Making Futures Happen w/ Phil Balagtas
Making Futures Work: Book & What's Next
What if futures thinking wasn’t abstract, intimidating, or reserved for specialists — but something anyone could use to make better decisions today?
Join us for a special event with Phil Balagtas, author of Making Futures Work — a practical, highly accessible toolkit for designers, strategists, leaders, and change-makers. The book brings together Strategic Foresight, Design Futures, and Strategic Planning into a clear framework designed for real-world use.
In this session, Phil will share the thinking behind the book, why futures work often fails to land in organisations, and how his framework helps bridge the gap between long-term possibility and day-to-day action. You’ll also hear a brief update on the Design Futures Initiative, and get a sneak peek into the next evolution of the community and where it’s heading next.
Whether you’re new to futures thinking or already working in strategy, design, policy, or leadership, this event offers inspiration, clarity, and practical insight into how futures can truly work.
About the speaker: Phil Balagtas, Designer. Futurist. Strategist
Phil is a design leader based in Barcelona, Spain. He has over 20 years of experience designing digital products, services and strategies for a variety of devices and platforms for business operations (B2B) and customer-centric (B2C) solutions. Within the last decade he has served as Design Director for General Electric’s Digital Aviation group and an Experience Design Director at McKinsey & Company working across industries such as airlines, retail, hospitality, utilities, oil and gas, transportation, nonprofits and government institutions. As a thought leader, facilitator, and design and futures expert, he has worked closely with Fortune 500 companies to transform their operations, enhance their digital services, and build more innovative and responsible products for the future.
He is also the founder of the Design Futures Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement and education of Futures Thinking and a global community of chapters. Today he is a professor of research and Futures Thinking at Elisava University in Barcelona for the Masters in Innovation and Design program. He also leads his own Futures Thinking consulting and training firm called HABITAT working with public and private sector organizations.
Democratising Futures (Thinking) w/ Mathias Behn Bjørnhof
Democratising Futures (Thinking): Why It Matters — and How to Do It
Futures thinking is often treated as a specialist capability — held by experts, consultants, or senior leaders. But in a world shaped by accelerating change, complexity, and uncertainty, the future affects everyone — and should be shaped by many.
This webinar explores why futures thinking must be democratised, and what it actually takes to make it usable, participatory, and decision-relevant across organisations and communities.
We’ll unpack the risks of futures work that stays locked in strategy decks or leadership off-sites, and contrast this with approaches that meaningfully engage staff, communities, and stakeholders in imagining, questioning, and shaping possible futures. Drawing on real-world practice, we’ll share practical tools, mindsets, and methods for embedding futures thinking into everyday decision-making — without needing to be a “futures expert”.
Whether you work in government, community, design, strategy, or social impact, this session is for anyone curious about:
Why participation and power matter in futures work
How to move futures from abstract speculation to practical action
Ways to build shared foresight, agency, and long-term thinking at all levels
Expect a clear, accessible introduction, grounded examples, and space for reflection and dialogue — designed to help you bring futures thinking into the hands of many, not the few.
About the speaker: Mathias Behn Bjørnhof, Futurist & Founder
Leading global foresight strategist who empowers organisations and individuals to navigate uncertain futures, successfully guiding Fortune 500, international institutions, and SMEs to become futures ready.
Expert in analysing trends and uncertainty, identifying emerging opportunities, crafting futures scenarios and guiding businesses towards transformative strategies
Main expertise across tech & innovation, culture & consumers, energy & sustainability, and democracy & governance domains.
Experienced teacher within strategic foresight, scenario planning and futures-driven innovation, helping leaders and strategists learn how to anticipate disruptive shifts
Prior to founding ANTICIPATE, Mathias spent 5 years consulting at the world-renowned futures think tank Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. Also, associated consultant with Earthshine Group (transformative sustainability consultancy)
Academic background within Organisational Innovation & Entrepreneurship with focus on sustainability and strategy + Business, Languages (Spanish & English) and Cultural Studies from Copenhagen Business School.
Futures EOY Gathering 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
Futures CoP 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
The Future of Museums: Exploring New Stories for Cultural Institutions in Aotearoa
Museums are changing - fast. Funding pressures, repatriation, new tech, community expectations, youth engagement, infrastructure… it’s a lot. Instead of debating surface-level issues, this energetic session teaches you a futures method (CLA) and helps you use it on the spot to explore new possibilities for museums in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Futures CoP 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
Futures CoP 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
Futures CoP 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
Futures CoP 2025
🌟 Join Our Foresight & Futures Thinking Community of Practice across Aotearoa New Zealand! 🌍
Join us on the first Friday of each month (10-11 am, online) for a space where you can:
💡 Pose thought-provoking questions
📚 Share insights and resources
🤝 Connect with like-minded, future-focused individuals
🛠️ Listen to and practice The Futures Workshop tools
⏳ Explore and apply Long-Term Thinking
🔮 Dive deeper into foresight and futures thinking
Let’s continue shaping the future—together! 🚀
We would love to see you there.
Dubai Futures Forum (2024) reflections with Victoria Mulligan, Alice Dimond & Cheryl Doig
Join the Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 's co-founder Victoria Mulligan, Alice Dimond from Tokona te Raki and Dr. Cheryl Doig (a.k.a #FuturesAunty) in this FREE virtual event, where they share and reflect on their experiences from attending, participating and leading sessions at the Dubai Futures Forum 2024.
Whether you're a seasoned innovator or just starting out as a futures enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to engage and learn from a team of Aotearoa New Zealand's leading futurists.
Futures (CoP) Community of Practice - Nov 2024
Would you like to be part of a Futures thinking Community of Practice (CoP)?
On the first Friday of each month (Sep, Oct, Nov 2024, 10-11am) we’ll host an online CoP where participants can pose questions, share resources, connect with like-minded future focused individuals and engage in deeper conversations on futures thinking.
Futures (CoP) Community of Practice - Oct 2024
Would you like to be part of a Futures thinking Community of Practice (CoP)?
On the first Friday of each month (Sep, Oct, Nov 2024, 10-11am) we’ll host an online CoP where participants can pose questions, share resources, connect with like-minded future focused individuals and engage in deeper conversations on futures thinking.
Futures (CoP) Community of Practice - Sep 2024
Would you like to be part of a Futures thinking Community of Practice (CoP)?
On the first Friday of each month (Sep, Oct, Nov 2024, 10-11am) we’ll host an online CoP where participants can pose questions, share resources, connect with like-minded future focused individuals and engage in deeper conversations on futures thinking.
Experiential Futures with Roger Dennis
Experiential Futures for Strategy and Innovation with Roger Dennis:
This learning intensive will strengthen your approach to strategy and innovation by incorporating experiential futures into your professional toolkit. Drawing on the wildly successful ‘showcase engagement workshops’ which drew international attention and connected thousands of people to the Canterbury Health System’s vision and purpose, Roger will share how successive leaders of the Canterbury’s District Health Board embraced futures and foresight to transform a ‘broken system’ to a world-leading one.
There is an appealing simplicity about what the Canterbury health service has done. The starting place was talking with the staff. Mock-ups of healthcare settings were built in a warehouse and groups of staff walked through them to stimulate thinking on solutions for the many challenges they faced in an under-performing system. It was supposed to last a fortnight and involve about 400 people; it eventually ran for six weeks and more than 2,000 people turned up.
Futures Thinking and Strategy Transformation masterclass
Join us for a transformative executive foresight workshop, "Futures Thinking and Strategy Transformation," led by futurists Professor Sohail Inayatullah and Dr. Ivana Milojevic.
This hands-on workshop is designed to enhance long-range planning and strategic foresight for managers and leaders. Participants will explore advanced futures methodological tools, including the futures triangle, causal layered analysis, macro and micro scenarios, visioning, and backcasting.
Through interactive sessions and case studies, attendees will clarify emerging trends, identify barriers to desired futures, and develop scenarios. and visions. The workshop aims to empower leaders to create and implement visionary strategies, fostering a deep understanding of self, leadership, and organisational transformation. With a blend of theoretical insights and practical activities, this workshop provides a robust framework for navigating and shaping the future.
Personal Futures Webinar
Please join the Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland team and Leadership Futurist Dr Cheryl Doig for an online learning lunch webinar on personal futures.
Connect with future focused peers, learn about some futures tools to apply in your personal (and professional) life, and explore a wider range of other personal futures resources after the webinar.
Whether you're a futures enthusiast or just looking for some useful tools to help guide you in your next chapter, this learning lunch session is a must-attend to gain valuable personal futures insights and inspiration for your own life journey. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn from an industry leader, we’re excited!
Dubai Futures Forum reflections with Alice Dimond & Victoria Mulligan
Join the Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland 's co-founder Victoria Mulligan and Alice Dimond from Tokona te Raki in this FREE virtual event, where they share and reflect on their experiences from attending, participating and moderating a session at the Dubai Futures Forum 2023.
Whether you're a seasoned innovator or just starting out as a futures enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to engage and learn from a couple of Aotearoa New Zealand leading futurists.
The Future of Speculative Futures in the Pacific, in collaboration with RMIT | Masters of Design Futures
The Master of Design Futures welcomes Sarah MacArthur, Naarm, and Victoria Mulligan, Aotearoa, in conversation about the Future of Speculative Futures in Aotearoa NZ, Australia and the Pacific.
In this free-flowing conversation to kick off 2024, we have invited Sarah MacArthur, (Naarm Melbourne) and Victoria Mulligan (Aotearoa New Zealand) to plot out a short history of Speculative Futures and then pose some possible initiatives that could emerge in the near future.
The Future of Food with Dr. Quinault Childs, IFTF
The Future of Food
Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is thrilled to host Quinault Childs, Research Director of the Food Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto, California. He focuses on exploring the intersection of food systems, society, and climate change, describing possible futures where all of those things look very different than they do today.
Designing for Collaboration: Mapping a National Futures Network, in collaboration with IFTF
IFTF Foresight Talk - Designing for Collaboration: Mapping a National Futures Network with Victoria Mulligan
Future of Auckland | Deloitte Workshop
“If you can't imagine a better future its extremely hard to make things better.”
Last month at Deloitte, I ran a lab of awesome specialists and experts from across our business to shape our role in the Future of Auckland supporting Public and Private sector organisations to help make Tamaki Makarau Auckland a more prosperous, liveable, safe and world class city.
We were so lucky to have my friends and futures experts Jade Tang-Taylor and Victoria Mulligan from Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland come in to support us through the first part of the day using The Human Layers immersive experience by Hannah Smith and Ella Saltmarshe to kick things off and spending some time imagining future scenarios and how we might support the leaders in our city to achieve a better Auckland.
From Hindsight to Foresight + Mapping the Aotearoa New Zealand Futures ecosystem, with Dubai Future Forum
From Hindsight to Foresight: How Can We Tap into Indigenous Wisdom to Prepare for the Future? Featuring Dr. Eruera Tarena (Tokona Te Raki: Māori Future Makers), Samantha Matters (Future Ancestors Services), and Sarah Mecartney (The Pacific Community), moderated by Victoria Mulligan.
Impact Networks: Mapping the Aotearoa New Zealand Futures Ecosystem with Victoria Mulligan.
Stories of Connection in Futures, with ThinkBeyond
Think Beyond presents: Stories of Connection in Futures, with Cheryl Doig, Victoria Mulligan, and Erica Austin
Transforming Futures with Dr Cheryl Doig, Think Beyond
Join the Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland team and Leadership Futurist Dr Cheryl Doig at Datacom NZ in the heart of Auckland CBD for an exciting event that will level up the way you think about the future. Connect and collaborate with futures minded peers, go deep with futures tools and get your hands dirty in the interactive workshop. Whether you're a seasoned innovator or just starting out, this event is a must-attend to gain valuable insights and inspiration for your own futures journey. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn from an industry leader, we’re excited!
First meet-up of Speculative Futures Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Join us for the first meet-up of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Speculative Futures Chapter - a vibrant community of people like you - futures thinkers, creators, and innovators, each contributing their unique perspectives and insights.