FUTURIST JIM CARROLLTHE WORK BEHIND THE KEYNOTE

Microsoft Canada FutureNow

Make the technology convergence understandable.

Help a broad executive and IT audience see how multiple technology waves connect.

Jim Carroll on stage at Microsoft 2019
Microsoft 2019

THE STARTING POINT

What this audience needed.

Help a broad executive and IT audience see how multiple technology waves connect.

WHAT MADE IT SPECIFIC

The audience shaped the research.

At FutureNow 2019, the keynote brought AI, robotics, connected systems, virtualization and augmented reality into one story. The customization task was to connect technological capability to the industries represented in the audience.

  • AI and robotics
  • Connected systems
  • Virtualization
  • Industry convergence

HOW THE KEYNOTE CONNECTED THE ISSUES

What made the content specific.

01

Explain convergence across several technologies

The FutureNow audience included more than 2,000 executives and IT professionals. The opening keynote linked AI, robotics, connected systems, virtualization and augmented reality, helping participants consider the combined effect of developments often discussed separately.

02

Translate capability into industry relevance

A broad technology audience serves many different sectors. The story connected emerging capabilities with changes in industries and business models, providing a strategic context for the technologies participants would encounter.

03

Open the event with a shared perspective

An opening keynote can establish a language for the discussions that follow. The emphasis on convergence and acceleration helped frame the event around the wider changes affecting organizations, rather than a succession of isolated technologies.

FROM THE PUBLISHED CASE STUDY

Inside the engagement.

At Microsoft Canada’s largest event, with more than 2,000 senior executives and IT professionals, futurist Jim Carroll opened FutureNow 2019 with a fast tour of the technologies redefining industries.

Leaders need to make sense of multiple technology waves arriving at once — not one trend at a time. Jim’s opening keynote made the point directly: AI, robotics, IoT, virtualization and augmented reality are converging into one accelerating future.

The real disruption is not any one technology, Jim told the FutureNow audience. It is the speed of their convergence.

It’s the framing that opened three days of sessions built around a single accelerating story. Explore more keynote case studies.

Source: Read Jim’s original case study ↗. This profile describes the keynote’s content and approach; it does not claim business results beyond those documented in the source.

BUILD ON THE INDUSTRY CONTEXT

AI has a physical future.

The AI build-out depends on much more than software. Compute, optics, energy, cooling and components create connected infrastructure challenges and commercial opportunities.

YOUR AUDIENCE. YOUR OBJECTIVES. YOUR FUTURE.

What do your leadership team or association members need to understand?

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