What's Now, What's Next! October 14, 2010

Join us on October 14th at the Chase Center on the Riverfront as we bring leaders in technology, media, and business to examine how these fields are converging and where they are heading. Our Archer Insights events are about sparking conversation, generating new ideas, and creating a dialogue between presenters and attendees.

We are thrilled to host John Gerzema and Kevin Kelly. They are leaders in their respective fields and best-selling authors. Attendees will receive a copy of the authors' new books, Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live and What Technology Wants.

Registration: 8:00AM - 8:45AM. The event begins at 9:00AM.

John Gerzema
Chief Insights Officer, Young & Rubicam
http://www.johngerzema.com/

John Gerzema is a marketing wiz, author, and social theorist. He is the Chief Insights Officer of Young & Rubicam, and specializes in understanding consumerism and its impact on business, innovation and strategy. He explores this topic in his book, Spend Shift: Understanding The Post-Crisis Consumer, which he coauthored with Pulitzer Prize winner Michael D'Antonio.

Spend Shift: Understanding The Post-Crisis Consumer

Gerzema travelled to large cities and small towns across eight bellwether states, to examine the shifting values that are sweeping the nation. Through in-depth observation, proprietary data from Young & Rubicam, and interviews with experts, the author analyzes the changing consumer psyche, documents the five shifting values and consumer behaviors that are remaking America and the world, and explains what it means to businesses and leaders. The book:

Explores a movement in society where the majority of American consumers are embracing both value and values

Shows how post-crisis consumer expectations and behaviors will drive business decisions

Draws on interviews with CEOs and entrepreneurs to reveal how companies like Ford and Etsy are reconnecting with the post-crisis consumer

John’s previous book, The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It, was named one of the best business books of 2008 by Amazon’s editors, and Marketing Book of the Year by 800-CEO-READ and Library Journal.

Kevin Kelly
Senior Maverick and Cofounder, Wired Magazine
http://kk.org/

Kevin Kelly is one of the true visionaries of our time. He helped launch Wired magazine and was the editor for nearly six years. As one of the most influential voices in technology and its impact on society, he has authored eight books, and written for publications such as The New York Times, The Economist, Time, Harpers, Science, GQ, The Wall Street Journal and Esquire. His last book, New Rules for the New Economy, sold over 100,000 copies and hit the New York Times Business, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week bestseller lists.

What Technology Wants

In What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly discusses the love/hate relationship we have with technology and new inventions. He declares this relationship as being inherent to all technology and argues that technology is an extension of life and an acceleration of the mind.

So what is technology’s agenda? Where is it headed? What is the true nature of its increasing presence in our society? How do the goals of the technological agenda relate to humanity’s goals? In his search for answers Kelly reveals three essential lessons:

By listening to what technology wants, we can better prepare ourselves and our children for the inevitable technologies to come

By adopting the principles of pro-action and engagement, we can steer technologies to their best roles

By aligning ourselves with the long-term imperatives of this near-living system, we can capture its full gifts

Official Website: http://archer-group.com/whatsnow/