This year for the World Futurists conference we went to Minneapolis. As this was my first conference I was a little nervous but really I didn't know what to expect. When I got to the Hilton it was a little overwhelming as everything was so big. Also I had never seen escalators in a hotel so I thought that was really cool.
There was some great material that was given and I learnt loads about what a “Futurist” means, like you have to know loads about everything even if you don’t do much work on it. Also how you need an opinion on most things and to be able to back that opinion up with evidence.
I started off with a pre conference course of Futuring: An Introduction to the Study of the Future by Peter Bishop. I found this really useful as there were some points where I had to speak and talk about why I thought something. Also something that is quite good to learn is that 9 out of 10 times a forecast is wrong.
In a way the conference was quite a blur as it went so quickly but one talk that stuck in my mind was Future Flow by Derek Woodgate. It really made me think about what most people must think of the future and how it is always bleak. It made me think that if many people take a step back and are less pessimistic then the world can become a much happier place. Especially, I think, in schools.
My dad did a few presentations so I went and helped him for these (being his slide girl) I think they went really well but I wasn’t always concentrating a lot as I was working. Overall I think the conference went really well and I am looking forward to next year in Washington.
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