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CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
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Some of our clients logos


David is one of the world's leading authorities on a wide variety of global trends. He leads a powerful research team and is a fascinating speaker. He has helped some of the largest multinationals to identify and respond to significant trends and is much sought after for his advice. 
Patrick Dixon, Chairman, Global Change
 
Financial Services Forum, London, UK
David Smith presented at The Forum yesterday on: Technology Will Disrupt and Change The Shape of General Insurance, he is a tremendous speaker and full to the brim with ideas about how the future will be transformational. Afterwards he showed me the formidable report he was commissioned to write by Steria, called simply ‘The Future’. 
Andrew Porter, Vice Chairman, The Financial Services Forum
 
Jobs Summit, RSA, London
I wanted to send you a short email to say thanks very much for participating at the Jobs Summit.  It was commented upon that your contribution was particularly interesting so I am really grateful that you took the time to join us. Thanks again and best wishes.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA (Royal Society of Arts)
 
European Commission, Brussels, Belgium
Just to thank you for your contribution for these 2 days – you have been instrumental in ensuring that both workshop and reporting at plenary goes well, under quite stressful conditions I realize. Looking forward to have another opportunity working with you again.
Pierre Chastanet, European Commission , Directorate General Information Society and Media
 
Home Sales Network Conference, London, UK
Your talk was superb. Hope to keep in touch.
Robert Peston, Business Editor, The BBC
 
Long Term Care Insurance Conference, Las Vegas, USA
What a delight for me to have the opportunity to share time with you and enjoy your wit and humor.  You added immeasurably to our conference.  The LTC conference is a small one and almost family since that community is so small (600) and regulated and grown up together. I wanted to provide you with the feedback we received – thought you would be interested. The results for your address from the mobile app have been appreciative. Here’s a quote “Good use of humor. Lots of interesting stats, used to great effect to make us think.”  Another reads “Excellent program”.  
Kathy Hamby, CLU, LTCP, CLTC, MHP, Genworth Financial 
Group Compliance Leader, Long Term Care Insurance

 
BrightWave, Annual Client Conference, London, UK
Thank you on behalf of Charles and the Brightwave team for your contribution at our event yesterday. 
The pace and content was exactly what we had hoped for in the keynote, and there was plenty of buzz going into the afternoon about some of the themes and facts.  It was great to work with you again and hope to stay in touch in the future. 
Laura Ward , Head of Marketing, BrightWave

NATO and Lloyd's of London, London, UK
Thank you so much for joining us to take part in our Risk Management Conference at Lloyd's today. We were very pleased with the result and your contribution was particularly valuable in producing what was really a very successful event. We are all most grateful for your help.
Lord Levene of Portsoken KBE, Chairman, Lloyd's
 
ACORD Forum Asia, Singapore
You were great to work with and you did a wonderful job as Chairperson of our event!
August Malou, Director, Event Programs, ACORD
 
Linpac Seminars, Fresh Ideas, Warsaw, Madrid, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Paris
It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. I’m absolutely thrilled with how the Fresh! Seminars have been received and your contribution has been a massive part of that – really changing perceptions and providing excellent context for us presenting ourselves in a more dynamic way so I thank you for your support.
Joanna Stephenson, Vice President Marketing, LInpac Packaging
 
FINEOS Annual Client Conference, Dublin, Eire
David Smith is an excellent speaker and the provided the perfect keynote for our annual user conference – not once, but twice! David’s style is very engaging and he leaves the audience buzzing with a fascinating glimpse at the future. Beyond that, he leaves them with practical things that they can do today to ready themselves for the many (and a bit overwhelming) changes coming our way. 
 
David is fantastic to work with and really tailored his message to ensure that it was in line with our theme. He proactively produced a white paper on a similar topic to the presentation prior to the event. We used this before the event to help in weaving some of the keynote messaging into our own presentations for cohesiveness, and we are now using it after the event as a further lead generation tool. 
 
David is the consummate professional, and I couldn’t recommend him any more highly as a speaker. This most recent conference was the eighth one we have run, and David is the only keynote that we have re-run. The choice was very easy for us – our audience simply loved him.
Alison Murphy, Marketing Program Manager, FINEOS, Boston, USA
 
AB InBev Marketing Summit, London, UK
A massive thank you from myself and the team at AB InBev! A real eye-opener; thought-provoking and engaging presentation!  It should prompt some change about how we interact with our insights team, and how we future plan, so that can only be a good thing.
Ally Atha, Brand Manager - Stella Artois, AB InBev UK Limited
 
Midlands Leadership Group, UK
Thanks, David, you did a great job as always.
Jay Hale, Leader, Midlands Leadership Group Limited 
 
John Lewis Plc
Thank you so much for a truly wonderful session with us yesterday evening. It was insightful, though provoking, energising and truly excellent!  So many of the delegates have communicated just how much they enjoyed your session!  It was lovely to meet you and to be a part of your excellent session! 
Sarah Bonner, Senior Manager, Space Planning
 
Jordans Ryvita Management Conference, Cambourne, UK
Many thanks for your contribution to the success of our workshop today – you gave us really great inspiration.  Claire and I are very keen to follow up on slightly different topics so we will be looking to  catch up soon. 
Carol Welch, Marketing and R&D Director, Jordans & Ryvita
 
Smart Cities , Birmingham, UK
Many thanks for speaking at our Smart City event and participation in the panel session. 
Your presentation was excellent and went down very well, so really good to have your involvement here.
Nicola Bryant, Business Development Manager, Digital Birmingham, Birmingham City Council
 
Warwick Business School - MBA programme
Great presentation and discussion around "The Reset World" which has given me much food for thought. 
Ian Swann
 
Trend+ Consumers Trends (Speaker & Chair), London, UK
It was great to meet you and thank you for being such an excellent Chair yesterday at the trends conference. I think your work is very interesting and really enjoyed the way you presented. 
Karen Fraser, Director, CREDOS
 
Marketing Society Annual Conference, UK
I just wanted to add my personal thanks for your outstanding contribution to our Annual Conference last week. Your presentation was one of the highlights of a fascinating day, and left me feeling generally optimistic about the future for marketers and marketing.
Hugh Burkitt, The Marketing Society
 
Insurance Technology Congress, London
David, highly impressed by your Social Media presentation at ITC. Still rare to find people who genuinely know what they're talking about in the sphere. I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. 
Gary Nuttall MBCS CITP
 
Microsoft Imagine Summit, UK
I was over at your offices this morning. The last guy – David Smith – was fantastic!!  I don’t know if you guys are doing a TED style thing and uploading/distributing the talks to a platform. If you are, I'd love a link to his.
Daniel Daynes , Mindshare Worldwide
 
KingstonSmithW1 -  'Mashed-Up Business' Seminar by David Smith
It was simply the best seminar I've attended. David was a fantastic host and I came away motivated to share the knowledge gained with my agency. Just excellent - if you are of a mind to have David back, I'd be happy to take a couple of places.”
Andy at Bostock and Pollitt
 
BBC, Salford Quay, Manchester
Thank you for this and all your time on Thursday, the feedback is very positive.  Please let's keep in touch and see how we can continue to work together.
Simon Lloyd, Director of Media Engagement and North, BBC Marketing & Audiences
 
C-Store Forum, Faro, Portugal
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your presentation last week. You presented at The ACS conference last year and your content then made a real impact on how I did business with clients. I am sure that this latest presentation will do the same !
Stephanie Rice, Rice Retail Marketing
 
Medi360, Manchester, UK
Hugely enjoyed your session and I think we've had more requests for its summary than all the others ... there is something about looking at a business from a new angle that gets people very excited!
Caroline Marshall, Executive Editor, Haymarket Brand Media
 
Infineum Senior Executives Conference, Lisbon, Portugal
Thanks David. Your information was well received.  Positive feedback from the group and leadership. Hopefully, everyone has a new mindset as we move forward.  It was a pleasure meeting and working with you and hopefully we will cross paths again. 
Steve Winston , Business Manager , Infineum USA L.P.
 
PwC client breakfast, UK
I just wanted to drop a line to say how much I enjoyed your sessions on Tuesday. We have had some great feedback from clients who clearly found what you had to say stimulating.
Chris Maw PwC, Partner
 
HSBC client lunch, UK
Thank you for today, feedback fantastic, agreed 1st meetings with 3 target businesses.
Kevin B Thorn, Area Commercial Director, Norfolk and Waveney, HSBC Bank PLC UK
 
World Halal Forum, Kuala lumpur, Malaysia
The WHF opened with an eye-opening presentation from renowned futurist, David Smith, the CEO of Global Futures and Foresight in the UK. His take on “The Major Market Trends of the Coming Decade” was one of the clear highlights of the WHF. David's wide-ranging and far-sighted vision of how the world is changing was impressive, and it gave a new and graphic context for the developments in the Halal marketplace, and confirmed for the audience that there are exciting, if challenging, times ahead for this industry.
KasehDia Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 
Engineering Sustainability - Systems Approach, City University, London, UK
The feedback that we received from the audience both during and after the event was highly complementary and much of that goes to your experience, empathy and quality contribution.
Professor Ali Hessami
 
CIOnet, London, UK
I wanted to say listening to you is absolutely an eye opener every time. Thank you for providing another thought  expanding presentation- - I could see CIOs desperately scribbling away all around and I kept thinking about all those accounts that seem to be oblivious of this New World ahead.
Chris Green, CIOnet
 
Valtra 60th Year Celebration conference, Finland
Thank you very much for your valuable input at the Valtra event. The initial feedback has been applauding. I would like to thank you for your very interesting presentation. We have got a lot of positive feedback from our guests.  
Hannele Kinnunen, Communications Manager, Valtra Inc.
 
Philips Lighting R&D & Global Marketing Conference, Eindhoven, Netherlands
I have really got very good feedback! It was very informative, eye-opening talk! 
Melike, Product Design, Philips Lighting, LightLabs

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IPA - Advertising Industry Conference, London, UK
Many thanks for your wonderful presentation at the IPA conference today. 
You kindly offered to forward copies of your presentation and I’d love to take you up on that. There was so much great data and my old brain could not take it all in at once!
Jeremy Shaw, Chair, Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw

Chartered Institute of Marketing Dinner, Brighton, UK
I thought you were terrific.
Rosie Phipps Dip Pharm (S.A.), DipM, MCIM, DMS, FRSA, Chartered Marketer
Principal, Oxford College of Marketing
 

International Insurance Society annual conference, Madrid, Spain
Thank you very much for participating as a speaker at the recently concluded International Insurance Society seminar in Madrid.  The feed-back from our attendees has been overwhelmingly positive and I thank you profoundly for your contribution to the event’s success.  Your presentation was excellent and thought provoking – I am most grateful as it is the excellence of our speakers that make the IIS meetings unique.
Michael J. Morrissey, President and Chief Executive Officer, The International Insurance Society
 
Unisys Conference, St. Paul de Vence, France
You provided an excellent analysis of the global business, economic and social environment identifying a number of key considerations that businesses need to recognize and respond to.  Based on up to date research and data it set the context for the remainder of the conference.
Bob Hawkins, Marketing Director Unisys
 
DEFRA Suppliers Conference, London
Your presentation was very thought provoking and a number of people were discussing it at the wine reception later on.  We thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and the challenging yet persuasive messages you delivered and offer you our sincere thanks for the time you put into our conference. 
Meenu Westhead, DEFRA
 
Chamber of Commerce, Guernsey, Channel Islands
We had our first scenario planning project on the Friday after your presentation so the timing was excellent – I know my Minister wants to refer to some of the ideas in your slides in a presentation for later this week! Once again many thanks for a really interesting presentation and hope you enjoyed your visit to Guernsey
Jon Buckland, Chief Officer, Commerce & Employment, States of Guernsey Government
 
CSC Financial Services Conference, Tokyo, Japan
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation on behalf of CSC for your excellent presentation and participation in our conference last week. 
Prakash Thomas, Regional Director-Sales & Marketing, Financial Services Group-Asia
 
Developing Gloucestershire Conference. Cheltenham, UK
Many thanks for speaking at the Growing Gloucestershire Conference 2008, it is fantastic to be able to offer Gloucestershire professionals the opportunity to hear such a thought provoking presentation.
As I am sure you noticed there was a great atmosphere on the day and we have had plenty of positive feedback...
Penny Richards-Good, Marketing & Operations Manager
Centre for Enterprise & Innovation, University of Gloucestershire

 
Nick Peters, Owner, Business First magazine
“In a world where we are bombarded with myriad opinions, conflicting predictions and a glut of data, David Smith helps us see the future with piercing clarity. In business this is invaluable - listen to David and you will be on the next bandwagon - and exploiting it - before your competition even know it exists.”
 
Bank of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
We were delighted to meet and talk with you on Tuesday and you've definitely provided food for thought amongst the team. There is a great buzz in here about the Awards (I just need to steer people away from the robot idea; it seems to have caught the imagination hugely!). So again, thank you for an insightful and interesting talk.
Lorraine Griffin, Bank of Ireland
 
Building Society Association, Annual Conference, Manchester
Many thanks for your excellent presentation which feedback suggests the audience really enjoyed.
Adrian Coles, Director-General, The Building Societies Association
 
Sustainability Conference, Prague
Thank you very much for your presentation which certainly helped to make it a most successful couple of days. The appraisal forms retrieved indicate that the delegates were very satisfied and found the conference most worthwhile. Once again, we very much appreciate the time and effort you put into producing and presenting your material, and hope we may seek your help on a future occasion. 
Jenny Fehrenbach, Event Manager, SustainPack
 
Financial Services Forum - London
Thank you for presenting to our general insurance group today. You gave us a breathtaking review of everything that is changing in our world.
Andrew Porter, Managing Director, The Financial Services Forum
 
Henley Management College – British Dental Association
I received very positive feedback this morning on your behalf as the participants enjoyed your presentation.
 
Kim Harris, Henley Management College
I had a number of people today saying how much they enjoyed your session so thanks very much.
Rebecca Chandler-Wilde, Director of Studies, Consortium Programmes
 
Distribution and Emerging Technology Conferences, LOMA, Tampa, USA
 
Delegate comments:

 

  • Wow! Great start for the conference.  Lots to think about.

  • Great presentation, very thought provoking

  • Extremely insightful and eye opening glimpse of the future

  • Extremely relevant

  • Easily could’ve provided 2 hrs of valuable content. Very good presentation skills

  • Very informative, challenging presentation.  Enjoyed him in Dallas and pleased with this year

  • The type of presentation that makes these conferences wonderful

  • Very informative- thought provoking

  • So lively and easy to listen to. Information that can be beneficial for everyone in the future

Ann M. Purr, FLMI, CSP, PCS,  AFSI, Second Vice President, Information Management, LOMA
 
Institute of Directors - Chairmen’s Conference, London, UK
Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed your presentation at the IoD Chairman’s meeting on Friday...  I am sure that you could have taken the whole afternoon session and perhaps you should have done.  Fantastic, entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure, excellent……
Nick Bramley, Chairman, Institute of Directors, North Yorkshire Branch
 
Cisco Advanced Services Kick-off - Berlin - Germany
First of all I'd like to thank you for presenting at the Cisco AS Kick-Off.  Once the evaluations have been collected I will share the feedback with you but I can already tell you from the comments I received that people felt you were a very engaged speaker. The start was excellent and you've captured the audience's attendance...   I'm convinced many participants will go home with ideas. You gave them food for thought no doubt! 
Marina Van den Bossche, Executive Communication Manager, Advanced Services, Cisco
 
Institute of Directors Breakfast Meeting
“The presentation last week was one of the best I have attended this year - very informative and it has given me a lot to think about.” 
Simon Smith, Head of Commercial Centre. HSBC
 
“I felt that I had to respond. I found the presentation absolutely fascinating and it was interesting to see the response of the delegates varying from fear and disbelief to mild amusement. I have mentioned the event to number of colleagues and clients since. Thank you. 
Stuart Stoter, International Trade Partner, Clydesdale Bank plc 
 
“Wow! What a great Breakfast Meeting – many congratulations on also having such a superb speaker”. 
Neil Murphy, CEO Armchair group
 
“Really enjoyed the presentation. It has certainly sparked a fair amount of debate”. 
Jason Colombo, Operations Director C&C Technology
 
“The feedback from our guests has been fabulous”. 
Debbie Richardson. , CEO TFK Marketing
 
“I found the whole morning fascinating and the presentation truly inspirational”. 
Andrew Mais, , PMP UK Ltd
 
Reed Exhibitions - Berlin, Germany
David - Thank you so much for your presentation yesterday - it certainly hit the spot with most of the delegates and with the Board. The breakout session that followed was very animated (despite the late nights in the bar!) but did keep the issues raised in context. As you can imagine quite a number of delegates have committed to go away and find out more. 
Lynn Mathieson, CMO, Reed Exhibitions
 
The presentation was great - well done!
Alistair Gornall, CEO, Reed Exhibitions
 
The Financial Services Forum – St. Paul de Vence, France
We invited David Smith to speak at our first European Executive Summit in St. Paul de Vence, France in 2004. With his encyclopedic grasp of global change issues and his professional but uniquely enthusiastic presentation style he proved to be a great success. So much so, that we have invited David to contribute to our summit every year since. In addition, we have invited David to address senior groups of executives to help them prepare their business for the future.
I would have no hesitation in recommending David as one of Europe's leading speakers and facilitators
Anthony Thomson, Chief Executive, The Financial Services Forum
 
The Pensions Network - UK
On behalf of myself and Patricia can I once again thank you for your superb input to our last Pensions-Net-Work meeting. We have had excellent feedback once again from members and we are looking forward to the next meeting in June.
Malcolm Small, Managing Director, The Pensions Net-Work, UK
 
EMBA Course - Tampere, Finland
Thank you very much for speaking in our Executive MBA program. You received a very good response from the students… I personally really enjoyed your presentation and the time we spent together. I look forward to seeing you again on some other occasion.
Petri Vehmanen, Professor, University of Tampere, Finland
 
Henley Business School -  UK
I wanted to write and thank you for your excellent presentation at Friday's Forum at Henley. The feedback was excellent on the day overall, but your presentation in particularly got rave reviews! I know you gave them a lot to think (and perhaps worry!) about, but the participants commented that your presentation was superb, very informative, thought provoking and indeed inspiring and entertaining. Their only negative comment was that they would have liked to listen to you for much longer! 
June Sebley , Director, Henley Partnership 
 
Financial Conférence - St. Paul de Vence, France
Just a short note to thank you for helping to make the conference one of the better one’s that I’ve attended.
Mario Aristides ACII`, Head of Business Development, AXA Insurance UK plc
 
Thank you to you & the team for a superb 3 days. I thought the quality of the event was outstanding and the value gained far outweighed the time away from the business. It gave me valuable thinking time and the sessions prompted some real differences in my thinking about what customer centricity really means & how we could deliver it.
Andrew Norton, Head of Alternative Channels, Halifax Regulated Sales
 
LOMA - Dallas, USA
Thank you for speaking at LOMA’s Distribution and Emerging Technology Conferences. Your presentation was very well received by our attendees. The information you provided was both useful and timely. The evaluations from the conference have been collected and the following reviews concern your presentation. 
Comments:     Very provocative, thanks. Timely, interesting, outstanding, thought provoking, I want more. Very enjoyable. Eye-opening and thought provoking 
Ann M. Purr, FLMI, CSP, PCS , Second Vice President, Information Management 
 
SAS Scandinavian Airlines - Copenhagen, Denmark
Thank you so much for coming over. People were excited about "your hour"… it was a great day and they felt very committed at the end.
Casper Puggaard, Concept Manager, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Denmark

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