The Second Sight Saturday session #1 starts with introductions – a small, mixed group with varied professional and personal backgrounds including politics, design, publishing, comms and advertising, all from the Netherlands… and me. A good start.

We hear from course leaders Andrea Wiegman and Truus Dokter who speak about their careers in Trends, about Second Sight and it fits! respectively, their independent forecasting agencies, and about their individual approaches to the subject, which between them includes that of a trained historian, publisher, fashion design and brands manager.

Bring along ‘something which touches you’ was our homework for the first session… an object, a book, a quote, a film, anything. So we share stories and hear about a religious book, watch an advert with a captivating graphic, flick through a beautiful travel almanac, feel emotional and inspired by a piece about recycled musical instruments, connect all our stories with my chosen quote from William Blake about creating your own system(s) or being enslaved by another’s…

The pace is breathy, punchy, the information in-depth … seeing the interconnectedness of everything; we watch fractals on the big screen.

Discussions cover the difference between Trend Watchers, Forecasters and Futurists, touching upon Visionaries such as George Orwell …to which I add favourite ‘Inspiritors’ Arthur C. Clarke and Buckminster Fuller. We hear about radical shifts that will help us to enter a new world and how to tell, and sell, that story. One such story right now, is how Forecasters are looking at the world and it’s engagement at the equivalent of Web 4.0 when we are currently interacting at Web 2.0 and just touching on Web 3.0. Take a moment to consider this.

My ‘inspiritors list’ is growing by the hour; the first item I write down is Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 and the last item, for now, is Jules Hanson Robotics…

This is going to be one hell of a ride! #Excited!