In this episode of The Global Discussion, host Simon Hodgkins catches up with Alistair Croll, Founder and Content Chair of Fwd50, Canada's digital government conference, which asks how we use technology to make society better for all Canadians. What can we change in 50 days, 50 months, and even 50 years? Alistair is not just an entrepreneur; he's a visionary. With a passion for understanding how organizations, regardless of size, can harness data for better decision-making, Alistair has dedicated his life to the intersection of technology, data, and entrepreneurship. His fascination lies in the intriguing dance that ensues when the "rubber of technology meets the road of humanity." Having spent most of his life in the tech realm, Alistair's journey as a product manager is inspiring. He's been at the forefront of launching six major conferences that have shaped the tech landscape. His voice and insights have also graced stages at renowned conferences like Le Web, Web2Expo, IGT, Velocity, Lean UX, Enterprise 2.0, Mesh, and eMetrics. Alistair's prowess isn't limited to organizing events and speaking. He's penned three influential books on technology and entrepreneurship: Lean Analytics: A guide for startup founders and intrapreneurs, emphasizing the "One Metric That Matters" to a business. Complete Web Monitoring: A comprehensive manual covering every facet of web presence. Managing Bandwidth: A deep dive into building and managing effective networks. His upcoming book, co-authored with Emily Ross, titled "Just Evil Enough," promises to be a subversive marketing playbook for the attention economy. Alistair also shares a personal story during the discussion about his parents and how he thinks about life in three stages. "My father, if you think about life, there's a period of time where you take off. There's a period of time where you fly, and there's a period of time where you land the plane. This is a normal human life. You kind of learn things. You have your career, and then you hopefully retire comfortably, and so on. I never saw my father land the plane. He only ever flew up into the right until he died one day on a racketball court with five jobs and 20-something books under his belt, having changed the face of a disease that ravages billions of people, big shoes to fill. But also, I never saw him land. I never saw my Mom and Dad plan their retirement, figure out which skills and which hobbies they wanted to take with them into older life." Join us on this episode about events, conferences, books, technology, and life with Alistair Croll. About The Global Discussion: The podcast features carefully curated guests from an exciting cross-section of creatives, leaders, and thinkers. New episodes are available on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcasts and several leading podcast platforms. You can listen to and watch the episodes on our dedicated YouTube channel and the website.  Watch or listen to The Global Discussion https://www.theglobaldiscussion.com Audio Podcast: Spotify | Google | Apple Video Podcast: https://www.theglobaldiscussion.com YouTube: https://bit.ly/TGD-YouTube Follow us on Social Media