APF Oceania Fireside Chat #3- What does it take to have a successful consulting career as a professional Futurist?

About the Fireside Chat Topic: 

Join us for an engaging and insightful Fireside Chat with Marcus Barber to help you navigate the foresight field. He will share common challenges and provide tips for success, explore effective framing models, and delve into two quick case studies—one of disaster and one of delight—to provide practical insights and lessons learned. Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas in an interactive discussion segment, gaining diverse perspectives and innovative solutions.

About Marcus:

Marcus is a distinguished strategic futurist whose expertise is sought globally across various sectors. Internationally, he has worked with OIC COMSTECH in Pakistan, the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore, and the FBI Futures Working Group in the USA. In the Asia-Pacific region, his clients include the Asia Productivity Organisation and the Development Academy of the Philippines.

In Australia, Marcus has partnered with federal bodies like the Centre for Defence & Strategic Studies and the Australian Sports Commission, as well as state and local entities such as VicUrban, Sport & Recreation Victoria, the Victoria Police, and the Gold Coast City Council. His corporate clients include General Motors, Fosters Australia, and Pacific Brands. He has also worked with KPMG, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton Australia, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Swinburne University, and the Water Services Association of Australia.

Marcus's career highlights include delivering the strategic futures block at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra for 15 years and being a dynamic speaker at international forums like UNESCO's 'Committing Universities to Sustainability' conference and the 'World Futures Conference.' He co-presented on the National Geographic Channel’s TV series 'Future Matters' and authored books such as 'The Money Tree and How to Grow One' and 'Getting Your Future Right.' His upcoming works include 'Killing Trends: the Graceful Art of Innovation.'

Founded The Australian Strategic Planning Institute and was confounder of Centre for Australian Foresight.

About APF Oceania Fireside Chat

Over the past 2 months, Steve Tighe, APF Oceania Regional Director, has spoken to about half of the APF members in Oceania to gain their thoughts on what the APF could do to deliver greater value. Feedback from members in the Oceania region about how the APF could deliver greater value centred around 4 key areas – The 4 Cs:

• Community (Networking, connection to other regional members. Time zone-friendly events were obviously a big theme)
• Capability (Skills development)
• Communication (Advocacy, Access to publications, Opportunities to publish)
• Collaboration (Opportunities to work with / learn from others)

The purpose of the Fireside Chat is KNOWLEDGE SHARING & TRANSFER. Such a concept directly targets the COMMUNITY and CAPABILITY value offerings sought by Oceania members.

Each session would commence at 6.30 pm AEST (8.30 pm in New Zealand) and go for approx. 45 mins.

The Chat would include a 20-minute presentation on a particular topic, followed by a 25-minute group discussion. In terms of the 20-minute presentation, each presenter would cover three broad areas around a particular topic:

1. WHAT I KNOW (knowledge transfer about the TOPIC under discussion - E.g., Extreme Heat Governance Futures, Scenario Planning, etc.).
2. WHAT I DID (knowledge transfer about the PROCESS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES applied during the futures exercise/project).
3. WHAT I WISH I KNEW THEN... (knowledge transfer about experiences/challenges/learnings from the exercise).

The aim is for the presentation to be short and snappy – an entrée if you like, for the second half of the session, where all attendees would be invited to have their say and share their knowledge/experiences. The goal is to establish a relaxed learning environment.

This structure based on knowledge transfer around 3 distinct areas (What I know, what I did, what I wish…), ensures that attendees don’t have to be fascinated with the particular topic under discussion, to extract value and to be personally engaged.