New website creates a community of change

The Trends Research Institute is poised to launch a series of new content platforms and services this spring, beginning with a completely redesigned and expanded web site. These improvements have been in development stages for several months and are designed to deliver multimedia content to subscribers with greater immediacy, usefulness and impact.

In addition, a spate of new features will allow subscribers to more directly engage the insights of chief forecaster and Trends Research Institute founder Gerald Celente. As critical trends evolve that directly impact your life, the institute is now positioned to break down the complexities of those trends and uncover the essential information you need to know.

Our journey began a year ago with the debut of a redesigned print version of the quarterly Trends Journal. Print subscribers loved the changes. The layers of new features, created to “connect your lives — your passions, interests and needs — to the trends all around us,” were greeted with widespread praise from loyal subscribers. With that foundation in place, the Spring 2014 Trends Journal introduces our new web site.

Designed for easy navigation across multiple platforms, subscribers now have a variety of options for enjoying our signature publication, the quarterly Trends Journal, watch Gerald’s weekday “Trends In The News” video broadcasts, access media alerts, and the weekly Freda illustrations and for engaging  institute staff more directly. While the Trends Journal will still be presented to digital subscribers in a pdf format, the new web site now makes the content available in a menu presentation, allowing subscribers to read segments easily on desktop, mobile and tablet devices.

The new web site also introduces a number of new features that our subscribers have helped us develop.
• “Gerald Now” is an interactive platform that allows subscribers to engage in real-time analysis and reaction to critical news events with Gerald. 
• Media Alerts will increase in volume and be posted on the site and emailed to subscribers.
• Video segments will drill deeper into specific trends.  
• New portals on the site will take subscribers behind the scenes to gain insights into how Gerald and Trends Research Institute staff analyze trends and develop their forecasts.
• Contributing writers and institute staff will produce a monthly electronic newsletter to augment our primary quarterly forecasts with shorter, timely insights into the trends taking hold.
• Across our social media platforms and in emails and letters to the institute, our subscribers actively articulate their opinions and perspectives. It’s time we more fully share their insights with our global subscriber base. “Memos to the editor” will be our sounding board for subscribers to write longer, more in-depth reactions to our forecasts and the news events we analyze.

Elsewhere on the site, we will introduce a number of new services and announce exciting events coming later this year. We are broadening the scope of our consulting services to provide customized programs for organizations, institutions and businesses.

And, this summer, we are launching a series of symposiums to be held at our unique and inspiring facilities in historic Colonial Kingston, N.Y. Subscribers are invited to join Gerald, institute staff and invited speakers for a stimulating and fun three-day conference this August 1-3. A series of presentations, workshops and Q&A sessions will offer one-of-a-kind insights into the dominant trends shaping our world (see page 47 for details). 

These are exciting and dynamic times at the institute. The new wave of improvements to be launched with this edition of the Trends Journal will further bolster our longstanding track record of providing content that stands alone for its insight, unabashed honesty and timely, deep analysis of the trends that matter most to you.

Stay tuned. Enjoy. And most of all: Prepare, Survive, Prevail.