The Foresight Spectrum is heading to the Dubai Future Forum!
...and we're bringing a few surprises with us for you.
We’re thrilled to be part of this year’s gathering of futurists, strategists, and changemakers at the Dubai Future Forum. If you’ll be there, come say hi to us, Sabrina or Deborah — we’ll be sharing postcards and bookmarks featuring The Foresight Spectrum: Roles & Enablers. They’re a fun, visual way to spark conversation about how you practice foresight and what roles you most identify with.
A special and HUGE thank you to a friend and Foresight Spectrum supporter, Kempe Scanlan. He used his eye for design and colour, as well as fashion / apparel experience, to design and create our bookmark collection.
Sparking a Spectrum Conversation
Here are some questions you can use with the Spectrum (and these artifacts) to explore and spark conversation at the Forum:
“Which role or enabler do you feel like you’re carrying most today—in your work, in this space, etc.?” OR “Which of these feels most like you right now—and why?”
“Which one do you think you want to develop or show up in more?”
“Which one do people mistake you for—but it’s not actually what you do?”
“Which of these have you had to defend, explain, or fight for in your organization?”
“What do you wish people understood about how you show up in this work?”
These are some conversation starters to create a shared entry point, and a way to maybe avoid the “what do you do?” rut.
Connecting Across the Foresight Spectrum
Another idea we had was using the Foresight Spectrum to help learn about others in the Forum community with questions such as: “Who’s someone you know who shows up strongly in this role?”, if there is a specific role / enabler that you play and want to make connections with others, or a role / enabler that you are curious about. Think of it as a way to find and recommend other amazing participants that you know or have encountered.
Or an activity might be…
Each person places a finger on two roles or enablers they resonate with—either intuitively or based on current work.
Then they tell a short story:
“Here’s what it looks like when I play the [Role A] and [Role B] combo.”
“Here’s a moment I realized one was invisible, but vital.”
Then, you might then ask:
“How does your mix shift depending on who you’re with?”
“Is there a role you didn’t pick—but you often get asked to play?”
Designing your Foresight Spectrum
We are continuing to curate inspiration on ways to represent the diversity of foresight practitioners too, VISUALLY. So, inspired by the below poster, when you grab a postcard or bookmark, we might ask you to indicate your Roles and Enablers so that we can turn it into your own colour blend. (Or, if you want, circle your roles and enablers and post a pic with yourself below!) We’d love as many people as possible to participate in this creative endeavour!
Join Sabrina’s DFF talk
For those of you who have asked us how you can connect with us at the Forum, we’ll be available and mingling throughout the days and look forward to connecting with you!
One sure way to meet us is at the session Sabrina will be moderating: “Unsure AI: Can Intelligence Thrive Without Certainty?” on November 19 from 1:40 PM to 2:30 PM (AT). It promises to be a fascinating discussion on how uncertainty and intelligence intersect — a topic at the very heart of foresight work.
Reflecting Forward
So, as we pack our notebooks and get ready for the conference, we’d love to hear from you:
What does your foresight journey look like?
Which role on the spectrum feels most like you?
To make it easy to connect with others, drop your name and foresight role in the comments below. We’ll all keep our eyes out for you. We hope it will turn into a mini networking mixer for the forum — a place to discover others who think like you (or completely differently).
Coming Up Next…
In the coming weeks, we’ll be diving deeper into the impact and value of foresight, and exploring the many educational pathways that lead people into the field. But for this week, as we prepare for Dubai, we’re taking a moment to pause and reflect on what connects us as a community: curiosity, imagination, and a shared commitment to shaping better futures.
We’ll continue posting once we’re back, no doubt fuelled by the insights and stories you share with us at the Forum.
See you in Dubai!
See you there! (Isabel Serval) flying in from London. Can't wait :)