Santa Barbara Innovation Event

The future is arriving faster than ever before.

Get equipped with navigational tools to ride the waves of change.

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History's greatest fortunes will be made by future thinkers. Create a bold tomorrow at the Pacific Coast's most immersive innovation event.

Artificial intelligence. Aging populations. The climate crisis. The world is changing more rapidly than any other moment in history, opening the door to both unprecedented volatility and unmatched innovation. The time to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges is now — and the Pacific Coast Futures Retreat will equip you to do just that. 

What

The Pacific Coast Futures Retreat,
an immersive event for future thinkers

When

8. a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Where

Music Academy Conference Center
Santa Barbara, CA

Why Attend

Equip yourself to ride the wave in an era of unprecedented change

Join entrepreneurs, executives, technologists and other innovators for a conference that will unleash your creativity. 

Hosted by Global Futurist and Innovation Keynote Speaker Robert. B Tucker, the Pacific Coast Futures Retreat brings bring future thinkers to Santa Barbara for an immersive one-day exploration in innovation. At the retreat, you’ll immerse yourself in preparing your businesses, organizations, schools and society for what’s next — because every aspect of our lives will be impacted by these coming changes.

In one perception-altering day, you will discover how today’s rapid changes are likely to affect businesses, organizations, schools, and society. You will anticipate and map the new terrain with like-minded individuals driven to shape a bold future. At the end of this immersive experience, you will be equipped with the navigational skills necessary to recognize threats, unleash your creativity and seize opportunities others don’t see.

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Find your rocket fuel with experts who are fired up and ready to lead through change.

Tamara Afifi

“The Longevity Revolution and Caretakers”

Tamara Afifi is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on family and interpersonal communication in two domains: (1) how family members and relational partners communicate when they are stressed and its impact on personal and relational health, and (2) information regulation (e.g., avoidance, privacy, secrets, stress contagion effects).  In particular, she examines the theoretical properties of family members’ communication patterns (e.g., conflict, social support, avoidance, verbal rumination, communal coping) that cross a variety of stressful situations, to explain and predict biological stress responses, resilience/thriving, and personal/relational health.

Robert Tucker

"Navigating the Future"

Robert B. Tucker is a global futurist and innovation keynote speaker with a client list that includes over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies. He is president and founder of The Innovation Resource Consulting Group, a research and executive development firm dedicated to assisting organizations and their leaders in capitalizing on emerging trends, and driving growth through innovation. With clients in more than 50 countries, the firm assists multinational organizations as well as small and mid-sized firms in a wide variety of industries.

Rinaldo Brutoco

“Driving the Net Zero Energy Future Through Innovation”

Rinaldo Brutoco is co-founder and CEO of the World Business Academy and the author of six books, including “Freedom from Mid-East Oil,” on energy policy and marshalling technology in achieving a “net zero” world. After receiving his law degree from UCLA, Brutoco became a serial entrepreneur, and was founder of Channel 100, the first pay television company in the world, in addition to Red Rose Gallery, Seven Oaks Ranch, and other start-ups.

In 2013, he co-founded Just Capital, an organization devoted to promoting and implementing stakeholder capitalism. Brutoco is currently hard at work bringing C2 Clipper (see below) to market, a hydrogen fueled dirigible capable of transporting 20-ton payloads over vast distances and will speak about this exciting invention during his presentation.

Jim Cathcart

“Maximizing Your Potential, and Maximizing Your Future”

Jim Cathcart’s TED talk “Teach Yourself to See Opportunities” has received over 2.6 million views. Cathcart is an expert in the arena of personal development, leadership and unleashing one’s highest potential. President of Austin-based The Cathcart Institute and author of “The Acorn Principal” and other books on unleashing human potential, Cathcart believes that some of the greatest fortunes and best lives will be created by those who understand the principles of navigating toward opportunity and away from negativity. Since 2015, Jim has become a “rock star” to thousands of young and ambitious Chinese entrepreneurs, and he has advised and coached millions of people around the world on self-leadership, motivation, and unleashing human potential.

Chris Chirgwin

“Navigating The Future of Technology & Profiting From Opportunities in Emerging Tech-Trends”

Chris Chirgwin is the Chief Information Officer of the County of Santa Barbara, and the former CEO of Lanspeed Corp, an IT infrastructure firm serving Coastal California.

Dr. Don Gilman

“Outsmarting VUCA: Achieving Success in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous World”

Dr. Don Gilman is a technology and leadership strategist to Silicon Valley firms, and a professional speaker, trainer, and author of “Outsmarting VUCA” With a doctorate degree in organization change, as well as advanced degrees in engineering physics, nuclear engineering, and engineering management, Don is uniquely positioned to teach us how to navigate this important arena, with advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning presenting new opportunities and competitive threats at ever faster rates. A former executive at Bosch Corporation, Don’s unusual insights, fresh analysis, and “take home and implement” ideas resonate with audiences from Bangkok to Boston to Bangalore – and to California’s future focused Pacific Coast.

Rich Sorkin

“How to Seize the Opportunities in Climate Change”

Sorkin is CEO and co-founder of Silicon Valley-based Jupiter Intelligence, a “climate risk startup.” Jupiter is the global market, science, and technology leader in physical climate analytics for risk management and resiliency planning. Its analytics are used across the private and public sectors: customers include at least one of the world’s five largest firms in asset management, banking, chemicals, insurance, mining, pharmaceuticals, power and oil and gas—as well as critical departments and agencies within both the United States government and climate-change-vulnerable geographies around the world.

Jatin Das Gupta

“Storytelling: The 3 A’s”

Jatin is a seasoned entertainment industry producer and creative director. He’s helped celebrities and Fortune 500 companies develop industry-leading video and marketing content. Over almost two decades he has worked with Robert B. Tucker to capture pivotal moments at conferences and events. These audiences have shared stories that change the world. A Hollywood background and a unique empathetic approach makes every moment at these events something to remember. Speakers and event organizers around the world seek his expertise out every chance they get. When you find him at your event, you know transformational moments are happening and are captured.

David Moore

“Communication, Creativity & The written word”

An innovative design executive, problem solver who provides transformational cross-disciplinary design leadership. Cultivating talent and built teams that have excelled in delivering value and creating opportunities.

A design executive bringing human-centered design and design thinking to design operations. Managing and leading high profile, strategic, design initiatives that are aligned with business objectives.

Created results that have attracted over $500M in VC backed investment, launched successful companies and were on display at the Smithsonian’s Future of Robotics exhibit. I’m named on patents in transportation safety, ergonomics and surgical robotics.

A 'must-attend' conference returns to tackle new challenges amid undeniable volatility.

In 2012, Robert B. Tucker organized his first Elite Retreat at the Four Seasons Biltmore, Santa Barbara. The focus was the future of conferencing and the conference of the future. The event brought together leading minds for an immersive innovation workshop.  

“I attended the first Elite Retreat and the learnings from the conference, the lifelong friendships, and the vision of our amazing host, Robert Tucker, shaped my future and execution of innovative business conferences to this day. This is a must-attend conference for business leaders."
Mary Brandon
CEO, MB Effective Marketing

AI. Climate. Aging.
Cultivate the navigational tools you need to ride the waves of change.

In the next decade, some of the greatest fortunes in all of history will be created. They will be created by those who understand the requirements of the emerging landscape. By those who develop a new set of navigational skills. By those who are prepared to ride the waves.

In virtually every realm of our lives, the forecast is one of increased volatility and uncertainty — from energy to technology, geopolitical environment to national politics, demographic forces to social media, and artificial intelligence to the changing climate. These forces will influence markets, drive consumer and social behavior, and challenge us as never before to think out ahead of the curve.  

Now is the time to immerse ourselves in preparing our businesses, organizations, schools and society for what’s next — because every aspect of our lives will be impacted by these coming changes.  If you attend one event in 2023, make it the Pacific Coast Futures Retreat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sixty of the most future-focused people in today’s world
  • Forward-thinking individuals for your organization looking to be part of a stimulating intimate environment to ponder how to capitalize on seismic changes just ahead, and think ahead of the curve.
  • Entrepreneurs, corporate C-suite strategists, technologists looking to expand their horizons.
  • Retirees looking at legacy issues and “super second life” aspirations.
  • Association executives seeking to identify trends early for their members.

Dressy Business Casual

  • Coffee and breakfast snacks
  • Lunch on the veranda
  • Wine and cheese reception
While we have not arranged an official hotel for the conference, we invite you to check out these local lodgings, of various price points:

Ride the waves of change with Robert B. Tucker

Robert B. Tucker is an award-winning global futurist and innovation keynote speaker with a client list that includes over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies. He is a contributing columnist to Forbes online, and has appeared on Channel News Asia, CNBC India, PBS, CBS Radio, and was a featured guest on the CNBC series The Business of Innovation.

President and founder of Innovation Resource Consulting Group based in Santa Barbara, California, Tucker is an internationally-recognized pioneer in the field of strategic innovation. During his 30-year career, Tucker has been invited to lecture in 54 countries and in every state in the United States. Economic development groups in Singapore, Dubai, Mexico and Morocco have turned to him for thought leadership. He has advised companies such as Microsoft, American Express, and Citibank, as well as over 400 trade and professional associations and user groups on how to create future-ready cultures that drive growth through innovation.

A multi-year winner of the Top Five Speaker Hall of Fame, Tucker’s pioneering research in identifying the critical attributes of innovators became the acclaimed book, Winning the Innovation Game. Former Intel Chairman Andrew Grove described Tucker’s international bestseller Managing the Future: 10 Driving Forces of Change as a “lucid, practical guide to total quality in business.” In Driving Growth Through Innovation, Tucker delved into the emerging best practices of companies pioneering radically more effective approaches to developing cultures of innovation. And in his latest book, Innovation Is Everybody’s Business: Making Yourself Indispensable in Today’s Hyper-competitive World, Tucker takes up the issue of leadership development, and reveals the innovation skills essential to success in today’s hyper-change era.

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