Thomas Frey – Futurist Speaker

Futurist Thomas Frey

Google’s Top Rated Futurist Speaker

Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute

futurist-thomas-frey-s38“The greatest value in understanding the future comes from spotting the major cultural, demographic, societal, and economic shifts early and translating them into viable business strategies,” says Tom.

As the Executive Director and Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, he works closely with the Institute’s Senior Fellows and Board of Visionaries to develop original research studies, which enables him to speak on unusual topics, translating trends into unique opportunities.

As part of the celebrity speaking circuit, Tom continually pushes the envelope of understanding, creating fascinating images of the world to come. His keynote talks on futurist topics have captivated people ranging from high level government officials to executives in Fortune 500 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, First Data, Boeing, Capital One, Bell Canada, Visa, Ford Motor Company, Qwest, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, International Council of Shopping Centers, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Times of India, Leaders in Dubai, and many more.

Because of his work inspiring inventors and other revolutionary thinkers, the Boulder Daily Camera has referred to him as the “Father of Invention”. The Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have referred to him as the “Dean of Futurists”.futurist-thomas-frey-speaking-at-event1

Before launching the DaVinci Institute, Tom spent 15 years at IBM as an engineer and designer where he received over 270 awards, more than any other IBM engineer. He is also a past member of the Triple Nine Society (High I.Q. society over 99.9 percentile).

Tom has been a columnist for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, and Boulder County Business Report, and is the author of the 1998 book “Inventions of Impact”. He currently writes a newsletter entitled “News from the Future” and has written numerous articles on a wide range of futurist topics. He has also been a contributing writer for The Futurist Magazine and is the Editor of the Impact Lab, an online emerging technology blog which was recently rated by Popular Science Magazine as one of the “top five science blogs in the known universe”.

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Member of the National Speakers Association

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Member of the
American Library Association

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Professional Member of the World Future Society

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Popular Keynote Topics

Over the past decade, Thomas Frey has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead. Having started seventeen businesses himself and assisting on the development of hundreds more, the understanding he brings to his audiences is a rare blend of reality-based thinking coupled with a clear-headed visualization of the world ahead.

thomas-frey-futurist-speaker-future-of-money-summit-7sPredicting the future has little value without understanding the driving forces behind the trends, subtle nuances that can be leveraged, and implications for both the people directly affected in the industry as well as others farther down the technological food change.

But his work is not just restricted to advances in technology. Rather, he takes a much larger view of the playing field including shifts in governance, system changes, evolving attitudes and human conditions, and much more.

Each year his talks touch the lives of tens of thousands of people. Here are some of his most popular topics, but don’t feel restricted by this list. Every year he designs dozens of custom presentation based specifically around the needs of a particular audience.


1.) Business Trends in the Post Recession Economy

As I started pulling my notes for a recent “future trends” talk, I instantly became overwhelmed by the sheer volume of changes currently in the works. The number of moving parts seems to exceed the number of stationary parts. All of our markets, systems, and technologies have become incredibly fluid, and much like a floating vessel, we are heading to parts unknown. To most, the chaotic nature of interconnecting trends and the extreme possibilities appear at times like a spinning compass needle. However, the disarray that we find ourselves in cries out for answers – some glimpse of the uncharted waters that lie beyond the horizon. Economic uncertainties create great opportunities for those who can spot them, and that’s where I come in.

This talk uncovers the driving forces behind the turbulence and focuses on where the opportunities lie. It is the perfect opening keynote for an event, setting a positive tone with a message of hope for tomorrow’s business leaders. – Keynote

2.) The Future of Education

For an 18 months ago I focused the resources of the DaVinci Institute on a relentless mission to uncover the future of education. Breaking the mold of traditional research, we employed unusual study techniques involving several thousand man-hours of research, expert interviews, focus groups, research teams, “brain tumor sessions”, and lonely walks on the midnight sidewalks thinking about this topic. As a result, I have identified 12 critical dimensions of the future learning system. However, only the first two need to be in place for the revolution to begin.

This future learning system will start outside our existing education systems sometime within the next two years, and cause a revolution to begin. It will be greeted by some with open arms, welcomed by most inside our existing education system, but will eventually force new systems to develop, and schools as we know them today will cease to exist within ten years. Their replacement will be far better.

This new system will be able to unlock the hidden potential within us, creating a new grade of human beings – human beings 2.0. It has the potential to increase the speed of learning ten-fold, and many will be able to complete the entire K-12 curriculum within one year. People graduating from the equivalent of high school or college in the future will be a factor of ten times smarter than graduates today. – Keynote


3.) The Future of Libraries

Ten years ago, many of the tech elite were predicting the demise of the public library. Little did they understand that libraries are living, breathing organisms. Much like plants that flourish with good dirt, water and sunshine, libraries have begun to thrive in our information-rich environment. Libraries are going through an age of rebirth, with cities investing heavily in their central libraries as the crown jewel of their community. Opulent multi-story glass buildings have been erected, attracting many new categories of library users. But the question remains – Where do libraries go from here?

This talk can be tailored to either community or academic libraries and is designed to help develop systems to expand their influence among their constituency. The perfect compliment to long range planning, strategic visioning, library development, facility modeling, and architectural design efforts. – Keynote

4.) The Coming Data Tsunami 

Today’s data clouds are swirling violently on the leading edge of a modern-day storm front that is on the verge of exploding around us with cluster bomb-like data grenades bursting their way onto the scene. While many are still reeling from the past decade of exponential information growth, the coming years will see billion and trillion fold increases, the likes of which are destined to overload every system currently on the drawing board.

At the heart of the coming data tsunami are a number of organic business models with real-time data collection systems driven by our need for precision, awareness, and instantaneousness.

But the problems ahead are many. We are facing increasingly complex problems associated with data storage, data transmission, data processing, and even data acquisition. However, the opportunities are just as great as the problems with every obstacle representing a problem-solving challenge upon which great business enterprises will be formed. – Keynote


5.) The Future of Innovation

We are approaching the age of 100 million products, and patent filings have reached an all time high. Yet at the same time we are becoming a hyper-individualized society transitioning from a product based economy to an experience based economy. Baby-Boomers are beginning to shed many of their physical possessions as they prepare for their retirement, and a new generation with different values will be assuming power. So where will the creative minds of tomorrow take us? What are the forecasts for future sciences, talent trends, intellectual property breakthroughs, and societal shifts that will change the way business works in the future? This talk helps listeners climb aboard a fascinating journey into what’s hot in tomorrow’s world of innovation. – Keynote

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6.) The City of the Future

Great communities are founded on great ideas. At the same time, our most admired communities become a magnet, attracting the brightest minds. The relational effect is clear: Bright minds make a community great, and great communities attract bright minds. With this in mind, the city of the future will be designed around eight dimensions of human connectedness, connecting great people with great ideas. A connected community is a vibrant community, Ideas are exchanged, energies are exchanged, and people become extremely loyal to the networks that connect them to the rest of the world. While it is now easy to communicate with people all over the world, we can only physically interact with people and places locally. Human connectedness involves much more than just communication. And its not just about business life, family life, or what we do for entertainment. It is all of that and much more. – Keynote


7.) The Future of Transportation

Transportation technology is progressing at a much slower pace than some of the other sciences like information technology, biotech, and nanotechnology. As an example, the world’s human speed record was set in 1969, a full 37 years ago. In the near future, automotive companies will focus on fully automated vehicles where people can “punch in” or “speak” the place they want to go to and the vehicle will automatically take them there. This “control feature” will open up huge additional markets for automotive companies to sell to the elderly and other physically impaired groups. New power systems, social transitions, demographic shifting, and consumer trends have positioned the auto industry for radical change. The Future of Automobile Transportation. – Keynote


8.) The Future of Business, One Brilliantly Inspired Innovation at a Time

What will be the most important thing that happens in the next ten years? Will it be the brilliantly inspired innovations shaping tomorrow? Space hotels? Flying cars? Or will it be a fix for one our major problems such as a cure for cancer or diabetes? Why do we even care about the future? While most people believe there is no way to predict the future, there are in fact eight aspects of the future that can be predicted with high degrees of probability. This talk is designed to help people understand these eight dimensions of the future and give them the keys to unlock the power of knowing the world to come. The perfect compliment to long range planning, strategic visioning, business development, trend modeling, and new product design efforts. – Keynote


Other Possible Topics

Thomas Frey Unplugged – Future Trend Briefings

Tom’s understanding of the world around us clearly shines through when he goes off-script and gets interactive with small groups and executive teams. Both his depth of knowledge on specific industries, coupled with a broader perspective on system, technology, and lifestyle trends makes each session a riveting experience. Gone are the vagaries and generalized outlooks that accompany most predictions. Instead, he has a way of opening the hood to reveal the inner workings of the real drivers powering the engines of change.


Nation State 2.0 – The Coming Age of Micronations

The ideas we have about what countries are and how they should function are on the verge of changing. Our newly created world with borderless economies is confusing issues of power and control, and even the sovereignty of nations. The Nation State, created in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia, is about to transition into something new with emerging global systems creating autonomous multi-trillion dollar economies, assuming much of the authority currently in the hands of our country leaders. This talk steps listeners through several possible scenarios. – Keynote


The Future of Money

Altering Our Dependencies and its Affect on the Flow of Money – Every transaction involves two sides – the payer and the payee. Throughout history businesses have lived or died on the timing and flow of money and deal brokers place a huge emphasis on controlling both sides of a transaction. All non-cash money transactions in the past involved a time float to allow time for the money to clear their respective accounts, and even cash transactions involved delays in getting posted to a bank account. Future transactions will be real-time and this seemingly minor change will revolutionize the shape and tempo of business. – Keynote

 

Videos

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Futurist Thomas Frey Interviewed on Fox News

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Futurist Thomas Frey at Bell Canada

Customized Programs

At the DaVinci Institute we use our own systems for forecasting the future. As we learn about your industry and apply our research methodologies, we are able to create a vision of the future that will specifically address the interests of your audience. Past examples include The Future of…

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The Thomas Frey Experience

When hiring a professional speaker, one of the key differentiators is the audience experience. Thomas not only futurist-thomas-frey-speaking-at-event-2s1comes to each talk loaded with provocative knowledge, but with just the right amount of humor, motivation, and tantalizing information bits that people can immediately put to use and gain a competitive edge.

Thomas Frey’s Life-Changing Audience Experience:

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What People are Saying – Testimonials

“Tom is very insightful and definitely an original thinker.” – Colorado Governor Bill Owens

“Your presentation was absolutely wonderful.” - Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm

“Thankyou for your excellent presentation in Jacksonville. It was a pleasure spending time with you, and your “Future of Education” speech was extremely well received. 84% of our attendees rated the presentation Good-Excellent. Powerful numbers indeed.” – Larry Fairman, Director, Florida Workforce Summit

“You are an amazing keynote speaker. Your experience and knowledge contributed in a huge way to the success of our Sales Rally. You have given us vision and clarity to the confusing world of technology emerging around us, showing us where our business is going, and because of that, many participants now see the urgency to act for our company to maintain its position as a leader in the ICT market.” - Martin Geoffroy, General Manager, Business Development, Bell Canada

“Tom is an exceedingly bright guy, a humorous speaker and a person who is quick to challenge conventional wisdom. He is a quick study who can develop an imaginative presentation around almost any conceivable topic.“ – George Sharpe, Founder of the Greenwood Group and former Vice President of Product Development for Hunter Douglas

“On behalf of the membership, I want to thank you for your presentation on future business trends. Our members rated your presentation “excellent.” They enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the future of business and where the creative minds of tomorrow will take us. Lively conversations. Thanks again for a most interesting presentation!” - Kristine Garland, Vice President, The Composite Can and Tube Institute

“One of the most thoughtful and entertaining talks I’ve ever been to! Tom is a very deep thinker, both motivational and inspirational with his ability to build creative insights into the world ahead.” - Steve Masias – Former EEOC Director, City of Colorado Springs

“Fascinating, idea-generating talk! Your delivery was very funny, but at the same time thought-provoking and inspiring.” – Gary Taylor – VP Coldwell Banker

“Your talk was wonderful! Very engaging. We were all still talking about it on Wednesday (two days later).” - Alison C. Ruger, Director, Standards Business Development, Information Handling Services

“You were the entire topic of discussion in each of my classes the rest of today.” - Daniel Sage, Teacher at William Smith High School, Aurora, Colorado

“Thomas, I really enjoyed your talk at ACLA in Pittsburgh. I have been using your library and education predictions to create some great discussions for the past 2 years.” – Brad Fish, Allegheny County Library Association Board Member

“Once in a while, an article comes along that makes you pause, think for a few moments, and say “Yeah, that’s brilliant.” I went through that process yesterday when I came across the latest article from renowned futurist Thomas Frey at the DaVinci Institute.” - Brian Enke, Writer for Examiner.com

“I love reading your vision for libraries. We actually went live with a digital archive in November 08. ( I read your article about the future of libraries a few years ago when we were just starting to think about the digital archive. I was convinced it was the right thing to pursue after reading your article on the future.) Response has been tremendous! In the first two months the images were viewed over 200,000 times..and we hadn’t posted but about 1500 items. We started out calling it the shoe box archive. Everyone has a box of photos and documents under the bed and this gives people from all walks of life a way to share with us their stories of the community. The beauty is that we don’t keep the material and we don’t have the space or resources to preserve and conserve it.. We have just started working on some oral histories although they aren’t on line yet.” - Nancy Sanford, Executive Director, Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, Florence, AL

“Brilliant piece, Tom. I hope that world leaders can put aside their differences and act responsibly before it is too late to avert a global catastrophe. Thanks for your clear and persuasive analysis!” – Stephen B. Martin, Gifted Education Consultant, Thornton, CO

Your articles about the future of libraries are inspiring, knowledgeable and a bit frightening. The Literacy Advisory Council of Kurth Memorial Library in Lufkin, Texas is using your papers as a basis for future planning. - Peyton Walters, Lufkin, TX

See also:

Tom in the News
Papers, Columns, and other Writings


Contact:

DaVinci Institute
dr2tom (at) davinciinstitute (dot) com
(303) 666-4133

 

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