Speaker Profile: David Baxter

Demographer, Economist & Senior Research Advisor at Urban Futures

How is demographic change influencing your business? What do population growth and distribution have to do with workplace environments, the economic climate, and marketing structures? David Baxter, a demographer and senior research advisor at the Urban Futures Institute, explains how a profound understanding of demographics can help businesses stay ahead of the curve.

Alongside his position at the Urban Futures Institute, Baxter is a global-mobility consul for the International Employee Relocation Council and a member of the British Columbia Government Economic Forecast Council. He has published many reports, articles, and books addressing regional economics, consumer behaviour and market trends, health care, employment trends, and the operation of real-estate markets. He is a recipient of the “BC Transplant Research Excellence Award” for his work on the demographics of organ transplantation, and was recently named “one of the 20 most influential people in British Columbia’s residential-construction industry” by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association. His academic career spans four decades, and includes teaching and lecturing at both Canadian and international universities.

Topics:

Demographics, Lifecycles, and Lifestyles: Niche Marketing versus Mass Marketing

In a highly customized and exhaustively researched presentation, Baxter drills down to the very essence of how and why consumers are clustering in niches and seeking individualized products and services. Sector-specific and content-rich, this presentation illustrates the importance of understanding a fragmented market and analyzes the challenges that organizations are facing as lifecycle and lifestyle shifts dictate the importance of reacting quickly and decisively to consumer realities.

Future Work: Where the Jobs Are

The slogan "the end of work" is as false as it is catchy. In truth there will be work in traditional and new economies in the future. Baxter brings his thorough demographic analysis to this vital topic, refuting common predictions and explaining the subtleties behind the numbers. Retirement of the post-war generation continues to mean significant replacement demand for employees, particularly in the skilled sectors, with an increased expectation of net demand for workers overall. The difference in the future will be the nature of work, the skills that workers require, and where work takes place. In his high-energy, entertaining, and customized presentation, Baxter provides insightful commentary designed to facilitate change and growth, and a deep understanding of the world of work.