Thank you for your contribution and welcome to the 23rd Futures Conference!
The Futures Conference 2023 will be organised in hybrid mode. Conference days Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 June 2023 will be held onsite in Turku. All the keynote sessions will be streamed online for the virtual participants. Friday 16 June will be held exclusively in virtual mode.
Note that as an onsite participant you will also be able to access all of the virtual sessions on Friday. If you are staying in Turku, you can join us at Turku School of Economics as well.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and sensitivity in following the instructions provided. If you have any questions, do contact the conference secretariat at futuresconference@utu.fi.
Virtual Conference Platform
In addition to the live events on the conference venue, the Futures Conference 2023 is built on a virtual platform called Howspace. Personal links to the platform will be provided as soon as the platform is activated. You will find the program, live-streamed presentations of the keynote speakers, links to the various virtual sessions and their recordings, poster exhibition, contact information for the other participants, all on the platform.
The platform works on both, desktop and mobile, and it will stay open from 8 June until 30 June. The programme recordings are available on the platform for the conference participants. More details about the platform will be available closer to the event.
Guidelines for Speakers and Workshop Facilitators
The parallel onsite sessions are scheduled for Wed 15 June at 11.15–17.00 and Thu 17 June at 9.00–14.15 and 17.00–18.30.
There will be a chairperson in each parallel track of the session. The chair will introduce the speakers and manage the time to ensure that each speaker has equal time. The chair will also lead the question-and-answer discussion after the presentation.
Speakers are free to bring their own copies of presentations, papers, and other materials to distribute at the track.
The length of the spoken paper tracks are 75–90 minutes. There will be 3–4 presentations in each track. The time allocated for each presentation is limited to 20 minutes, including a 5 minutes chaired discussion.
You may wish to use a visual aid such as PowerPoint or Prezi to reinforce your presentation and engage your audience. We recommend limiting the number of slides to 4–8 to stay on schedule.
You can submit your presentation in advance, but you can bring it on an USB stick as well. If you send the slides in advance, please do so no later than Wed 7 June via futuresconference@utu.fi (name the file Firstname_Lastname.ppt). The moderator who will be in the lecture room for technical assistance will prepare the slides sent in advance on the devices in the conference room or help you with any issue arising with the presentation.
Please go to the associated lecture room at least 10 minutes before the start time of your assigned track. All lecture rooms are equipped with PC computers and data projectors.
Note that we are planning to publish the presentation slides on the conference platform Howspace. If you are not sending us your slides in advance, please do so shortly after the conference. However, if you do not want your presentation to be shared with the conference audience, please notify us via futuresconference@utu.fi.
Note also that the onsite sessions are not recorded.
Workshops with Onsite Participants
The onsite workshop sessions will be held in the lecture rooms at the conference venue. Please go to the associated room at least 10 minutes before the start time of your assigned track. All lecture rooms are equipped with PC computers and data projectors. If you need other equipment, please contact the conference secretariat in well advance.
The length of a workshop sessions is 75–90 minutes. You can concentrate on facilitating your workshop since there will be a moderator in each session to assist if any such a help is needed.
You can submit your presentation in advance, but you can bring your slides on an USB stick as well. If you send your presentation slides in advance, please do so no later than Wed 7 June via futuresconference@utu.fi (name the file Firstname_Lastname.ppt). The moderators will prepare the slides sent in advance on the devices in the conference room or help you with any issue arising.
If you are not sending us your slides in advance, please do so shortly after the conference. However, if you do not want your presentation to be shared with the conference audience, please notify us via futuresconference@utu.fi.
Note also that the onsite workshops are not recorded.
Onsite Poster Session
The length of the session is 45 minutes. The time allocated for each presentation is limited to 10 minutes, including a 5 minutes chaired discussion. The session will be hosted, and all poster authors are interviewed during the session. The audience may comment and ask questions.
In addition to the session, posters will be visible on the conference platform throughout the conference. Please send us your poster with (Poster_Firstname_Lastname.pdf) via futuresconference@utu.fi no later than Wed 7 June.
- Since posters will be presented on a screen during the session, poster layout should be landscape (horizontal). The poster should be maximum 1–2 pages long and saved in a .pdf format.
- Remember that your presentation must be readable from a distance. Keep visual materials simple and clear.
- Rely sparingly on graphs, charts, tables, and pictures, to communicate information where possible. Focus selectively on major findings.
- Simple use of colour can add effective emphasis.
You are free to bring and distribute handouts, papers, or other brochure material for the participants.
EMPOWERING FUTURES – Long-term Governance, Democracy and Futures Research 