Courses & Education

Futurist School

Learn to forecast trends and apply the skills to your daily work

This is for you

If you want to learn the skills and tools to research and anticipate trends. If you need to cultivate a futures thinking mindset in your business. If you want to up-skill yourself or your team to make it a part of everyone's responsibility to identify potential problems and innovate future relevant solutions.

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WHAT is it?

I offer a selection of courses in locations around Denmark and the UK that teach foresight skills, future thinking and trend forecasting. Click on the titles below for more information:

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Courses available:

Essential Futurist

Learn the core skills to apply future thinking to your daily work

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Duration

Half day course ​

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Please contact Jill​ for upcoming dates and locations.

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Course Overview

It’s essential to look ahead if you want to ensure the relevance of your product or service in the future world, but how can you anticipate what’s coming next, and how it will affect your business? How can you know where to focus and what to invest in?

Trends and future thinking can seem like a dark art, but in fact, ‘foresight’, ‘trends’ and ‘future thinking’ is a skill that can be developed. And I can teach you.

Future thinking is a collection of many skills, as it’s a combination of creative thinking and hard evidence: of design and science. Being a good trend forecaster and future thinker uses research skills, data, curiosity, processes, experimentation and imagination.

Learning outcomes

• The role of a trend forecaster and futurist

• Why it’s essential to look ahead

The basic tools and processes for:

• Researching what will impact the future

• Organising your findings into trends

• Translating the trends into actions for your business

• Nurturing the mind-set to think critically, challenge perceptions and imagine future possibilities and make this a part of daily life

Who it's for

These skills are an invaluable tool for any business professional, from solo freelancers to the biggest corporations.

Study methods

This course will blend real case studies from Jill’s personal experience as The Future Thief with skill development and practical tasks to provide a taste of the basics of trend forecasting and future thinking. 

Time & tools needed

The activities are solo, not group exercises, but discussion is encouraged.

Bring your curiosity and an open mind

You might want to bring a notebook/paper and a computer or tablet to take notes, but it’s not a pre-requisite

All other activity materials will be provided

Tea, coffee and water will be provided

20 minutes preparatory work will be required, briefed 2 weeks before the course start date

​Learn and practise the skills and processes to think more strategically and ensure your concepts and business have relevance in the future

Duration

There are two options for this course:

6 weeks: weekly 3-hour sessions

2 days: 1st and 2nd day are 10 days apart

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Please contact Jill​ for upcoming dates and locations.

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Course Overview

This is a more in-depth and applied version of the ‘basics’ course, practising a range of skills and tools in order to make more strategic, future focused decisions. We will work on applying them to your live business challenges to make the skills immediately actionable.

It’s essential to look ahead if you want to ensure the relevance of your product or service in the future world. But how can you anticipate what’s coming next, and how it will affect your business, your product and your consumer? How can you know where to focus and what to invest in?

The goal is for you to be able to begin a lifelong practice of future thinking, so you can easily apply it to your work.

Learning outcomes

• The role of a trend forecaster and futurist

• The benefits of looking ahead

• The structure of trends and how they connect

• Research techniques and tools

• Organising your findings

• Synthesising and grouping information

• Translating trends into recommendations and actions

• Communicating trends

• Back-casting

• Forecasting

• Scenario mapping

• Using trends and applying them to your business

Who it's for

These skills are an invaluable tool for any business professional, from solo freelancers to the biggest corporations. Historically it is used by those working in marketing, innovation and strategy, but it really is suitable for all ‘departments’ of an organisation. It is especially relevant for people needing to problem solve in situations where there is no formula or established way of working. Or, where there is a desire to break free of convention, gain foresight and be one (or several) steps ahead of the game.

Study Methods

This course will be a mixture of lecture time, but with an emphasis on activities and practical tasks to develop skills. The activities are a mixture of solo and group/pair exercises. Discussion is encouraged!

Time and tools needed

Bring your curiosity and an open mind

You might want to bring a notebook/paper and a computer or tablet to take notes, but it’s not a pre-requisite

All other activity materials will be provided

Tea, coffee and water will be provided

There will be a piece of pre-work to complete, and there will be homework between sessions, but no more than approximately 20 minutes per day.

Ultimate Futurist

Colour & Design 

Forecasting

Learn the basic skills to anticipate future trends and what they mean for aesthetics, colour and materials

Duration

Half day course​

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Please contact Jill​ for upcoming dates and locations.

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Course Overview

How can you anticipate what’s coming next, and how it will affect the design of your product? Is the tone of voice, look and feel right for the future? How can you know what styles, colours and visual communication styles are likely to be important in the coming years?

Trend Forecasting is not a dark art, but in fact it’s a set of skills that can be developed and a mind-set that can be nurtured. And I can teach you.

Future thinking is a combination of creative thinking and hard evidence: of design and science. Being a good trend forecaster and future thinker uses research, data, curiosity, processes, experimentation and imagination.

Learning Outcomes

• The role of a trend forecaster and futurist

• Why it’s essential to look ahead

The basic tools and processes for:

• Researching what will impact the future

• Organising your findings into trends

• Translating trends into design, colour and material/sensory direction

Who it’s for

These skills are an invaluable tool for any professional working with design, colour and visual communication, from solo freelancers to the biggest corporations.

Study Methods

This course will blend real case studies from Jill’s personal experience as The Future Thief with skill development and practical tasks to provide a foundation of the basics of trend forecasting for design. 

Time and tools needed

The activities are solo, not group exercises, but discussion is encouraged.

Bring your curiosity and an open mind

You might want to bring a notebook/paper and a computer or tablet to take notes, but it’s not a pre-requisite

All other activity materials will be provided

Tea, coffee and water will be provided

20 minutes preparatory work will be required, briefed 2 weeks before the course start date

In-House Training

Cultivate a foresight led organisation

This is for you

​If you are looking to up-skill your team’s future thinking abilities.

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WHAT is it?

All courses can be adapted, made bespoke to the needs of your business and delivered in-house. Please get in touch for details.

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University Lecturing

Maximise your students creativity through trend and foresight skills

This is for you

If you need to drive your students research skills out of their comfort zone. If you need to teach them the skills to identify future needs and develop the habit for future thinking in all their projects.

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WHAT is it?

I regularly deliver modules and guest lectures on all aspects of trend forecasting and future thinking, from full process to specific aspects. They can be combined with your existing modules or form a whole new one.

Please get in touch so we can create a solution together!

Terms & conditions

Refunds & cancellations

A course will be confirmed to proceed not later than 14 days prior to its scheduled

starting date.

Course registration is only confirmed when full payment has been received from a

participant.

If sufficient confirmed registrations have not been received two weeks in advance of

the scheduled starting date, the course may be cancelled or postponed.

In the unlikely event that the course is cancelled, all confirmed participants will be

notified immediately and receive a full refund.

If a participant chooses to cancel their confirmed registration, or cannot or does not attend the workshop, the following refunds will apply:

The registered participant may invite another person to substitute their place on the course (for which they are registered) at any time, at no cost.

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If notice is received 14 days or less from the scheduled starting date, no refund will be offered.

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If notice is received 15 days or more from the scheduled start date, a refund of 50% will be offered.