The day-long conference is being presented by Dion Chang’s Flux Trends think-tank at the University of Johannesburg Arts Centre on Thursday, 7 June. Sharing their analysis on the developments impacting on the new world order are Arthur Goldstuck, Adrian Lee, Christo Davel, Ferial Haffajee, Khaya Dlanga, Rich Mulholland, Mokena Makeka, Dennis McEniry, Nozipho Mngomezulu and Dion Chang.

Ferial Haffajee, editor-in-chief of City Press, will open the Flux Trend Review with her perspectives on the state of our nation – balancing our (usually) negative perceptions about the socio-economic landscape with refreshing insights into what is working.

Unpacking e-commerce in developing markets and the challenges of bridging the gap between online and offline retail is the New York-based president of Estee Lauder Companies online, Dennis McEniry. McEniry helped build ELC Online’s presence from five sites in the US to over 300 sites in more than 50 countries, and the business continues to grow. Under his leadership as president, the ELC Online division has become the fastest growing channel of sales in the company, and a major contributor of bottom-line profit. McEniry has also held positions at Time Inc (vice president of technology) and at IBM in the global services division.

Nozipho Mngomezulu, a partner in Webber Wentzel’s technology, media, telecommunications and intellectual property practice will explore whether the free flow of information can – and should – be controlled: The digital future in South Africa clearly lies in cell phone internet access, and there is a complex landscape to navigate with regards who owns what information.

The techno-savvy minds of Arthur Goldstuck of Word Wide Worx and Adrian Lee, mobile content lead for Samsung Electronics South Africa’s content and apps team, will be outlining the future of mobile technology and applications in a world where “websites are so last century”.

After learning a thing or two about showbiz as a rock ‘n roll roadie for bands such as Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Rich Mulholland started Missing Link, SA’s largest presentation firm, and co-founded 21Tanks, the country’s first perspective lab. Mulholland will be talking about popular culture exploring how our lives have been altered by technology and what the trajectory of this might be.

Khaya Dlanga, Coca-Cola South Africa’s senior creative excellence manager, will be addressing the topic of youth culture. SA’s unofficial Twitter king will talk about how young people – taking into account South Africa’s challenges of poverty and unemployment – are affected by, and are influencing, the new world order.

Mokena Makeka, who sits on the World Economic Forum’s global agenda council for design, will be sharing his insights on the future of urban spaces and cities in the new world order: specifically how we accommodate an exploding human population on a planet with limited resources and space and how do we do this creatively, aesthetically and with empathy?

Dion Chang will be launching the findings of the New Urban Tribes of South Africa trend report, which seeks to give greater texture to our understanding of communities, superseding tools such as the widely used Living Standards Measure (LSM). The trend report will be launched as an e-report at the conference, in collaboration with Pan Macmillan.

Incisive funnyman Nik Rabinowitz will wrap up the day with some light comic relief to help delegates digest the substantial helpings of food for thought.

Tickets for 2012 Flux Trend Review… innovating with Samsung cost R1 850 each, with a 10% discount for bookings of 10 or more from the same company and a 20% discount for students. Book by emailing connected@fluxtrends.co.za, or visit www.fluxtrends.co.za for more information.

Online links:

- Twitter handle: @fluxtrends
- Dion Chang’s Twitter handle: @dionchang
- Facebook: Flux Trends
- Website: www.fluxtrends.co.za