In the innovation process, the question as to the effect and significance of change phenomena plays a key role. After all, it is not just a matter of detecting the first signals of change, but of classifying them according to their relevance to one’s business and market environment. In a Trend Café, you get to discuss the latest macro-trends with your colleagues and analyse what influence they have on your company or business area.
Based on the “world café” concept, the trend café method is a highly pragmatic opportunity to assess the degree of influence and relevance of macro-trends in a workshop format.
This method helps to bring different opinions together quickly and, with the help of a few questions, discuss and evaluate the impact on people, the industry and the company.
The logic behind the Trend Café:
“How should I know what I think before I hear myself say it?”
Aim: Evaluation of macro-trends with regard to degree of influence and relevance
Material: Tables (best of all round high tables), pens, post-its, pinboards
Participants: Colleagues from different parts of the company
Preparation
- Look for 5-7 macro-trends that inspired you or made you think when you read them. To do so, you could use the industry filter in the Trend finder.
- Think of three questions that focus on different effects of the trends, such as:
o How does the trend influence my private life?
o How does the trend influence my industry?
o How does the trend influence my company (business model, sales structure, ways of working, etc.)? - Prepare the pinboards by clearly writing the three questions on them. There is one pinboard for each table.
- One macro-trend is discussed per table.
- For each table, choose one leader who knows a lot about the trend in question and can lead the discussion.
- Invite participants from different parts of your company to get as many points of view as possible. An ideal group size is three to five participants per table.
- Decide on a timeframe for each discussion round. 15 minutes are usually enough, otherwise points get repeated (“Everything has already been said, but not yet by everyone”).
Procedure for a Trend Café
- The leader explains the procedure to the group and briefly presents the macro-trend.
- The participants then discuss the three questions – five minutes per question.
- The most important aspects, evaluations and initial ideas are noted on post-its. The post-its for each question are stuck on the pinboard.
- After 15 minutes, the participants rotate to the next table. The leader remains at the table, summarises the previous discussion for the next participants and then begins the next session.
- When all the trends have been discussed by all the participants, each leader draws up a summary based on the pinboards and explains how the degree of influence and relevance of the respective macro-trends were evaluated overall.
The Trend Café has already proved to be a very effective method for use in our Trend Sessions. Try it out for yourself!