Event: How can you predict the future in uncertain times?
Register now for the next event in our new series, ‘A Conversation with The Economist Group’
Join us for a unique virtual event on Wednesday 27 May, 10am ET / 3pm UK, when Tom Standage, deputy editor, The Economist and editorial director, The World Ahead, will be joined in conversation by Anne McElvoy, senior editor and head of Economist Radio to talk about making predictions, spotting trends and understanding their implications.
The Economist is constantly predicting the future, whether as part of the annual ‘The World In 2021’, the upcoming special report ‘The World If…’ or simply as part of the regular weekly coverage. How does the editorial team approach the challenge, and how can marketers take a similar approach? What might 2021 have in store for us all? And how much has covid-19 disrupted previous predictions?
Key topics of discussion will include:
- Why try to predict the future?
- What consumer trends and behaviours does The Economist think are going to come to the fore over the next 12 months?
- Economically and politically, what might 2021 have in store for us?
- Are data and machine learning making predictions easier and more accurate?
- What tools and techniques can marketers use to try and predict trends?
- When has The Economist got it spectacularly right? Or wrong?
‘The World If…’ published every summer in The Economist since 2015, is a special report of ‘what if’ scenarios pegged to specific years and spanning the fields of politics, business, science and technology and history. This year all of the scenarios will include a connection to climate change, the issue at the heart of many future trends. The next edition will be published in July 2020. Recent ‘what ifs’ included: if antibiotics stop working; if there are too few robots and what if Facebook shuts down in Europe. It sits under the editorial umbrella of our future-gazing franchise, The World Ahead.
Economist Radio provides sound reasoning on current affairs, business and finance, science and technology, and global issues. Series include: “The Intelligence”, a daily podcast on current affairs; “The Economist asks”, a weekly podcast that aims to ask big questions of authors, politicians, celebrities and other notable people on big issues; “Money talks”, a weekly podcast on the markets, the economy and the world of business; and “Babbage”, a weekly podcast on the innovations, discoveries and gadgetry making the news.
This event is the second in our virtual event series, ‘A Conversation with The Economist Group’ which brings the in-depth analysis that The Economist is known for to life, combined with viewpoints from world-class experts across industries.
