Jim Carroll- Futurist, Trends & Innovation Keynote Speaker

BathFitter is a Canadian company that specializes in customized bathtub inserts – they’re an extremely successful company with an envious track record of growth.They know they can’t rest on their laurels thought, and so they are having me in this morning to keynote their annual franchise meeting.

The fun thing is that they tried to have me in way back in 2004, but I was already booked for an event. Using some rudimentary video tools, I filmed a clip from my bathtub at the time which they used to open up that event.

This morning, I’ll appear in person, but I’ve put together – with my awesome overseas editor Alex! – a 5 minute intro video that will be used before I come out on stage. It includes footage from my 2004 video.

In addition to this video, we filmed another pre-event video which was loaded into the customized mobile app they are using for their event. It plays into the key theme of my keynote – to get to the future, you need to invest in the future!

Do you want to spice up your event a bit in the same way, with highly customized event videos? Most keynote speakers will show up and give you a canned talk, and run away with your money with little effort. Not to disparage them, but that’s not me.

Get more for your investment, by reading what’s involved with these custom videos!

In December, I’ll keynote the DTN/Progressive Farmer Ag Summit in Chicago, with a look at the future of this sector.

I recently filmed two pre-event videos to give attendees a sneak peak. The agricultural sector has achieved much through constant innovation – but there is much more yet to come! Check out the statistics in this first video, and then expand your mind with the opportunities! For this particular video, I did some filming in the field. Literally! 

In this second, shorter preview video, I start out with ‘3 fun facts’ that you might not know about agriculture. Check it out!

Learn more about these pre-event videos here. These are proving to be a great hit with clients!

Here’s a clip you’ll need to get you thinking. I was brought in by a manufacturing company to speak at their global leadership meeting, with a predictive on key trends they need to align themselves to. And of course, I had to close with some guidance on what to do to deal with the reality of those trends.

The content was developed through very careful consultation with the CEO and leadership team, but its’ a good example of how I go from the trends to actual action plans.

In October, I will keynote the Tag & Label Institute annual general meeting in Amelia Island, Florida. I’ve put together two good summary videos that they will share with their attendees in advance of the event, to get them thinking about the issues that they must confront as an industry.

In the first one, I take a look at the key manufacturing trends which will impact this organization, and everyone in the world of manufacturing: 3D printing, the arrival of the smart factory with the Internet of Things, mass customization, rapid prototyping, advanced materials and more.

In the second one, I examine the 3 key issues that the organization needs to address in the short term. This came about as a result of a long consultative call with the CEO of the organization. A good part of my keynote will focus on these issues – that’s a key part of how I customize my keynote for the issues in the room. I don’t do canned stuff!

These are good examples of the types of pre-event videos I’ve been doing for clients, and they are proving to be a smash hit. Learn more!

This September, I’ll headline what must be the longest running conference in the energy industry – let alone the event industry.

I’ll focus on the themes found in my energy keynote topic, “Accelerating Energy: Why Science & Technology Are Accelerating the Future Faster Than You Think!”

I put together this promotional event video for them, and recycled another one previously done.

For more insight on these rends, watch this one:

My clients are in love with these promotional event videos … learn how you can arrange for one.

Probably not.

Agility and flexibility in the retail sector is critical; I’m on stage in Orlando speaking to the issue of speed in retail.

Just over 18 months ago, I opened the annual meeting of the United Soybean Board in St. Louis, a group that represents most of the US soybean industry. I was on stage with a message for over 300 soybean farmers about opportunities for future growth. In addition, I spent 2 hours in a private session with the Board of Directors talking about opportunity. To see what I covered, read my blog post from my keynote “Accelerating Innovation: My Time With the United Soybean Board.”

We talked a lot about China and global markets as a big opportunity. Today, the industry is struggling with the fact that they while they spent a lot of time developing China a key market, the country has now targeted their beans with tariffs. They are in the front line of the new global trade war.

Who would have thought? Well, people vote, and votes matter.

With that in mind, watch this video from my good friend Jim Carroll – he’s the head of the Arkansas Soybean Board. Jim and I met when I spoke to this group. It’s a video message with his most recent update to his members – soybean farmers all of them – on their opportunities for innovation.

He’s talking about the same opportunities that I focused on in my keynote: new markets, using soybeans for new products and new opportunities (i.e. meal for fish farming in Egypt), sustainability – the whole idea of not selling ‘beans by the bushel’,’ but selling soybeans for use in different ways for different purposes. Did you know that Ford uses soybeans in seat cushions for cars? That’s an example of the type of innovative thinking occurring in the industry. Continue Reading

You can book a boring keynote speaker who will do the same old. Or, you can call me. Your choice. Here’s what you need to think about.

The Trapeze Group had me in to headline their annual user group conference – individuals thourhgout the global urban transit industry. As with many of my events, I went above and beyond and delivered far more that most other speakers who simply pay lip service, with a custom event video, Q&A and more. Read about that on this blog post, Are You Stuck with the Same Old Boring Keynote? Stop it NOW!.

But wait! There’s more! I also hosted a private meeting of key leaders in the sector; I had CEO’s and senior executives of transit organization from Memphis, Nashville, Long Beach, Dallas, Spokane, Philadelphia and more. This gave them a chance to dive deeper into the issues I framed in my keynote.

What did we cover? Take a look.

Bottom line? You can book a boring keynote speaker who will do the same old. Or, you can call me. Your choice.

Over a 25 year time span, I have built a remarkably successful career as a speaker, speaking to organizations worldwide about future trends, what comes next, and how best to get there. Take a look at my client list; many of the world’s biggest and most prestigious organizations have had me in for my insight. I must have some views and insight that are worthwhile.

Often, I am booked directly by those who find me online, but I am also regularly booked by some of the largest, most prestigious speakers bureaus in the world. Folks like the Washington Speakers Bureau and Canada’s National Speakers Bureau, among countless others – probably the top 30 agencies in the world actively work with me. I’ve spent a great deal of time over 20 years to build and nurture a relationship with these folks. It’s a pretty exclusive club — I am booked by the same people who book Barak and Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, various astronauts and business executives, sports figures, entertainers and more. It’s not a stretch to say that I operate at the elite level of the global speaking industry, with audiences of several thousand, in locations like Dubai, Oman, Tokyo, London and Washington.

In my spare time, my wife and business partner Christa volunteer our time to a local charity near our ski chalet north of Toronto. To that end, I would like you to watch this video clip about this group, known as Events for Life.

Events for Life provides daytime activities for young disabled adults; we have young people with autism and other disabilities, as well as those with Down Syndrome. Our goal is to give them a pathway and activities that helps them to live an enriching life. We are overjoyed with the results.

Continue Reading

Last week, in Las Vegas, I was the opening keynote for 3,000 people at the National Fire Protection Association annual conference.

I was asked to limit my remarks to 20 minutes. I don’t do TED talks – it’s difficult to fit in all the trends involving a fast future into a short time span! But I did some work, and cut myself back – and you can see the full (21 minute) talk here….