals in an informal atmosphere; after all, that’s how the greatest ideas are born. Austin Green Drinks attract professionals who routinely initiate innovative ways to meet the challenges of a sustainable future.

« Previous Page — Next Page »