What Attendees Say

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Testimonials from MiniTrends Conference attendees (also watch video highlights)

What Attendees Say:

I am so impressed with this conference. There are incredible speakers, incredible topics, great interaction between people, live interactions, and exercises. I hope the conference continues on for many years and continues to grow because it is absolutely fantastic.—Barbara Springer, International Business Development, University of Texas at Austin

The conference is fantastic. The people that are here are all forward-thinking individuals that are identifying minitrends that they are applying to their own businesses and their own future ideas. Being in an environment like this, where you can collaborate with people who are like-minded entrepreneurs, that are seeing things that the market doesn’t normally see—that’s what drives me as an entrepreneur.—Chris Justice, Chief Exec. Officer, Sparksight, Inc.; Founder, Justice Pest Service

The conference schedule was very well thought through and very well laid out in terms of the speakers present a concept, we have a discussion, and then we have a panel. It worked very well. Someone did a lot of thinking about who should be up there, what are the topics, and how do they integrate together.—Buck Seitz, Pricing Strategist – Finance Mgr

It’s been such a revelation seeing the people that are here, to learn about the future, about where we are today, where we are going, and how we can capitalize on that through our ideas, our partnerships, and also just the way we can innovate our future.—Ricardo Davila, Senior Internal Auditor, URS Corporation; Small Business Owner

I have been involved in technology for 3 decades now and its very important to map out and understand the difference between a fad, a minitrend, and a large trend. It’s very easy to see trends when they all well underway. I think what is valuable here is to be around people who have predicted, who have led, who find these opportunities early on and really make an impact. I am absolutely coming back next year.—Pat Scherer, Product Manager, Planview

I’ve been getting a lot of good information. The terminology of minitrends is something new to me. I started a business 20 years ago seeing an opportunity and I see it was a minitrend. Now I’m looking for a new minitrend. The networking is also great.—Luis Mitre, VP of US Operations, Grupo Simplex Plastics Recycling

What really stands out for me in this conference is the passion of the presenters. I’ve been to a many different conferences where the presenters have more or less given me a sales pitch and they haven’t really lived or believed what they are pushing on me. But here I feel like you can really feel and see the passion that comes out in the presentations. I really appreciate that.—Bobby Brooks, Co-Founder at CannonBall Works, Co-Founder, Craft Beer Austin, Owner,Austin Estates Realty

I really enjoyed networking with the attendees. You find out something you have in common and you say let’s talk at the event tonight. That’s cool. I like that.—Carlotta Knapo, Research Analyst, Intel

I had originally seen John and Carrie present and I have read the MINITRENDS book, so I was really excited about attending the conference. I wanted to see some things tried out in action. I wanted to learn more about new trends emerging right now. I’ve so enjoyed it. I love reconnecting with people with a different kind of thinking and processes—lead thinking. You have to really work in the dark and that’s fun.—Sherry Lowry, CEO/Founder, The Lowry Group + Vision Enactors

The speakers are exceptional. The fact that they are in the moment, that they are on the leading edge of what’s happening, giving us that information, and reinforcing what many of us are doing or believe is happening is wonderful. One of the panels talked a lot about how important passion is—about finding your passion and using that in education early on and finding what you love to do. Therein lies the longevity to continue working, making money, and enjoying happiness, which is such a great by-product.—Christina Trevino, Founder, Zoo In You for Children and Grown-Ups

I love this conference because people are really willing to share their talents. Just at lunch today, I gained a lot of brilliant contacts and resources. Carrie and John Vanston have done a great job of picking people who can transfer their wisdom to a variety of people. I’m a social worker, who doesn’t own a business currently, but plans to start one in the future. I have lots of ideas about how to spot the trends now and how to research a business before I start it so it will have a better chance to succeed.—Amanda Winters, Licensed Clinical Social Worker; Founder, Catalyst for Fun

The conference has been particularly interesting to me because finding minitrends for my clients is what I do for a living. I find it fascinating how people solve problems and that all these people are trying to glean info to predict the future—both short term and long-term. The ways they go about it is the fascinating part because what they do and how they do it is unique to their own particular style, their own needs, and their clients’ needs. There is a huge diversity of methods. Yet they are accomplishing similar tasks. I really enjoyed the conference.—Steve Pearson, Lead Strategist; Founder, Visionex Solutions, LLC

Speaking is always fun with a group like this. Particularly when you an talk about the future, minitrends, major trends, looking years in the future vs. even looking at six months. Fantastic experience. Great event for most people.—David Smith, CEO, HBMG Inc.

I am learning a lot and meeting many interesting people. Excellent conference.—Kai Wong, Chairman, IEEE Central Texas Consultants Network

I’m enjoying getting perspectives from people in different industries. I particularly enjoyed hearing from the TSTC speaker and how he’s applying the trends in higher education because that’s going to affect us all in the long run. It’s going to affect me, it’s going to affect my kids, it’s going to affect my parents, too, so that was really interesting.—Andrea Schulle, Principal, Andris Media Group

I greatly value having the opportunity to hear how experts look for minitrends. We get so caught up in everyday mediocre things in our jobs. This conference gives us the opportunity to get out of our shell and encourages us to look toward the future in our jobs and in ourselves for personal and business developments.—Dayna Mosier, Registered Representative, New York Life

The creativity of people helping people and looking toward the future and how this is going to expand is really great. I come from a large group of retired diplomats and we’ve gotten great ideas for future speakers on how we can more productively help our country. This has truly been a great conference.—John S. Woods, President, Foreign Service Group