About Presentations & Workshops

Dr. John Vanston, Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc. and author of
MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business and Technology Trends and his staff offer popular tailored presentations, seminars, and workshops on how Minitrends can improve your own and your company’s business situation, financial standing, and personal satisfaction.
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John H. Vanston, Ph.D.

Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc.

Author, MINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

Speaking Focus Areas: MINITRENDS: Finding and Profiting From Emerging Trends; Technology Forecasting
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Dr. John Vanston is a popular speaker on how emerging trends that will become important in 2-5 years but are not yet recognized–Minitrends–can be used to improve your business situation, financial standing, and personal satisfaction. He is an internationally renowned consultant, educator, speaker, and author in the fields of trend analysis, technology forecasting, technology/market integration, and technology management in uncertain environments. His new book MINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, written in collaboration with his daughter, Carrie Vanston, is a ForeWord Review’s Book of Year Finalist and has received many excellent reviews.

Dr. Vanston founded TFI in 1978, building the Austin, Texas-based company into a leading authority in custom research, forecasting, and emerging trend analysis . He has worked with a wide range of organizations including Chevron Chemical, Kodak, Boeing, Nortel, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Texas State Technical College System and many more.

Dr. Vanston has given presentations, workshops, and seminars to organizations all over the world including the World Future Society, the Industrial Research Institute, the Association of Strategic Planners, the University of Houston Futures Studies Program, the Society of Association Executives, and many more.

Dr. Vanston’s Minitrends presentations and workshops provide  individuals and businesses of all sizes a way to find and profit from emerging trends–Minitrends–that will become significantly important in 2-5 years, but that are not yet widely recognized or appreciated. The presentations encourage the adoption of a mindset that opens our imagination, creativity, and curiosity in order to make the most of our circumstances and distinguish ourselves from others.

Dr. Vanston and his staff also conduct Technology Forecasting presentations and workshops that provide  audiences with an understanding of the technology development process, teaches participants to conduct valid technology/market forecasts, and shows how to utilize these forecasts to to identify and evaluate emerging market needs and improve organizational planning.

Full Bio

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Sample Minitrends Presentations & Workshop Topics

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MINITRENDS: How to Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

In this presentation, Dr. John Vanston introduces a new concept — Minitrends — that offers very attractive possibilities to individuals and businesses that learn its principles and apply those principles in a practical business environment. This concept provides a new approach for finding and taking advantage of emerging trends that will become significant in 2-5 years, but are not yet widely recognized or appreciated.

MINITRENDS: Initiating a Minitrend Exploitation Program

There is much discussion in the business world today of Megatrends, i.e, very large-sale trends define the nature of our society. However, recognizing these Megatrends provides little guidance to businesses about specific strategies. Minitrends — trends that promise to be of significant importance within two to five years, but are not generally recognized or appreciated by the public or most businesses — on the other hand, are of a scope and importance to provide attractive business opportunities.

Although most businesses try to stay alert to trends that might impact their markets, financial status, and operations, few have specific programs to identify, assess, and exploit such trends. Given the complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change in the New World business environment, including a formal Minitrend Exploitation Program in the strategic planning process will provide companies with important competitive advantages.

In this presentation Dr. Vanston demonstrates the basic principles involved in initiating and conducting a Minitrend Exploitation Program and presents examples of how such programs have been successfully employed.

The presentation is based on John’s 30 years of conducting analyses of emerging technologies for a wide range of commercial, government, and academic organizations and his new book MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends authored by Dr. Vanston with his daughter Carrie Vanston.

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Sample Technology Forecasting Presentations & Workshop Topics

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The Five Views of the Future™

Dr. Vanston provides an overview of the philosophy and methods behind Technology Futures’ Five Views of the Future™ Strategic Framework for planning and forecasting. This framework allows the consideration of both tangibles and intangibles, and has resulted in accurate forecasts by Technology Futures over 30 years in fields such as communications, information technology, and consumer electronics. Representative quantitative and qualitative tools are reviewed, with emphasis on practical understanding and practical examples, rather than on theory. Strategic and planning implications of forecasting models are also stressed.

The presentation is based on Dr. Vanston’s long career promoting and targeting innovation activities in a wide variety of organizations and his development of TFI’s popular technology forecasting framework Five Views of the Future™.
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The Future as a Strategic Asset

Experience has shown that strategies based on credible projections of future market opportunities, social trends, the competitive environment, and new technologies are superior to those based on guesses, hunches, or vague suppositions. The ability to make sound projections in each of these areas can provide your organization with a major strategic advantage over less adept competitors. Dr. Vanston demonstrates in this presentation how you can use a mixture of practical, proven forecasting techniques to develop a valid, comprehensive picture of the business environment in which your strategy will be tested.

A Practical Picture of the Future

This presentation involves two elements. The first element is a discussion of overarching new technology trends. These include trends such as the convergence of computer and communications technologies, the movement from a Physics Age to a Biotechnology Age, the explosion of social media technologies, and the emergence of Web 3.0. This element provides participants with an overall picture of emerging technologies.

The second element of the presentation builds on the first element to examine how new technologies will impact the way participants do their jobs and how they live their lives. Examples might include such issues as how new technologies will change how individual and companies give and receive advice, how individuals can protect their privacy in an increasingly invasive world, and how organizations are using virtual worlds to test out new products, services, and marketing concepts. This part of the presentation helps personalize the material covered in the first part of the presentation.

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Dr.  Vanston tailors his presentations, seminars, and workshops to his audience. Here are a few more of the presentations and seminars that he has conducted:

—MINITRENDS: A New Concept for Translating Emerging Trends into Promising Opportunities
—MINITRENDS: A New Concept for Effective Innovation Management
—MINITRENDS: How to Take Advantage of Important, but Unappreciated, Emerging Business and Technology Trends
—MINITRENDS: Winning Big by Thinking Small Series

—Overview of Technology Forecasting
—The Future as YOU See It
—The Role of Technology Forecasting in New Curricula Development
—An Overview of Technology/Market Forecasting
—Planning and Conducting a Technology/Market Forecast

(TFI also offers Telecommunications Trends and Forecasting Presentations. Please contact us for further information.)

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The Minitrends and Forecasting  material can be tailored
to the individual audience. For more information and to book
presentations, seminars, and workshops, please fill out the
contact form or contact us at (512) 258-8898 or info@tfi.com.
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Full Bio / Speaker Endorsements
Recent and Upcoming Presentations and Workshops / About MINITRENDS book