If you need to understand why your markets or industry is changing rapidly, you need to watch this clip
Understanding the loop and learning to work within it is critical to understanding how to thrive in todays’ complex economy.
How to plan for the upcoming week….
Seafood, farms and innovation!
Quick: what’s the average number of fridges per 100 people in China today?
If you guessed 82, you’re right.
And if you knew that there were but 29 per 100 in 1990, then you have found the secret to innovation. After all, if you think about it, that’s a massive increase in the potential market for food exports……
Innovative people focus on opportunity, not threat.
When confronted with the issue of globalization, most people sit back and stress out about “how bad things are going to be.”
Innovators sit back and look at globalization and think, “man, what an opportunity!”
It’s all in how you approach the future. Last Thursday, I gave the dinner keynote in Monterey, California for the American Agriwomen Association, and chatted with the folks about the key trends impacting agriculture. And that’s the type of message I brought — don’t focus on threat — think of opportunity! There’s a lot of fridges to be filled!
This week, I’ll be keynoting the National Seafood Sector Council with a similar message, and will take a look at global packaging, food and consumer market trends. Then I’ll be doing an awards dinner in Wolfville, Nova Scotia for a group of community innovators. Both talks will carry a similar theme — if you look at the future as nothing more than a threat to worry about, rather than an opportunity to be grabbed — then you are looking in the wrong place!
Think fridges!
I found the future in manure!!
On Monday, I’ll be the luncheon keynote luncheon speaker at ICE – The Tech Conference in Edmonton.
My topic? “I Found the Future in Manure: How to Capitalize on the Rapid Evolution of Science”
Here’s the description for my talk:
“In the last decade, the world has seen the emergence of a globally connected scientific mind. The impact is dramatic — while there are 19 million known chemical substances today, it is estimated that by 2025 there will be some 300 million — and 5 billion by 2100. As Apple learned with the iPod, the discovery of a single new chemical substance can lead to the emergence of a billion dollar market, literally overnight. Since science is at the heart of every industry — and with such rates of discovery, innovation abounds. Join leading international futurist, trends and innovation expert Jim Carroll as he explores the impact of hyper-science, and what it means in terms of bio-tech, nanotech and everything-tech. What does this have to do with manure? Join Jim and find out!
If you search my Web site a bit, you’ll find the article that brought this whole topic up.
Oh, and for the fun of it, I’m going to explain the relationship between manure, a ’57 Chevy, and transportation in the year 2016.
Seriously.
10 Ways to Do a Press Release That Matters
On a mailing list to which I subscribe, someone just asked how to write a great press release.
Off the top of my head, I jotted out a response. I’m on the receiving end of a ton of press releases sent by various companies because I do a lot of writing. Most are dull; contain no news; announce stuff of absolute insigificance; and really tell me nothing at all. I toss most of them.
So here’s my list:
- Change the focus. It’s not a press release – it’s a news release. It should have news.
- Make it new. It should say something your audience hasn’t seen before. They’re jaded. They’ll say ho-hum. They’re bored with press releases. “Been there, done that.” You’ve got to swat them on the head.
- Get a different droid. Make it different. These folks likely see a zillion PR releases that all look the same, written by PR-droids in PR-factories with tiny-little droid-computers that spew out droid-PR-rubbish. Read what they wrote, and write it differently.
- Give the facts. Provide interesting tidbits, statistics, factoids. Most people today have the attention span of your average rock, and you’ve got to connect with their innermost-hyperself. You’ve probably got about 5 seconds to get their attention. Use it well.
- Keep it short. Short.
- Don’t be dull. Avoid the same old long drawn out boring quotes. “Mr. Peter Didsworth, an expert in our industry, and a distinguished individual of long accomplishment, noted that it was time …. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” Every press release has them, and people hate them. Don’t boast.
- Do the work. Give them the story, nicely packaged and put together. I find that most news people are lazy. Sorry! But if this is so, prepare the story for them — so that they can rip and rewrite. Want to read tomorrow’s news? Go read a press release wire today. It’s all right there.
- Give them bullets. People love bullets. I think people like bullets these days more than they like sentences. Sentences are just too much work. Bullets are better!
- Make it fun! Most people are so bored with routine that you’ll hook them if you can make them laugh.
- Make it personal. Find out the 100 people who really care about who you are, and send it to them. Send it invidually. Personalize each note. Take the time to ‘relationize’ with them.
- Make it a list of 10 things. People like lists of 10 things. Then add an 11th item pointing this out, which will make people chuckle. If people chuckle, they remember you.
My dad….
Every year as November 11 approaches and we remember wars past, I put up a TV clip featuring my dad.
Al Carroll was a World War II veteran, and was proud of the service he gave to his country.
He never really talked about the war too much — but certainly made sure that young people understood what it was about.
He was involved in a junior high school program just before he died 7 years ago ….. doing just that. It’s worth a watch.
Watch the video clip 
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