Watch: 11-year-old girl gives opening keynote at TNW Conference

The opening ceremony for TNW Conference has become a bit of a competition. Each year, we try to outdo ourselves with mind-blowing visuals, meticulously designed stages and loud, explosive performances.

11 annual, ever-growing editions later, however, and it’s become increasingly more difficult and elaborate to achieve the same sense of awe. But then we found Josephine.

Josephine is 11 years old. She’s an inspiring reminder that it isn’t just technology that advances at an alarming rate over the course of a decade – we do, too. We invited her on stage because it’s easy to get lost in the bubble of technology and forget about the ways in which human needs can change. Indeed, it’s easy to forget about the ways in which people themselves can change, too.

Or as 11-year-old Josephine puts it:

I’m going to be your customer, your critic, your opponent, your competitor.
I’ll be your enemy, your biggest fan and the person paying your bills.
I’m the one that will help you out when you’re in trouble and I’m the one who will suffer from the world’s problems, or I will fix them.

Don’t forget that when you imagine your company in ten-years time, it won’t just be the technology that has changed dramatically. Your customers, critics, opponents and competitors will have changed too.

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Catch more keynotes from TNW Europe 2016 here.