“If you don't share your ideas, then we as a collective and by this, I mean, humanity, we don't get to benefit from your ideas and your visions.”
In this podcast episode of How To Write the Future, your host, creativity coach and science fiction and fantasy novelist Beth Barany, shares insight about upcoming events from the world of futurists and strategic foresight, including how you can attend. She invites listeners to share their positive “What If” future scenarios that can be featured in later podcast episodes.
TAKE ACTION
If you know of upcoming events or want me to include your event in an upcoming episode then, leave me a message at howtowritethefuture.com.
GET WRITING
Take an action to design your future today: a story, a journal entry, a what-if conversation with your best friend about your positive futures.
RESOURCES
Share your What-if scenario here: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#contact
“What-If and Your Brain” Ep. 18: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012061/11642588-18-what-if-and-your-brain
December 2022, the Foresight Institute Vision Weekend event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vision-weekend-us-2022-tickets-422715482387
January 2023, the School for International Futures. Strategic Foresight Training : https://soif.org.uk/our-work/training-and-retreats/strategic-foresight-training/
March 12, 2023, there will be a day-long event in Sacramento, California, sponsored by California 100: https://california100.org/
March 2023, Amy Webb at SXSW FTI’s annual Tech Trends report: https://amywebb.io/event/public-event-sxsw-2023/
IFTF: Futures Thinking on Coursera: https://www.iftf.org/foresightessentials/for-individuals/futuresthinking-coursera/
ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCAST
The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. Tips for fiction writers!
This podcast is for you if you have questions like:
- How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?
- How do I figure out what's not working if my story feels flat?
- How do I make my story more interesting and alive?
This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.
Beth Barany is an award-winning novelist, certified creativity coach for writers, and a workshop facilitator.
- SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
- SHOW NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
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CONNECT
Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580
Email: beth@bethbarany.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbarany/
CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465
19. News and Updates from the World Of Futurists and Strategic Foresight Practitioners
BETH BARANY 00:14
If you would like to get some promotion for you and your books, and you have some fun quirky interesting wacky potential positive future scenarios to share with us, I would love to hear it.
And I've created an opportunity for you to share it in a 60-second message or less with me. And with all the listeners of this podcast.
If you're up for that and you want to play, all you need to do is go to speakpipe.com/HowToWriteTheFuture to leave a message have up to 60 seconds, and you will get featured on a future episode of How to Write The Future.
PODCAST WELCOME
BETH BARANY 01:01
Hi everyone. Welcome to our next episode of How to Write the Future. This is a podcast for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to create optimistic stories because when we vision what is possible, we help make it so.
I'm your host, Beth Barany. I am a science fiction and fantasy writer myself and a creativity coach, focusing on helping science fiction and fantasy authors with their stories.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE?
BETH BARANY 01:28
INTRODUCTION
Hello creatives. This week I have something new for you that I may I do on a regular basis, and that is to share news and updates in the world of foresight and futurists.
You look into the future and you want to know what will happen.
But nobody can know the future for sure. Nevertheless, you can certainly practice, envision and rehearse different scenarios.
In essence, that's what stories are all about-- rehearsing through living a story about what could happen, what might happen, what you would do if faced with this or that circumstance, or a situation or problem or dilemma or opportunity.
There are a lot of ways you can flex this imagination muscle.
Storytelling and story writing are my jam.
Of course as a reader, you can read other people's stories. You can watch them. And you can imagine them yourself, like in a daydream.
You can also meet with and talk with other people who are doing these imaginings for themselves and for others.
WHAT-IF - THE POWER TOOL OF THE IMAGINATION
What-if is one of my favorite power tools of the imagination. And I talked about in a previous episode. Be sure to check out that episode in the show notes.
What-if gets your attention focused on what could be.
And for the purposes of this podcast, we're focusing on the positive, and on opportunities on what we can create.
So I have some questions for you.
What if you could create the kinds of stories you wanted to?
What if you could arrange your daily schedule so that you could work on your creative life at your peak energy times?
And what if you fed your imagination with exactly what it needed to help you create the stories you wanted to create?
I'd like to hear from you. What are your story or real life positive what-ifs?
Please leave me a message in audio or written form at HowToWriteTheFuture.Com because I would love to I would love to feature your what- ifs and an upcoming HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE episode.
Why is it important that we share our positive futures with each other? Our positive, what ifs?
Well, when creative individuals inject their ideas into the collective, we give the collective, the community that people were around, the people who will pay attention to our work, we give them an opportunity for the group to evolve and change. If you don't share your ideas, then we as a collective and by this, I mean, humanity, we don't get to benefit from your ideas and your visions. And that really would be a shame. Because we are all part of this human group.
Everyone here deserves to have a voice. And everyone here deserves to have a hand in deciding our own future and that future of the future generations.
UPCOMING FUTURISTIST AND FORESIGHT EVENTS
So, as I said, uh, this week, I want to talk about some upcoming events and trainings that, uh, futurists and foresight practitioners pay attention to and may find quite interesting. When you gather together in a group online or in person, you can find connection. You can find community, you can see that there are others in this positive future space. You can learn and grow and evolve and have an opportunity to inject your ideas uh, into the communities that you're a part of.
So here we go.
Here are some upcoming events.
In December, this coming December, The Foresight Institute will be running their Vision Weekend event, wnd I'm actually going to It. One of them is in the San Francisco Bay Area. That's where I will be and it is going to be a weekend of discussions and presentations around biotech, nanotech, neurotech, space tech, computer science, and existential hope. There's going to be festivities, conversations, hopefully cross pollination, and some art showings and demos.
The link to this event put on by the Foresight Institute, for their Vision Weekend event is in the show notes.
In January, January 2023, the School For International Futures will be running a training program for those who want to get training in strategic foresight. It's an online virtual course. It is definitely for people who want to learn strategic foresight to build future fit organizations. It is designed for people who work in strategy policy, leadership, and analysis roles in governments, NGOs, international organizations, and businesses. There are only 20 places available for this eight week virtual course, and it can work around your existing work commitments, and takes about 30 hours of course time. I have put a link to this training program in the show notes and if you've been paying attention to my podcast from the beginning, you know, I did a retreat with the School For International futures this past summer. And I highly recommend them.
The next event I want to put your attention to is something that I look forward to every year. This event will be in March, 2023, and it will be Amy Webb's presentation at South By Southwest. She uses this presentation to release her annual report, um, put out by her organization called a Future Today Institute. And every year she releases an Annual Tech Trends Report. I've watched for about the last six years, uh, on YouTube. It's fabulous. So check out a link to the show notes to Amy Webb's presentation at South By Southwest in March of 2023. And you can sign up at her website to get notified, to see their Annual Tech Trends Report, which has this amazing 600 page report. Of course, it's digital, it's fabulous.
There is another uh, March event, which is going to be happening March 12th, 2023. We'll be a day-long event in Sacramento, California, sponsored by California 100, a California nonprofit, working with groups and organizations to shape the next 100 years in California. This will be a youth oriented event, helping young people envision their own future and the future for California. California 100 is a transformative statewide initiative focused on inspiring a vision and strategy for California's next century that is innovative, sustainable, and equitable. The initiative is incubated at the University of California and Stanford. And it's guided by an expert in intergenerational commission. And I hope to be there taking part in this event. So again, the note for the California 100 youth summit on March 12th, 2023 will be in the show notes.
Now, lastly, I want to call your attention to an online course that you can take at any time and I've actually signed up It's the Institute for the Futures course on Coursera called Futures Thinking. You can audit the course for free. And check it out if you're interested in learning more about futures thinking. The description says, "Ready yourself for a changing world. Learn the skills and mindsets of the world's top futurists. So you can forecast what's coming, imagine new possibilities, and seize control of your future."
So that's it for today's news in the world of futurists and strategic foresight. If you know of any upcoming events or want me to include your event in an upcoming episode, then leave me a message at HowToWriteTheFuture.com.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
If you'd like to take some action today, here's what I recommend:
Write a story or a journal entry or have a what-if conversation with your best friend about your positive futures. Because when we vision what is possible, we help make it so.
WHAT-IF OUTRO
If you would like to get some promotion for you and your books, and you have some fun quirky interesting wacky potential positive future scenarios to share with us, I would love to hear it.
And I've created an opportunity for you to share it in a 60-second message or less with me. And with all the listeners of this podcast.
If you're up for that and you want to play, all you need to do is go to speakpipe.com/HowToWriteTheFuture to leave a message have up to 60 seconds. And you will get featured on a future episode of How to Write The Future.