Workshops

WORKSHOPS

Explore futures you'd like to see, then develop pathways to get from here to there.

Approach

Workshop and co-design content is dependent on where the participants are starting from and the goals of the convening, and generally aims to:

increase awareness of various stakeholders and influences,
increase the sense of hope and agency around potential futures,
improve the group's ability to steer towards desired outcomes.

Process

Imagining futures, considering implications, and creating pathways forward.

futures & foresight
scenario planning
visioning
theory of change

Envision

Understanding the context, challenges, and stakeholders through emergent processes.

participatory convenings
problem mapping
relationship mapping
data synthesis

Align

Influencing change through design, storytelling, and facilitating next steps alongside other partners.

implementation support
visual design & creative direction
summary reports
presentations

Generate

Formats

several topics or methods
multiple sessions
1–2 hours per workshop
overarching agenda set in advance
optional summary report

Workshop Series

single topic or method
single session
1–hour to full–day
full agenda set in advance

Single Workshop

preparatory sessions with client and 6–12 co-design sessions
1–2 hours per session
overarching process set, with strategy and session agendas adapting throughout
summary report
implementation support

Co-Design Convening

Past Workshops

Individual & Collective Meandering

What does it mean to have our attention diverted and consumed? What if individual and collective time for 'flow' is valued and prioritized in society?

Participants applied a futures wheel in combination with a STEEPLE analysis (+ education) to amplify and reveal potential impacts and implications of a scenario in which flow is a central value in society.

Re-Envisioning Public Education

What are the needs of childhood and adulthood? What roles do schools play in the lives of students, caregivers, communities, and our society?

Parents, caregivers, and educators came together to re-imagine public schools for the modern day.

The evening resulted in hopeful What Ifs turned into Future Truths, which groups surrounded with visions of what these futures could look and feel like in the year 2040.

Envisioning Impact-Driven Futures

How effective are your mission, vision, and values? How do you know whether you're moving in the right direction?

This workshop for impact-driven brands and businesses spoke to the importance of long-term thinking in implementing their missions and visions.

Using problem statements, vision statements, and backcasting, they practiced creating pathways to guide them towards preferable futures over time.

Participatory Values Assessment

How does an organization adapt to changing values in its community?

We collaborated on a series of participatory engagements to help an organization review and revise its mission and vision after realizing the need to prioritize different community values.

Exploring historical and present contexts helped inform how they might shift their practices and offerings to better serve their community.

Backcasting to Explore Different Futures

How do leaders of higher education understand students' needs, now and in our changing future?

This session introduced futuring methods to leadership and administrative staff from colleges and universities in order to better support student populations. We focused on envisioning desirable and undesirable futures, then worked backwards to determine possible steps needed to make preferable futures into reality.

Futures Wind-Tunneling

How can you quickly test an initiative prior to broader implementation?

We tested a governmental circular economy initiative using a futuring "wind tunnel" exercise. Exploring present and hypothetical future contexts allowed participants to assess and consider potential implications, gaps, and adjustments needed before the initial launch. This allowed them to think beyond immediate needs, and incorporate things outside of initial considerations.