Daily Archives: February 20, 2013

If you see any futurists today, dont forget to wish them a happy anniversary. Feb. 20th is considered the movements birthday, as it was on this date in 1909 that Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet, technophile, and promoter of the arts, had his The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism published on the front page of Le Figaro.

Marinettis manifesto was both anarchic and visionary. Marinetti championed the rise of a new age of mechanized transport and technology to usher in a blur of innovation and disruptive societal change. He also glorified warcalling it the worlds only hygieneand was one of Italian dictator Benito Mussolinis earliest and most vociferous supporters, which helped lead to the movements demise. Marinettis aim for futurismto embrace the future and systematically predict its pathproved enduring.

Today, futurists are as common at Washington think tanks as they are on Madison Avenue and in Silicon Valley. They tweet a lot and write books on corporate change management. Marinetti would never have seen it coming.On the 104th anniversary of the movements founding, here is a look at Futurism 3.0, by the numbers.

On LinkedIn (LNKD), there are 4,361 professionals who proudly fly the futurist flag, using the descriptor as part of their current or previous job title. Yes, there is such a thing as an ex-futurist. (An additional 541 go by the Italian futurista and 132, the French futuriste.) There are 3,249 self-described futurists listed on Twitter.

Tech heavyweights Intel (INTC), Google (GOOG), and Microsoft (MSFT) employ futurists, as do the big accounting firms Accenture (ACN) and Deloitte. Futurists are most likely to be found in the fields of management consulting, in IT, and also in advertising and marketing, which points to either the versatility of the discipline or the unimaginative overuse of the moniker. More than half (54 percent) of professional futurists listed on LinkedIn are social-media consultants and/or change management specialists. They easily outnumber futurist artists (935), perhaps the only group of LinkedIn futurists familiar with the movements roots.

Branding yourself a futurist appears to be easier than you think. Just 4 percent of futurists on LinkedIn say they are students and/or graduates of futurology or futures studies. For futurists, the future is bright indeed.

Here then are some notable futurist predictions:

The Good:

In his 1970 best-seller Future Shock, Americas best-known futurist, Alvin Toffler, wrote of the dawn of the super-industrial society, later to be called the information society. The book offered survival strategies for individuals to cope with information overload and the coming digital revolution, concepts Toffler coined.

The bad:

More:
Happy Birthday, Futurists! A Movement Turns 104

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

AudienceView is pleased to announce that futurist Garry Golden will give the keynote address at its fourth annual AVConnect users conference, rounding out an already stellar line-up of industry experts. Attendees are getting ready to check in at the lovely Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa for this memorable user event taking place February 26 to 28, 2013.

An academically trained futurist, Golden is one of the worlds leading forecasters and strategists, speaking and consulting on issues that are shaping business and society in the 21st century. He trains audiences to close the gap that may exist between changes from the outside world and changes within their company or industry.

At AVConnect 2013, Golden will inspire attendees to tap into their inner futurist so they can spot market trends and disruptions on the horizon, then uncover the resulting opportunities. The big data buzz will be demystified and simplified, with Golden revealing how translating data can influence behaviour change in customer relationships and improve overall service satisfaction. This insight will enable entertainment professionals, as futurists, to navigate the opportunities and challenges of a more transparent, accountable relationship with their customers.

Golden will discuss the future of mobile and social media, how both will continue to evolve around advances in software and shifting cultural norms, and why being innovative with next-generation technologies will shape the audience experience. The demographic transition of Generation Y, which grew up with technology, will also present new opportunities and challenges for traditional business models as they experience changes in life stages and lifestyles.

Garrys keynote will be powerful and valuable for AVConnect 2013 attendees, helping them to embrace developments in a new way, increase their foresight to identify emerging trends, and solve business challenges through disruptive and transformative innovation, said Mark Fowlie, President and COO for AudienceView. There is something for everyone at AVConnect 2013. We are excited to be presenting three days of education and a forum ripe for networking with industry peers so that everyone goes home equally inspired.

Following feedback for a resounding more! and to meet user needs, AVConnect has been extended over three days for the first time this year, allowing for additional sessions and more time for each session. Attendees from around the world will benefit from hands-on training, engaging panel discussions, inspiring case studies, education sessions led by in-the-trenches experts, and networking with fellow AudienceView users in the sunny city of San Diego.

About AudienceView

AudienceView provides a powerful, enterprise-level e-commerce solution to the entertainment industry, including commercial and not-for-profit arts organizations, regional ticketing agencies, arenas, film festivals, college athletics, professional sports teams, and race tracks. With customer relationship management (CRM) at the core, it ensures ticketing/e-commerce, marketing, fundraising, content management, venue management and business analytics are effectively integrated in a single, easy-to-use, web-based solution. Supporting over 550 venues across five continents, AudienceView operates seamlessly across traditional and next-generation environments from physical box offices, kiosks and desktop computers to social media, mobile and tablet devices.

MarketView is the worlds first white-label, self-serve e-commerce and CRM solution. Developed upon the companys widely deployed e-commerce platform, the innovative, cloud-based solution enables any business or brand to enter the emerging self-serve event management and ticketing market quickly, affordably and profitably. It provides more features and functionality than other currently available self-serve platforms.

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AudienceView Announces Futurist Garry Golden as AVConnect 2013 Keynote Speaker