Trend conferences are all the rage these days. For those of you who have never attended one, this is an event in which corporate managers gather together their colleagues, their customers, and assorted media types willing to work the rubber-chicken circuit. During the course of a day or two, you’ll hear lots of profound pronouncements, enjoy a few laughs, and, usually, suffer through a “Kumbaya” moment or two. Silicon Valley alone probably cranks out 10 or 15 of these things a month.

I’m not saying that trend conferences are bad, necessarily... many are good, and most if not all leave you with something of value to take home. It’s just that, after a while, they all seem very, very similar.

Then there’s Go Further with Ford.

What makes Ford Motor Co.’s annual trend conference, which I attended earlier this week, so different? There are many reasons, but three in particular stand out:

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