Want to predict the future? World-renowned futurist Amy Webb has the key and wants to help you unlock an incredible superpower she calls “re-perception." Announcing the Future Today Institute's multi-day Foresight Master Class at SXSW 2024 exclusively for registrants!
Since 2006, the Future Today Institute (FTI) team of strategic foresight experts have been advising the world's leading businesses, governments, and entertainment companies. At the FTI helm is founder and CEO Amy Webb.
Webb is a sought-after advisor to Fortune 100 companies, using her master-level knowledge to provide strategic foresight on the emerging tech and trends that will turn industries on their heads and transform every aspect of our lives. Together with her colleagues at the Future Today Institute, she identifies threats, white spaces, and opportunities early enough for action.
"You need to use trends to help you re-perceive the future. And to do that we create strategic scenarios which bring together facts and perception. To help you see alternatives and to help you influence the future so it doesn’t just show up." – Amy Webb at SXSW 2023
The Future Today Institute (FTI) will adapt its proprietary Foresight Master Class offerings into a four-session continuing education course at SXSW 2024. During this exclusive multi-day opportunity, attendees will learn FTI’s methodology and at the end be able to say they have basic foresight skills. SXSW registrants who attend at least the first three of the four sessions will receive a certificate from FTI and SXSW credentialing their participation in Foresight Master Classes.
Sessions will be held March 9–12 during the 2024 SXSW Conference, with the final session on Tuesday, March 12 led by Webb and FTI Managing Director Melanie Subin. Attendees will need to stay at least through Monday, March 11 and attend the first three sessions in order to qualify for the certificate.
Don't miss this incredible professional development opportunity to hear from the leading voices of all things tech- and future-related, while securing a Future Today Institute certificate of course completion.
Learn more about the four sessions below and add them to your SXSW Schedule today. Session location and time information will be added later in the season and will automatically update on the Schedule listings.
Strategic Foresight 101
Saturday, March 9
Organizations face an unprecedented pace of technological change. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and other fields are accelerating exponentially. As these once-disparate technologies converge, organizations that fail to monitor closely, connect the dots, and proactively adapt may find themselves caught off guard seemingly overnight. Organizations wedded to the status quo won’t survive the shake up. It’s time to recognize threats and identify opportunities before it’s too late.
Led by Future Today Institute Senior Manager Mark Bryan, attendees will learn about the origin of strategic foresight and the various models and methodologies that make up modern strategic foresight practices. This class will provide an overview of the strategic foresight practice and example business cases. Attendees will leave with an understanding of what foresight is, where it came from, and how to apply it.
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Factors Influencing the Future
Sunday, March 10
How do you separate helpful signals from hyped-up noise? We will teach you how to spot important clues that point to the future and tell the difference between trends and trendy. We’ll equip you with practical tools to cut through the clutter, validate what matters, and read critical signals to gain an advantage in your industry.
Led by Future Today Institute Director Nick Bartlett, attendees will be introduced to FTI methodologies that help them explore factors that are influencing the future – namely, signals and trends. Attendees will walk through FTI’s frameworks for finding signals and validating trends. They’ll also gain access to our secret sauce: deep insights into how we identify the trends for our trend report.
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"What If" Scenarios
Monday, March 11
Understand what is plausible so you can build what is desirable. In this session, we will show you how to prototype multiple scenarios that could realistically play out in your industry. Scenarios are narratives that ask "what if" using data and evidence. Creating these narratives will help you answer critical strategic questions: Who could be the winners and losers in various futures? What might we gain or lose in different versions of the future? Where can we play and win given different possibilities? What is our preferred future and how do we make it happen?
Led by FTI Manager of Consulting Sam Jordan, attendees will be introduced to FTI methodologies that help them explore multiple plausible futures – uncertainties and scenarios. Attendees will learn how to identify uncertainties, how to conduct axes of uncertainty, scenario archetypes and approaches, and how to build a scenario.
Add to Your Schedule (AM Session)
Add to Your Schedule (PM Session)
Exploring Your Organization’s Futures
Tuesday, March 12
Strategic foresight shows you where to play in the future, how to win, and – importantly – how to build resiliency in the wake of unstoppable external forces of change. In this strategic impacts session, we will link foresight to strategy. We’ll show you what it takes to navigate potential futures within your organization, so that your scenarios deliver impact for both your team and your senior executives. We will explain how to use scenarios to identify opportunities and threats, and how to strategize to bridge capability gaps. By the end of the session, you will learn how to pressure test scenarios, how to prioritize scenario implications, and how to backcast to action.
Led by Future Today Institute CEO Amy Webb and FTI Managing Director Melanie Subin, you’ll leave SXSW knowing what to do with trends and scenarios back at home.
Join Us at SXSW 2024
To access this exciting career development opportunity as well as Conference programming across 24 tracks and beyond, register for SXSW 2024 today! Get ready to explore the convergence of the tech, film, television, and music industries across a variety of programming formats and special events from March 8-16 in Austin, TX.
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