Great Client Feedback

Some Positive Thoughts from our Clients and others that have used our skills appear below.  You are probably also an organisation that is looking for some expertise to help answer some key questions for your future and want to feel comfortable knowing you’ll get the results you want.  Read for yourself what others have said and then contact us with any questions you may have: Email or 613 96 444 588

An excellent facilitator, an inspiring speaker and a knowledgeable mentor!  It has been a pleasure to work with Marcus Barber on the City of Greater Dandenong Ignite 2021 Program. His experience with start-ups, and excellent mentoring and coaching, have allowed our participants to start their businesses, with more confidence, networks and knowledge

Greater Dandenong
Economic Development Team
2021

‘We appreciate the time and effort you spent in preparing for your role as MC and providing a futurist’s view on the conference content. Delegates have commented to me on the smooth running of the event, and we found that your engagement and insights stimulated a great deal of discussion during the Conference.’

Tony Wright
CEO
Victorian Water Association
June 2017

Brilliant – thanks for your presentation last night Marcus, a Platinum highlight for 2013!’!

Andrew Gardner
Managing Director
Investor’s Edge

 

Justin Mansfield @joininthechorus

.@rightfuture thx 4 fascinating, energetic presentation @ #v21 today. Enjoyed it immensely, despite (or because of?) being dragged on stage!

Wordsbyjessica @wordsbymissjess

Marcus Barber from @rightfuture was THAT good … #V21 Note. Change the world … Stop being a douche!

agency marou @AgencyMarou

RT @twenty4_digital: Great presentation by Marcus Barber. We’re busy not productive. #v21 @rightfuture pic.twitter.com/abQvI72Jcj

Rowan Barnes @RowanBarnes

@rightfuture Really enjoyed your preso at #v21. Both entertaining and thought-provoking; I feel inspired to do better things!

Murray Galbraith @MurrayDG

@rightfuture Just wow.

Brad Paton @Brad_Paton

Incredibly thought provoking presentation by Marcus Barber @rightfuture at #V21

Kylie Eddy @KylieEddy

@rightfuture let’s stamp out ‘hairy eyeballs’ syndrome. Inspirational presentation! #v21

Laney Galligan @laneygalligan

@rightfuture thanks for getting the brain ticking. Am working on sorting out a few of the issues you raised today #flexiblework

 

Marcus the Victorian Industry Water Association (VicWater) would like to express its most sincere gratitude on behalf of the Sustainability Task Group…Your presentation provided high quality and pertinent information to the delegates on how to do more with less, balance priorities and engage customers and stakeholders in the sustainability debate…’

Tony Wright
Chief Executive Officer

 

Dear Marcus,

Thank you for the outstanding presentation you gave at our recent conference at the Grand Chancellor in Hobart.

Your captivating talk was inspiring and insightful, there was so much useful information that was of benefit to all those who attended on the day.

You were a big hit with all of our delegates, your energy and enthusiasm was infectious, thank you for such a memorable and enjoyable presentation.

Regards,

Leon Staropoli
National New Business
Development Manager
Australian Scholarships Group – Supporting Children’s Education

 

Good morning Marcus,

A belated thank-you for your contribution last week at the Victorian Regional Produce Summit held in Wangaratta. Your energy and enthusiasm were
definite factors in making the day the huge success that it was. Feedback has been extremely positive and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to think
outside the square for a few hours. Thank you also for your time the following day meeting with Council senior officers to bounce ideas around.
Your customer service in the lead up and during the event was exceptional and greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Kate Green
Manager – Tourism Development
Rural City of Wangaratta

 

On behalf of the Progress Association and the Industrial Park Committee we would like to thank you for doing such as wonderful job as MC and giving such a thought provoking presentation making us think about ideas that will shape the years to come.  You were able to cleverly pull together several threads that were explored in different presentations.

Judging from the positive feedback we have received from the Community, your contribution played a major factor in the success of the day. We have had many comments about the friendly yet professional way you handled the day, and we are sure that the other speakers and audience all appreciated your skill of keeping the program to time. Your expertise was very much appreciated and we would also like to thank you for your other contributions in the lead up to the Forum and post Forum assistance.”

Max Day
President Lockhart & District Progress Association.

 

It was a pleasure to meet you this morning.  As a last-minute replacement to this morning’s breakfast I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I found your presentation to be very informative, inspiring and it was quite eye opening.  You’re clearly very passionate about driving change and sustainability and definitely got me thinking.  I’d love to keep in touch and would be happy to recommend you to clients and other colleagues.

Alice Morden
Principal Consultant
Boston Kennedy

 

Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC)

“A presentation that was both relevant to our sector and stretched us to think outside it.  The delivery style was excellent and engaging combining facts and complex ideas with humour and audience involvement resulting in a session that matched or exceeded expectations of all involved”

Felicity McGrath
Communications Manager

Southport Engineering Pty Ltd

Marcus I just wish to thank you for providing such an interesting, informative & entertaining session AND for all the information I wasn’t able to write down.  I’ve never taken so many notes at a breakfast meeting in my life, nor will I ever take so few again.  I can already see many opportunities to apply your teachings with one of them being a presentation on Monday.

Thanks heaps… Best Regards
David Hilder
Engineering Manager
Dandenong South, VIC

Gold Coast Water

‘…Marcus’s facilitation skills were probably some of the best I’ve seen to date.  A combination of broad multi-disciplinary knowledge and high calibre interpersonal skills were evident in his ability to facilitate and contribute to the industry related discussion without imposing on the clientele…”

Ben Sheppard
Strategic Management Coordinator

 

Fosters Australia Foresight Group

‘The Accelerated Scenarios process was enthusiastically embraced by the team here at Foster’s.  This approach to futures thinking led to a re-perceiving of where we saw the market heading and the future opportunities and threats…”

Steve Tighe

Foresight Manager

Fosters Australia Foresight Group

“Through his teachings Marcus has left a legacy at Foster’s.  Over the past year we have learnt that looking for insights in the ‘safe areas’ provides less value than looking for ‘signals’ in the ‘right’ areas.  This changed perspective has been largely due to the influence of Marcus”

Steve Tighe
Foresight Manager

Gold Coast Water
“Marcus mentored myself and the GCW team in the process of Environmental Scanning.  Marcus kept in touch with the group, coaching us through the practical application…that increased our practical understanding of the process, as well as improving the quality of the outputs.”

Ben Sheppard
Strategic Management Coordinator

Frontier Media & Marketing
“…the team loved it, they are still talking about it”

Neil Hoar
Director

Selbys
We created a branding message that is concise, clear and effective – years on we still get constant feedback that the branding message was a key reason people contacted us”

Marc Selby
Director

UNESCO sponsored ‘ Committing Universities to Sustainable Development’ conference
“… of every presentation I saw here at the conference, yours was the most effective and engaging…”
A-M Fortmann of OIKOS

Fosters Australia Functional Beverages
“Marcus led a fun and informative workshop that focused on gettng the team to take a step back and ask ‘What are we really trying to achieve here?’  He then facilitated a process that enabled us to articulate our thoughts into a format that we could then engage the entire business with.  Fantastic!”

Andrew Fairlam
Fosters Australia Innovation Team

South East Business Networks

“In the multi-company sessions that Marcus facilitated for us, he displayed the uncanny ability to challenge the very essence of the participants’ thinking process and the potential (and often untapped) opportunities within their business, allowing them to leave with not only theory, but the ability to implement!”            

Sandra George
CEO
South East Networks

These are among the many clients and training sessions available – ask away…

Our Experience Means You Benefit

Acquiring this level of skill can only come through well developed ‘travels’ across industry sectors, positions, functions and outcomes.  It requires a willingness to walk the ‘paths less travelled’ and to show how the richness of the journey can be of benefit to those who have enjoyed the alternative.

With direct exposure to the Financial Services, Policing, Education, Advertising, Manufacturing, and Recruitment sectors, we are able to draw upon functional understanding across businesses of all types and purposes.

This means you get access to our ability to identify the very best of ‘cross industry’ opportunities – customer retention strategies; employee engagement methods; sales processes; strategic development initiatives; marketing excellence; innovation creation and many, many more.

The really important thing to note is that we do not bring a ‘cookie cutter’ with us.  Whilst your business may share similarities with others in the same sector or different sectors, it is unique.  Applying ‘model x’ regardless of what you really need is not our style.  EVERYTHING will be tailored specifically to what you need and for the purpose you need it.

Key Personnel

All of our personnel and facilitators bring with them extensive trainng and real life operational experience.  Specifically it is probable that our personnel will have qualifications in at least one of the following disciplines:

  • Post Graduate Qualifications in Strategic Foresight
  • Certification in Spiral Dynamics from the National Values Centre in the United States
  • Certification in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

When you add these exquisite and precise thinking skills to extensive experience across a wide variety of business sectors, you have available to you an exceptional business asset that will transfer skills into your business.

 

Queensland Rail Strategic Foresight & Planning Session

Singapore – The Hub of Great Futures Work

Sep 3, 2009

I’m heading to Singapore for a few days to facilitate a scenario planning workshop on behalf of the Asia Business Forum. There is something intimately exciting for a futurist to be going to arguably the most future focused of all countries and to spend just a brief time immersed there. There’s no doubt that great…

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The risks of ‘greenwashing’ in a recession

Aug 14, 2009

Greenwashing is a term used to define marketing actions by organisations, claiming to take an environmental approach to their products or services, when in fact, they are doing nothing or very little. Greenwashing is a form of marketing hype, and in turbulent times, many companies may be contemplating ‘sexing up’ their image by tapping into…

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Marcus Barber to Keynote at Australian Computer Society Conference

Jul 15, 2009

Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber will be the key note speaker at the Australian Computer Society’s annual conference to be held in Adelaide on July 30 at the Adelaide Convention Centre With the theme ‘Survive and Thrive’ Marcus will discuss the likely issues of the near term future and why right now, organisations do not have…

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Adelaide Advanced Strategic Planning One Day Workshop

Jun 10, 2009

The next Advanced Strategic Planning one-day workshop being run by The Australian Strategic Planning Institute will take place at Rydges in Adelaide on the 13th of July and bookings are now open   The TASPI workshops are jam packed with ideas and processes to ensure that your operational, business and strategic planning efforts deliver the…

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The Bubble to end all Bubbles?

Jun 1, 2009

Hands up if you remember the dot com bubble? Or how about the Y2K bubble? Housing bubble? ‘Bubbles’ as they apply to all things economic are little more than an oversupply of positive confidence in a particular area of economic concern. In fact ‘Bubbles’ are caused by the SAME things as ‘Recessions’ just at opposite…

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Advanced Strategic Planning Workshop in Melbourne

May 18, 2009

Just a handful of places are left for The Australian Strategic Planning Institute’s one day Advanced Strategic Planning workshop at Karsten’s in Melbourne on the 26th of May. Please note that there are no places available for the June workshops in both Brisbane or Sydney, and the Adelaide workshop in July is half filled though…

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Vale Richard Pratt

Apr 28, 2009

Richard Pratt has succumbed to a battle with prostate cancer and there’s no doubt that many words will be written on paper destined to end up as recycle materials at his VISY Industries plants. There’s a harmony in that thought – all those words of type and paper discussing Richard Pratt will be recycling through…

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How to Spend your $900 – think about your future needs first

Apr 19, 2009

Thousands of Australians are just receiving or are about to receive a pretty handsome cheque from the Federal Government as part of the economic stimulous package. The question then is ‘what do I spend this on?’ Below I offer a futurist’s view on where certain generational types might consider spending the bonus.   As a…

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Australia 2020 – one year on, now what?

Mar 31, 2009

It is almost a year since the Australia 2020 Summit was held in Canberra and it is expected that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will provide feedback on the summit, the ideas it generated as well as the ideas of those not at the summit who provided input and thinking. Of course a lot has changed…

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Wearable Technologies coming to some clothing near you

Mar 16, 2009

A few years ago whilst researching and generating ideas for the National Geographic Channel’s futures based TV shows ‘Future Matters’ I discussed the idea of what I then called ‘WEs’ or Wearable Electronics. I mentioned that this was a substantially different approach than portable electronics, which is what most mobile phones and laptop computers were…

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