This activity invites participants to look for weak signals, which are early signs of change that may shape the future. It helps build awareness of emerging trends, stimulates curiosity and encourages participants to notice what’s happening at the edges of the present.
A creative warm-up and visioning exercise that invites participants to imagine a future world or situation and describe what it feels like to be there. This approach helps surface early assumptions, hopes, and curiosities, while gently introducing the idea that the future can be imagined and shaped.
Notice threads in the present that if tugged on might unravel a more attractive future. Identify how the hints of a more ideal future are present, just not widely distributed yet. Participants can notice small changes, support structures, and local success patterns that have the potential to be scaled up to a global transformation. This includes surfacing strategies to overcome resistance and methods to spread early successes. Future~Present does not produce a plan to be implemented but rather builds momentum, imagination, social proof, and confidence in subtle or incremental signals. This builds capacity to actively shape next steps and pounce on opportunities.
Named after futurist Fred Polak, this reflective exercise asks participants to consider how they see the future, whether it’s bright or bleak, and how those images shape the present. It helps surface underlying assumptions and emotional responses to change.
