Glen Hiemstra is the founder and owner of Futurist.com. Glen is dedicated to disseminating information about the future to assist individuals, organizations, and industries in effective strategic planning. An internationally respected expert on future trends, long-range planning and creating the preferred future, Glen has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations for two decades and has served as a technical advisor for futuristic television programs. Audience members for Glen’s keynote speeches and clients for his long-range planning say things like, “Once you hear Glen Hiemstra speak, the future will never look the same.“
A writer as well as a speaker and consultant, Glen is the author of Turning the Future into Revenue: What Businesses and Individuals Need to Know to Shape Their Future (Wiley & Sons 2006). Previously he co-authored Strategic Leadership: Achieving Your Preferred Future.
As a recognized expert in preferred future planning, Glen is a popular keynote speaker who can zero in on emerging trends in economics, demographics, energy, the environment, Internet and communications, science, technology, housing, and transportation. Glen goes beyond simple trend analysis to discuss the opportunities that we all have to shape the preferred future. In his consulting, Glen utilizes tools such as environmental scanning, scenario development, whole systems perspectives, paradigm shifts, and analysis of organizational culture for managing change to assist enterprises to achieve high performance.
A skilled communicator, Glen also offers a variety of informational resources for those interested in exploring the future. Each month visitors from 120 nations come to Futurist.com and Glen’s blog for provocative snapshots of emerging ideas, trends, and technologies. Futurist.com produces short videos for the web on a variety of future topics.
As a media technical advisor Glen has worked on several television productions, including with Steven Bochco Productions (creator of “Hill Street Blues” and “NYPD Blue”), among others. He is often cited in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, US News & World Report, The Futurist, USA Today, Business Week, the Economist, and the Los Angeles Times.
In a first career, Glen was an award-winning educator; more recently he served as a Visiting Scholar at the Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington, which worked on virtual and augmented reality technology.
Glen was educated at Whitworth College, the University of Oregon, and the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Tracie. They have three adult children.
In this keynote Glen offers a sweeping and entertaining overview of the key trend areas shaping the next decade and beyond: demographics, technology, the knowledge-based economy, environment, and the next energy revolution. The predictable but often surprising nature of the future is explored. Listeners are challenged both to wake up to the future and to take the creation of a preferred future into their own hands. Depending on customization to the audience, specific developments that are noted may include the Internet of things, driverless vehicles and drones, nanotechnology, 3D communication and entertainment, consumer and brand trends, the disruptive future of energy, aging and youth demographic trends, confronting the great divides in society, environmental challenges and green business opportunities, and biotech advances that offer the hope of longer and healthier lives. This speech inspires listeners to develop successful strategic leadership and to create the future. This challenging and customizable keynote offers a balanced view of the future, and a hopeful vision for the rest of the 21st Century.
“I would like to thank you for the time and insight that you shared with our Board of Directors at our annual retreat. It was a thought-provoking meeting and yielded lively discussion. Your keynote presentation was inspiring and meaningful to those fortunate to participate. You successfully challenged us to think more creatively, and we left the retreat feeling energized and contemplating what we can do to affect change and build an exciting future for Denver. Thanks again for making a tremendous contribution to the retreat, Glen! I am hopeful our paths will cross again in the future.”
“Glen’s presentation before the general assembly at the 2012 NIRI National Conference was far and away the highlight of the three-day event and, perhaps, the most thoughtful and thought-provoking session I’ve ever seen given to this professional organization. Far from some “new age” theoretical musing, Glen systematically extrapolated current trends into likely outcomes and then offered actionable recommendations as to how to deal with this new reality. Truly invaluable. My only regret is that NIRI stuck him at the end of the conference when a healthy percentage of attendees had left for the airport. In my opinion, Glen should be the kick-off to such a learning agenda to invigorate the constituency, not the closer to those who remain.”
“On behalf of the Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities, I wish to thank you for your time and the enthusiasm you brought to the plenary session. Glen, the information you provided was extremely informative and provided the audience with a framework of how as individuals and as an organized body they can have influence in shaping the future.”
“We thank you for the energy, wisdom, and expertise of your presentation…We were honored to have you join us and look forward to similar opportunities in the future.”
“Glen is a talented speaker and I really like how he peppers his remarks with lots of statistics and examples…He has a unique perspective, he’s articulate and plus, he’s a genuinely nice guy.”
“It was great having you present to our Lake Michigan Club conference in Grand Geneva! Thanks again for all you do!”
“Thank you very much for your performance at the Ukraine Innovation Conference in Kyiv this week. That was really great and very authoritative. Even now after the conference the speakers quote you!! The presentation was straight to the point – that was really great! Thank you again for making this cooperation possible. Looking forward to working with you again in the FUTURE!”
“The relevance and timeliness of your comments is appreciated, and will contribute to the enhancement of our marketing initiatives.”