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Michael Rogers    

MSNBC's 'The Practical Futurist' & Technology Expert

Michael Rogers is an author and futurist, who also serves as futurist-in-residence for The New York Times. His consultancy, Practical Futurist, has worked with companies ranging from FedEx and NBC Universal to GE and Microsoft.

Rogers was a writer for Rolling Stone and co-founded Outside magazine. He then launched Newsweek’s technology column and was vice president of The Washington Post Company's new media division, earning patents for his work as well as awards for his online coverage of 9/11. He is also a best-selling novelist whose books have been published worldwide.

Rogers studied physics and creative writing at Stanford University, with additional work at the Stanford Business School Executive Program. His latest book is “Email from the Future: Notes from 2084.”

Speech Topics


AI Reshapes the Workplace—and the Worker

The rapid rise of ChatGPT and genAI technology has been astonishing—and the impact has just begun. “Cognitive computing” can ingest vast amounts of information and quickly generate comments, reports, or decisions comparable to human effort. Everything from professional services to retail and even construction will be altered by cognitive computing. The nature of work will change—and the challenge for management and education will be to determine which skills are uniquely human.

Energy Futures: Assessing the Choices

Rogers has followed the world energy picture since he shared the National Headliners Award for coverage of the Chernobyl disaster and its implications for nuclear energy. He has written extensively on alternative energy and recently participated in the United Nations conference Bridging the Divide on bringing new energy technology to developing countries, as well as speaking and consulting for a variety of energy companies.

Education: The Basics Go Digital

After creating the award-winning Parents’ Guide to Children’s Software, Rogers has followed education and technology issues closely. He often speaks to audiences of both parents and educators about technology and learning — and specifically how the rise of computers and the Internet has actually increased the importance of the thinking skills that underlie the traditional three R’s. He has worked with both K-12 audiences and higher education on both issues of pedagogy as well as new business models in the virtual age.

The Challenges for Law

Between globalization of services and the digitization of business, the legal profession is facing more change in the next decade than has occurred in the past century. Michael Rogers has worked extensively with the American Bar Association, state Bars and individual firms to talk about how the profession can adapt, what younger lawyers can expect and how older lawyers need to adapt.

The Future of Media

In this presentation, Michael Rogers explains how the rise of the Internet and the digitization of all media are having a profound effect on the media industries. What will the next decade see in content and services delivery, customer expectations, the protection of intellectual property, and the role of traditional media? Will we still have newspapers? Will we still have traditional television? Who will create, distribute and profit from the news? And the rise of citizen journalism—via blogs and social media—means that for corporations, nothing is under the radar anymore. Who will be the winners and losers between cable, satellite, landlines and wireless?

The Virtualization of America

Over the next decade, more and more of our work, what we care about and how we interact with others is going to move into the virtual world, mediated by computers and the Internet. In addition, we’re seeing the rise of a new generation of “digital natives” who are remarkably comfortable with virtual relationships. Michael Rogers asks what will this mean for how our businesses and organizations must grow and evolve in the years to come?

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Your Business in 2025

For this popular speech, Rogers -- who is also a best-selling science fiction writer -- interviews the client to get a better sense of their business, practice or discipline. He then creates a scenario of what their profession or business might be like at the beginning of the Twenties and the world they will inhabit. He's done it for lawyers, health care professionals, transportation companies, financial services companies -- and even for beauty salons and weight-loss clinics!

Management Meets the Future

Rogers explores many of the new challenges facing managers: virtual work forces, flattened corporate structures, a new generation of ambitious and cyber-savvy workers, a heightened atmosphere of public scrutiny - not to mention perennial pressure to do more with less. How are smart managers coping now - and how can they stay ahead of what's next to come?

Use the Downturn to Rethink, Restructure, and Thrive

Rogers has long argued that even without the recession, three key elements will characterize successful businesses in the next decade: virtual organization, web 2.0, and the extended internet. In addition, these new tool may also help create entirely new business models. Today's downturn presents the perfect opportunity to rethink and restructure, using low-cost software tools, to fit this emerging paradigm.

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