{"id":3308,"date":"2011-07-02T22:54:35","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T15:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=3308"},"modified":"2011-07-02T22:54:37","modified_gmt":"2011-07-02T15:54:37","slug":"forward-with-ford-3-days-in-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/forward-with-ford-3-days-in-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward with Ford: 3 Days in Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lori Cunningham<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week I was invited by Ford Motor Corp.*to attend a 2 1\/2 day Forward with Ford symposium with roughly 350 other bloggers, editors, book writers, and more.<\/p>\n

I was very intrigued by the agenda.\u00a0 Eleven speakers from outside of Ford from various professions from a trauma surgeon, to a futurist, to a renown green expert were scheduled to speak.\u00a0 The aim of the symposium was to identify some of the key trends facing our future\u00a0 and\u00a0 educate\u00a0 attendees on how Ford has worked to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The tracks explored were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Aging Population<\/strong>– the worldwide population of people over 50 is becoming greater as this age takes over a greater percentage of the total population. \u00a0Life expectancies are expected to reach a historic high.<\/li>\n
  2. Youth Influence &\u00a0Global\u00a0Convergence of Design<\/strong>– \u00a0Ford believes there is a global collaboration\u00a0among\u00a0the\u00a0millennial. \u00a0 generation. \u00a0Millennials\u00a0are more global in their tastes and friendships than any generation preceding it.<\/li>\n
  3. Safety for all Ages<\/strong> – \u00a0Concerns about safety and security is paramount among our concerns. \u00a0Explores how passengers at any age need to be protected.<\/li>\n
  4. Living Green <\/strong>– concerns over the environment, sustainability, climate, human rights – that were on the fringe of societal concern are now a high priority with corporate groups and government working on these issues. \u00a0Consumers are taking a stand.<\/li>\n
  5. Emerging Technologies<\/strong> – our society has information addiction \u00a0— consumers want info at their fingertips. \u00a0Consumers want to respond to opportunities and better control their environment.<\/li>\n
  6. From the Ford Labs <\/strong>– A behind the scenes tour of Ford’s research of the five senses of the consumer. \u00a0 The Ford labs have never been opened up to the public or media before, this is a first.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ford asked each of us what are top favorite tracks were ahead of time and when we arrived we received our top pics.\u00a0 It was hard to choose as there were so many good topics.\u00a0 I selected \u00a0emerging technologies (surprised?), safety, and the Ford Labs.<\/p>\n

    The first night we attended a reception at Ford.\u00a0 Gourmet appetizers and an open bar awaited us.\u00a0 Dinner was great, as was the company.\u00a0 It was great fun to meet the other guests, including bloggers from many disciplines –those covering cars, fashion, technology, social media, family life…even pets!<\/p>\n

    Malcolm Gladwell, renowned thought leader, started of the symposium by sharing his insights on how we are in the most radical cultural revolution since the sixties.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>We all stayed at the historic Marriott Dearborn Inn, close to the Ford campus.\u00a0 The next day, Wednesday, was our full day of tracks.\u00a0 I had a blast.<\/p>\n

    After a full day of exploration and speakers, we headed back to the hotel for 2 hours of rest before loading the busses again. \u00a0Next we headed to Detroit’s landmark, The Fillmore, an exquisite beautifully renovated old-time theatre.\u00a0 Now used for concerts, the theatre featured large crystal chandeliers, gold painted accents, velvet curtains, and a huge bar!\u00a0 I’ve seen a number of beautiful renovated theatres like this, but none with a super-sized bar!\u00a0 The downstairs consisted of temporary bar seats and tables while the loge featured permanent seats.\u00a0 Apparently the theatre is now used for concerts.<\/p>\n

    Dinner consisted of fun food stations consisting of Greek, American, Italian, and Mexican foods.\u00a0 Promptly following dinner we watched an executive panel discussion about music and its importance in society.\u00a0 Fifty percent of music is listened to in the car.\u00a0 Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, Ty Roberts, cofounder and senior vice president and chief technology officer for Gracenote, and Bob Struble, iBiquity president and CEO comprised the panel along with two members from the up-and-coming band, Head to the Heart.<\/p>\n

    Following the panel, Head to the Hear played a fantastic concert for us.\u00a0 Their vibe was very cool and sound fantastic.\u00a0 They have a sort of blue grassy overtones with great instrumental outbursts.<\/p>\n

    The last day at Ford was spent at the Ford testing grounds.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to drive Ford cars over steep dirt hills, test our driving accuracy around and between cones, challenge each other with who can drive a hybrid the most efficiently, and how driving fast with no control in a 480 degree turn differs from technology that helps avoid this potential disaster in the rain…amongst other tests.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>Forward with Ford was one of the biggest events Ford has ever put on with the media.\u00a0 Many Ford employees were on hand during the event to meet us and answer any questions.\u00a0 The event exceeded many of our expectations and can be counted a success.<\/p>\n

    The key is, will Ford continue to build upon these relationships with these 350+ information sharers or was this just another one time event and Ford moves onto their next initiative, as so many companies often do.\u00a0 Only time will tell how they will handle this great wave of enthusiasm they initiated with this conference.\u00a0 As a Ford Edge owner myself, I’m pulling for them.<\/p>\n

    More Ford articles forth coming.<\/p>\n

    *Ford paid my expenses for the flights and lodging. \u00a0All opinions are my own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An overview of the fantastic three days I spent at Ford during their Forward with Ford symposium for the media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[747,6,14,15],"tags":[726,751,748,750,752,749],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars-2","category-dads","category-moms","category-most-unusual","tag-cars","tag-detroit","tag-ford","tag-ford-labs","tag-ford-testing-track","tag-forward-with-ford","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}