By Stephen Dupont
More than 20 current and former Houston Foresight students and instructors participated in the Association of Professional Futurists recent 20th Anniversary event conducted in Washington D.C.
The three-day event, which attracted 57 participants from around the world, focused on the theme of “Futures of Emerging Technologies and Governance Models.” The event included a number of panel discussions addressing Artificial intelligence governance, emerging technology trends, and national and global trends, which served as platforms for the participants to riff in open space ideation sessions.
The event included a handful of Little Bigs presentations, where individuals shared 5-minute presentations on their recent work. Topics covered included wave theory and its relationship to stock market forecasting, the future of purging one’s home belongings, and most common tropes in science fiction books, movies and TV shows.
The group also entertained themselves with a stand-up improv session where participants created skits based on some common foresight consultant-client situations.
On Sunday morning, Peter Bishop, supported by other long-time APF members, shared the history about the founding the APF, which led to an open ideation session about the future of futures and the future of the APF. A number of interesting ideas were generated, which will be used by APF leadership in developing a three-year strategic plan. Shermon Cruz (Philippines), the current chair of the APF, and Tanja Schindler (Germany), the vice-chair of the APF, attended the conference, along with several current board members.
Many thanks to Christian Crews, Jillian Humphreys, Travis Kupp, and Peter Bishop for organizing this very informative event that brought together members of the professional futurist community.
