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NOTE - We will share Rohit's SXSW London video here when it is published.
The Non-Obvious Company team, led by founder Rohit Bhargava has been attending SXSW for more than 10 years. Rohit is a five-time Featured Speaker and has also headlined SXSW expansion events in Sydney and London.
ABOUT THE FUTURE NORMAL
How We Will Live, Work and Thrive In the Next Decade
A handbook for visionaries – featuring the 30 biggest non-obvious ideas and instigators that will shape humanity’s next decade.
Making outlandish predictions about the future is easy. Predicting the future normal is far harder. For the past decade, Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason have been on the front lines of the future, leading two of the most successful trend consultancies in the world: TrendWatching and the Non-Obvious Company. Now for the first time, they are teaming up to
share a uniquely eye-opening vision of humanity’s future. In this updated second edition, they explore the impact of AI as they tackle some of the biggest ethical and societal questions raised by all this progress. These are the stories of the future normal, and they are coming sooner than you think.
ABOUT NON-OBVIOUS THINKING
How To See What Others Miss
The ultimate concise guide to innovative thinking in a noisy world.
If you want to have bolder ideas, think like a trailblazing futurist and discover the patterns of everyday life that most of us ignore, this guidebook will help!
Bestselling futurist Rohit Bhargava teams up with pioneering venture capitalist Ben duPont, to offer a new blueprint to bigger thinking and smarter insights.
The book blends Bhargava's expertise in identifying cultural, business, and societal trends with duPont's experience in fostering idea-sharing among diverse influencers. This unique collaboration introduces the SIFT framework, a four-step method to unlock creative potential: creating space, uncovering insights, adjusting focus, and defining the twist.
Ideal for entrepreneurs, creatives, and those challenging conventional thought, this actionable book will help any reader break free from conventional thought and unlock the potential to change the world, one observation at a time.
ABOUT NON-OBVIOUS @ SXSW
Non-Obvious has been a part of SXSW since 2015! Here are some past highlights:
2025 Featured Session
2024 Featured Session
2023 Featured Session
2023 SXSW Studio Interview
2022 Featured Session
2019 Featured Session
2020 Virtual Featured Session
2020 SXSW Sessions On Demand
Love Nostalgia? Here are some of our picks for the most Non-Obvious Panels from past SXSW events:
NON-OBVIOUS BOOKS AND MORE
Buy Non-Obvious Products!
A Short Message From Rohit
Hi, I'm Rohit Bhargava and I have been a Featured Speaker at 5 previous SXSW events and also did a keynote at SXSW Sydney for the past two years and at SXSW London. Prior to becoming a speaker and entrepreneur, I spent nearly 15 years working in strategy, creative and new business roles at Leo Burnett (Australia) and Ogilvy (Global).
After leaving the agency world, I have started two businesses, spoken on stages in more than 32 countries around the world and taught persuasion, marketing and storytelling to students at Georgetown University.
Along the way, I wrote ten books, hit the WSJ bestseller list three times and regularly made it to Austin every March for SXSW. In past years at the show, I've taken the stage right after Elon Musk, accidentally agreed to be a target in a dunk tank (on a freezing cold day!), hosted one of the most popular meetups at the show and been featured in the SXSW magazine (see below).
In the media, I write a monthly column for Inc Magazine about Non-Obvious Books, host a podcast and have been writing my award-winning email newsletter for the past six years. At the end of every year, I also lead a program called the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards where we select the most fascinating books of the year for business people.
In 2025 at SXSW London I'll be sharing insights from an all new update to my book The Future Normal, written with my friend Henry Coutinho-Mason. As usual, our Non-Obvious team will also be hosting several fun events and launching some surprise events too. Be sure to join our SXSW list to find out about our upcoming events first, so we can connect in person!
SXSWorld Magazine Feature:
ABOUT THE NON-OBVIOUS BOOK SERIES
Ten years of insights. Over 1 million readers. 100+ trend predictions.
25+ international book awards.
LISTEN TO THE NON-OBVIOUS PODCAST
Be More Interesting with the Non-Obvious Podcast!
ABOUT THE PROCESS
Discover the Haystack Method for curating ideas ...
Want to see what trend curation looks like in action? This short timelapse video shows Rohit using his signature "Haystack Method," to aggregate past trend predictions into bigger ideas. The process, which is outlined in Non-Obvious Megatrends, is designed to help anyone become a "speed understander" instead of a speed reader. It debatably works better when drinking coffee from a Minions mug ... at least according to Rohit.
