One of the keynote speeches I attended was from Gabrielle Ramsay-Smith on Mega Trends and how they are rapidly shaping the future of consumerism as well as our overall way of life.

One of the points she made was how, amongst “zoomers”, lifestyle and ethics will eclipse pay, as the younger generation won’t share the same company loyalty that their parents may have shown to theirs in the past. Zoomers are much less hesitant to quit a job if they feel it doesn’t align with their values, and evidence of this is rife in the workforce already.

By 2030, 125 billion devices will be connected, and air passengers will double to seven billion per year Gabrielle explained. She added that despite the increasing accessibility to the outside world, depending on your location, “hyper connectivity in the workplace will make people increasingly unhappy.” 20 million manufacturing jobs will be lost to robots, another issue that we are already debating not just in our households, but in the parliament as well.

High rises will be multi-use buildings not confined to just one thing such as a hotel or a specific apartment building, but will rather be a conflation of hotels, supermarkets, apartments, gyms, movie theatres, etc., all in one.

Lastly, Gabrielle added, as we continue to evolve and grow increasingly reliant on AI, robots, and technological advancements, the most educated populations around the world will unquestionably have the competitive advantage.

Safe to assume we have a lot we need to plan for in the future ahead, but I want to thank Gabrielle for taking the time to provide such informative insight into the future! Undoubtedly one of the more eye-opening speeches I’ve been to at any event.