thornton may World Bank Futurist

Keynote Presentation Topic

“Hearts & Minds/Flat Screens, iPods, Blackberrys, Ringtones & Wallets: Understanding Your Future Customers”

Our world is changing. Behavior is changing. The Adventure Travel community has to change as well. Long held beliefs regarding: Gender Age Time allocations Media preferences The impact of brand Consumer behavior Travel Heroes & Villains are transforming before our very eyes. You are going to have to come down off your mountain, get out of your jeep/kayak/yurt, put down your rod, camera, and/or hiking stick and engage with a new generation of consumers who are doing very strange things in very strange ways. 76 percent of U.S. internet users earning more than $150,000 read blogs. 55 percent of wealthy Americans use an instant messaging service and 31 percent of wealthy Americans use a social-networking site. The advice giving industry has failed the outdoor industry. When one goes to respected futurist Faith Popcorn’s blog CultureFeed and searches on either the phrase ‘outdoor’ or ‘adventure’ you receive no hits. You are going to have to figure this out yourself. And that is what this session is all about. Creating and owning a future we want to live in.

Biography

Thornton May is one of the world’s most respected and best connected practitioners of the science of man [a.k.a. - anthropology] chronicling the frequently pre-hysteric tribal behaviors of urban cave dwellers as they try to come to grips with an over-connected, over-caffeinated, over-accelerated, over-teched, and under-adventured world. Thornton is a trusted advisor assisting organizations as diverse as Toyota, Mattel, Cisco Systems, Burlington Northern Railroad, the FBI, the World Bank, Motorola, Liberty Mutual, General Electric and Dreamworks S.K.G. figure out ‘what comes after what comes next.’ Thornton teaches at four business schools – UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Arizona State and THE Ohio State University. Thornton’s ‘observations’ have appeared in the Harvard Business Review (on strategy); The Financial Times (on value creation); The Wall Street Journal (on the future of the computer industry); the M.I.T. Sloan Management Review (on the future of marketing), American Demographics (on the evolving demographics of global consumers), USA Today (on the future of consumer electronics), Business Week (on the future of work), Fast Company (on the future of learning) and on National Public Radio (debating the future practice of strategy with Professor Michael Porter). Thornton is a serial entrepreneur being present at the creation of two ridiculously successful technology start-up companies. Thornton played polo in high school, cox’ed crew in college and at 5 foot, seven inches played professional basketball [in Japan] during graduate school. He now lives in Maine with his wife Janet and dog – Jackson. "Thornton May is the real deal. A daring intellectual, Thornton encourages us--no he FORCES us--to sit up, pay attention and think hard about the real issues we face every day." Seth Godin, Author of Permission Marketing, and Founder Yoyodyne "It's not difficult for Thornton May to stay ahead of the curve, he helped build it" Max Keiser, Vice-Chairman, Co-Founder; Hollywood Stock Exchange "Thornton May is an intellectual speed merchant. He can think faster than the few people who are smarter than he is, and he's smarter than the few people who are faster than he is--and that's a tough combination to top in any field." Alan Webber, Founding Editor; Fast Company