The HeroX team had an amazing week in Toronto at the Trend Hunter Future Festival 2022. We're still buzzing from all the conversations and insightful keynotes we had the pleasure of being a part of.
There was always a great energy no matter what was going on and you could really tell that the people there were forward-thinkers that were actively looking for ways to move the needle on their projects.
What is Future Festival?
Future Festival turns the table on traditional conferences. Where most conferences are filled with speeches, Future Festival is a series of talks, interactive workshops and this exciting event brings together the brightest minds in innovation and disruption - to learn from each other and navigate today's competitive landscape and plan for the upcoming year.
Designed for innovators, Trend Hunter’s Future Festival is an annual event for trend-spotting and innovation. Top notch presentations train your team in the need-to-know consumer insights, trends, and innovations, and networking opportunities with top disruptors inspire you to be more innovative.
Our Top 5 Takeaways
We put together a short list of what stood out from this year's event...
#1 Organizations are putting a larger emphasis on innovation.
Many of the company representatives at FF had some sort of innovation title. We are CLOSE to being more mainstream! Three years ago (pre covid) the majority of attendees were in the marketing department for FF events. Now there has been a huge shift towards people with Innovation in their titles.
#2 Intellectual Property (IP) seems to be top of mind for most large organizations.
There is definitely interest in crowdsourcing innovation and it seems like most people are looking for a simple jumping off point (anonymous challenges, internal/targeted crowds). Companies also expressed great interest in crowdsourcing. However, they are not sure if an open crowd is their key target, seems like they like to be able to source technical experts, and SMB's with more mature solutions would be of greater interest. We brought this back to our own strategic plans and are now considering adding another product offering that fits enterprise. Ideation competitions are great for ad-hoc projects but we need something to connect them SMB's and TRL' 4+ -- boom!
#3 Hosting a workshop at Future Festival was super impactful.
We LOVED hosting our workshop, it was such a great way to introduce the potential for open innovation and crowdsourcing projects to organizations. Over 75% of attendees in our workshop requested follow-up conversations.
#4 Companies know they need to be doing open innovation but many are still unsure of how to do it.
We're starting to see folks with innovation in their job title, but company culture has not caught up. Most of the questions we received were how to convince leadership, navigate bureacracy, and mitigate risk. Another great set of insights and the HeroX team loves being a part of those conversations.
#5 The entire event seems as much like a party as it was a learning conference.
In the face of the very serious changes happening across the globe, and the total disruption to the ‘business as usual’ landscape, FF sets the mood for co-creative work, inspired collaboration, and really personifies “be the change”. We left with pockets stuffed with ideas and action plans for strategic projects and new partnerships.
Bonus: Trend Safaris!
We loved seeing ourselves in Disney form! Kal, Adam and Kyla took a Trend Safari with Proto and got transformed into the images you see below. Proto is a hologram company and the Disney characters were a fun thing they did for the event. “Proto is the first device that lets people beam themselves to a location thousands of miles away and interact with people there. You can call it telepresence, or even holoportation, but it’s real right now.” Wow!
Should You Attend the Next Future Festival?
Yes! Besides the fact that we’d love to meet you there (the annual Future Festival has a permanent place in our strategic calendar) Future Festival is an incredible conference with fantastic keynotes, amazing social events, and an impressive group of attendees. If you're looking to take your business to the next level while staying on top of trends and innovation, treat your team to this immersive, fun, and impactful experience. As expected, Trend Hunter has done an amazing job of capturing the experience on its website. Explore the Full Future Festival Content here and for a taste of the type of Keynote Speakers listen in >>
That’s a recap!
If you have any questions or want to learn more about bringing a HeroX Intro to Innovation Workshop to your organization, reach out to possibilities@herox.com.
