This Week February 21, 1990. Page M3 TOP STORY ay attention to new technolo- gy. Learn how to use it and adapt it to your own purpose. If you don’t, it will come back to haunt you. That's the message Frank Ogden gets paid big dollars to deliver on the rubber chicken circuit. In a modern, fast-paced world where information is power, Ogden is indeed a powerful man. He sells infor- mation to corporate executives, man- agement trainees, university stu- dents, heads of state - anyone who will listen. He delivers it on a speak- ing circuit that takes him around the world. There is no shortage of those who will lend Ogden an ear. Ogden, also known as Dr. Tomor- row, is often in Victoria, a favorite place for conventions. He had two speaking engagements here earlier this month. On Feb. 3 he addressed the Victoria Chapter of the Canadian Bar Association. Less than a week later, he was back to pontificate for the Newport Marketing Entrepren- eurial Group. The Vancouver-based futurist is scheduled to be back in Victoria Saturday, Feb. 24 to deliver one of a series of prestigious Klinck lectures (see related story) and on March 2, he’s the keynote speaker for the Surrey Teacher’s Association’s meeting to be held here. Just what is it that Ogden is telling people that makes him one of the most sought after speakers in the country and just why are people so eager to see and hear what he has to say? “T tell people that if they take advantage of the latest technology, the odds are they're going to profit from it. If they run away from it, try to ignore it, or pretend it doesn’t exist, they'll be victimized by it because their competitors will utilize it and it will affect them.,” Ogden isn’t just a talking head behind a podium, spouting off facts and figures. He has a definite flair for the theatrical. Some people describe him as “outrageous.” The visuals he uses in his presentation keep the attention of his audience riveted. “Anything I say, I back up with the product, a video tape or slides so I've got credibility with them. I also bring toys. What’s the latest toy everyone's heard about? — cellular phones — CC two thousand bucks. I show them the Forum phone and it’s only two hundred bucks. In- stead of 50 cents a minutes, it’s a flat _ $10 to $15 per “month.” Information or “lessons from the future” as he describes it, is what Ogden sells. Information isn’t that difficult to get — it’s bouncing around out there in space. It’s just a matter of capturing it, storing it and being able to retrieve it on command. That's the Everyone's gazing through the rear-view mirror. I’m not - interested in the known, I’m interested in the unknown. 7? LESSONS FROM THE FUTURE iti Dr. TOMORROW ZAPS VICTORIA’S CITY HALL with his toy Robotic arm normally used to play Nintendo. In the future the same principle will allow us to control cyberspace. Story and photos by TONY KANT secret of Ogden’s company — 21st Century Media Communications. With the help of 20-year-old computer whiz - Jim Semenick, Ogden uses satellite dishes and video recording equipment to track approximately 200 television channels and 2,500 computer data bas- es. He’s always on the lookout for the latest technological changes. He, in turn, sells data to a growing list of clients, among them cor- porations and indi- viduals such as Ed- gar Kaiser. In short, it’s a video clipping service and an electronic li- brary. Ogden also acts as consultant to companies and countries setting up satellite and communications sys- tems. His base of operations is a blue peanut-shaped houseboat parked on the Vancouver waterfront near Cana- da Place. Ogden has had what you might call a checkered career. Born in Toronto in 1921 but raised in the U.S., Ogden re- a4 ceived his high school education in Pennsylvania. He served six years in the Royal Canadi- an Air Force. He flew airplanes after WW11 then heli- copters in the far north. He has sold airplanes, real es- tate, and housewares. In the ’60s he joined a team of therapists researching LSD; helped found Canada’s first think tank; taught at the Ontario College of Art; managed a radio station in Montreal FRONT PAGE: Around the world communication at the push of a button is already here. It will just get easier and Cheaper, says Frank Ogden, also known as Dr. Tomormow. Ogden is pictured on the front cover in front of a scan of his brain supplied by the University of British Columbia’s TRIUMF program. If they take advantage of the latest technology, they re going to profit . . they don’t, theyll be victimized. and started that city’s first progres- sive rock station. Before starting his electronic media service, Ogden worked for a company planning to develop a destination re- sort on Grouse Mountain. He got involved in that project while on a visit to Vancouver after an appear- ance on the Joday Show in the U.S. where he was interviewed by Barbara Walters. Strangely enough, the topic of the segment was Ogden’s participa- tion in a primitive purification by fire ceremony in Haiti where he stud- ied “non-verbal communication” from 1969 to 1974. A connection between the jungle to the world of hi-tech communication might seem tenuous at best, but for Ogden, there’s no problem making the mental connection. “T try to keep one foot in the jungle and one in hi-tech,” says Ogden who claims to have received his insights into computers “from a stone age chieftain in the Papua, New Guinea rainforest. The Grouse Mountain resort didn’t pan out but Ogden found himself liking the West Coast. He decided to stay. His idea for an electronic moni- toring service came to him one day while he was watching television. He asked himself why he shouldn't get paid to watch television then realized that businessmen who couldn’t afford the time to watch might pay for information he picked up from the air waves. He was right and the idea blossomed into a lucrative business. “What got me into this was the fact that we have institutes and all kinds of schools teaching where we've been but we didn’t have anybody looking through the front window. Everyone's gazing through the rear-view mirror. Tm not interested in the known, I’m interested in the unknown.” Information is more than an indus- try, says Ogden “It’s a whole global movement.” Along with the gathering and dis- pensing of all that information a certain amount of showmanship is required. Ogden is no slouch with the turn of a phrase. He understands how the media works and has become a master of manipulation. He speaks in eminently quotable quotes, some- times designed to shock, but deliv- ered in an almost deadpan, matter of fact way. Ogden’s visions of the future, based on what he’s seeing in his travels be- tween satellite re- ceiving dishes, are sometimes contro- versial, also “far out” and sometimes shocking. He makes no apologies. He says he’s “amoral.” He prefers not to worry about whether what he is passing on to the masses is good or bad from a Continued on Page 14 lf )?