Shift happens

On Monday, presentation-sharing website SlideShare.net announced the winners of its World’s Best Presentation Contest. The 1st-place winner is Shift Happens, a startling slideshow about how economic globalization, demographics, and rapid technological changes are shifting the status quo of our world. If the change excites you in the way it enthuses Thomas Friedman, you’ll probably enjoy this presentation. If you’re worried about offshoring and the rise of India and China, it will scare you further. (After all, “shift happens” isn’t nearly as exciting if the shift happens to you.) Some interesting tidbits from the presentation:

• If every job in the United States were sent to China, the Middle Kingdom would still have a shortage of jobs.
• If MySpace were a country, it would be the 11th largest (between Japan and Mexico). 
• China will soon be the number one English-speaking country in the world.
• The top 10 in-demand jobs in the United States in 2010 will not have existed in 2004.

I encourage you to view this winning presentation, but please keep in mind my disclaimer: I haven’t personally verified the accuracy of every fact in this presentation, so feel welcome to doubt it. The creator of the presentation’s content, Karl Fisch, does link to his sources on his blog, though.

Editor’s note: This post originally credited Fisch as the “creator of the presentation.” It was actually authored by Fisch and then spruced up by Jeff Brenman and submitted to the contest, with Fisch’s permission.