What to expect at Transparency18

The FreightWaves team has worked incredibly hard over the past several months putting together our debut event, Transparency18, which will take place May 22-3 at the Georgia International Conference Center in Atlanta. We built Transparency18 to be a forum on the future of freight, with a strong emphasis on the technological transformation of the transport and logistics industries. With 11 days to go until the conference, we’re excited to give attendees a preview of what you can expect.

Live tech demos

We’ve dedicated the first day, Tuesday, to a series of exciting 7 minute-long technology demonstrations. The format is designed to be dynamic and fast-paced, with no PowerPoint slide decks or vaporware allowed. The Transparency18 audience will see enterprise blockchain platforms for payment, compliance, and credentialing, IoT devices ranging from locks to trailer-mounted CPUs, and visibility and load-matching products. The companies performing demos include project44, McLeod, Riskpulse, TriumphPay, Salesforce, Phillips Connect Technologies, dexFreight, Redwood Logistics, and many more. 

FreightWaves will also perform the first public demonstration of Sonar, our freight market SaaS product. Sonar integrates news feeds, realtime commentary on market dynamics, and our proprietary indexes measuring turndowns and tender-lead times in various key market areas. It’s an incredible product that will change the way shippers, carriers, and brokers make decisions. 

After the demos have ended, it’ll be time to party at our networking cocktail reception, which will be followed with BBQ and a killer band.

Keynote speakers

After FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller welcomes the attendees on Wednesday morning, Tony Seba will deliver the first keynote of the day. Seba is the co-founder of RethinkX, an independent think tank that analyzes and forecasts the speed and scale of technology-driven disruption for investors, businesses, civic leaders, and policymakers. RethinkX developed the Seba Technology Disruption Framework to analyze and model the impact of new technology on markets. Seba writes about zero-emission mileage and transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) while considering various technology adoption models. 

Jason Schenker is the second keynote speaker at Transparency18 on Wednesday morning. Schenker runs the market research firm Prestige Economics and he is the Chairman of The Futurist Institute. He is a world-leading financial futurist and economic forecaster whose analyses are regularly cited by Bloomberg. If you don’t follow Schenker on LinkedIn, you should, because he writes posts about everything from automation to currency markets in a direct, compelling style that brings economic data to life. Schenker’s books include Recession-Proof: How to Survive and Thrive in an Economic Downturn (2016) and Jobs for Robots: Between Robocalpyse and Robotopia (2017). 

Don Tapscott will give the third keynote on Wednesday after the morning break. Tapscott is the CEO of The Tapscott Group, and one of the world’s leading authorities on the impact of technology on business and society. Last year, Tapscott’s book The Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World (Penguin) garnered accolades from the Financial Times and Forbes, but he’s been on the forefront of business technology thought leadership for decades. Tapscott was thinking through office digitization and automation in the 1980s; he wrote about the vast potential of e-commerce in the 1990s; and he’s been writing about digital privacy and transparency in the corporate world since the early 2000s. Be sure to check out Tapscott’s TED talk on enterprise blockchain. 

Bettina Warburg will deliver the final keynote on Wednesday after lunch. Warburg is a charismatic blockchain thought leader—you may have seen her 2016 TED talk or her viral blockchain explainer for Wired—and entrepreneur, the co-founder and managing partner of Animal Ventures. Animal Ventures describes itself as “a venture studio and consultancy focused on helping clients best adapt to the changing technological landscape.” Animal Ventures offers single day executive briefings, two to four day workshops, and 12 week venture development ‘sprints’ in practice areas including blockchain, augmented and artificial intelligence, industrial IoT, and digital platforms. 

Panels

Transparency18 attendees will have the chance to pick and choose from 10 panels to attend on Wednesday, grouped around three themes: technology, finance, and commercial applications. We’ve pulled our panelists from the very best organizations in the industry, including innovative digital brokerages, venture capital firms and investment banks, publicly traded truckload carriers, OEMs, and telematics companies. Topics include “Heavy Truck Telematics,” “Seed/Early Stage Startups,” “Data Don’t Care: The Truth Behind the Impact of ELD’s, Rates, Regulations and Technology,” “The Bull, the Bear, and the Other Guy,” and many more. 

These conversations will be fascinating for attendees who want to learn more about a topic, and the question and answer period will allow other experts in the room to engage the panelists on new lines of inquiry. 

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