Envision Greater Green Bay will host World Futures Day March 1 to help fulfill its mission of making community the first in the nation to work collectively – government, business, education and nonprofits – to shape a preferred future through strategic foresight.
In its early days, Envision was known as Bay Area Community Council, established in 1991 through collaboration between the local chamber and the United Way. Fast forward to 2023, and this same organization, led by a board of 24 volunteer community leaders and Executive Director Alexa Naudziunas is now Envision.
On World Futures Day 2024, keynote speaker and futurist John Smart will lead a group of several hundred at the Oneida Hotel and Conference Center to use their foresight.
Smart is the CEO of Foresight University and president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation in California and a student of biological, cognitive, and physical sciences. His focus has been on “humanizing” evolving forces and trends through evidence, ethics and empathy.
The March 1 event will include brief presentations about the local application of strategic foresight and opportunities for tabletop discussions.
“Whether you’ve participated in the past or this is your first World Futures Day experience, you’ll walk away from this event with both mind-blowing amazement and practical, manageable ideas for improving your own organization, starting tomorrow,” said Heidi Selberg Envision’s acting president.
Selberg cited the generosity of local businesses to help bring in talent from afar.
“It was the Green Bay Packers who funded the visit of Vicki Loomes from London,” she explained, “and we’ve always been blessed by the support of Schreiber Foods, Green Bay Packaging’s George Kress Foundation, Schneider, Nicolet National Bank, and more.”
World Futures Day has been observed globally every March 1 since 2013. Three years ago Envision brought the local community into the global celebration, hosting more than 100 local leaders at St. Norbert College to learn about international consumer trends from Vicki Loomes, a trend analyst from London, England.
A year later, the local World Futures Day audience had tripled in size to more than 300, gathering at the KI Convention Center to welcome the founder of the Da Vinci Institute in Colorado, Dr. Thomas Frey. Like Loomes, Frey asserted that “the future of innovation is where disruption and opportunity collide.”
Guests may now register for World Futures Day 2024.
