REPORT – 2020 VIRTUAL SUMMIT
BROUGHT TO YOU BY... CONTENTS
Executive Summary ...... 1 Speakers – Our World Class Talent ...... 2
Key Metrics ...... 4 Media Coverage Highlights ...... 5
Feedback From Attendees ...... 6
Gathering In Person?! ...... 7
A Few Speaker Insights ...... 8
Key Themes & Focus Areas ...... 9 Programme & Experience ...... 10
The Virtual Event Platform ...... 11
Workshops & Breakouts ...... 12
The Festival Marketplace ...... 14
Partners & Supporters ...... 15 About Inspiring Stories ...... 16
The Team Behind It ...... 17
Finances ...... 18
Learning & Recommendations ...... 19 Can You Help Us Grow This? ...... 21
PAGE B EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At Inspiring Stories, we love a good challenge. some really powerful and unexpected outcomes. Nothing quite prepared us for the whirlwind that We had young people in refugee camps in Rwanda would follow. We transformed Festival for the getting up at 4AM to tune in. We’ve had reports of Future into a virtual summit – #FFTFLive, which ‘life-changing’, and of course people coming away was designed and delivered from scratch within from the experience with new found connections, three months. We curated a programme focused inspiration, knowledge and ideas. While the true around four major themes with both global and local impact and ripple effect of the Festival experience is relevance – climate, equality, economy and hope. always difficult to articulate, the feedback has been Kia ora, and warm Pacific greetings! very positive. We jumped on calls with people and organisations The planning for the Festival for the Future started all around the world to learn more about how their We want to express our deepest gratitude and straight off the back of last year’s in-person event, lives and work had been impacted by COVID, to acknowledge our partners and supporters, who with this year, 2020, being our 10th annual Festival. hear their vision for the future, and see if there might have truly gone above and beyond in working with Various groups planned to travel to New Zealand, be an opportunity to work together. The response us through this extremely challenging time. With all venues were booked, pop-up and satellite events was incredible, and at #FFTFLive we were joined the complexity and uncertainty that COVID brings, were being planned, the Minister of Finance was due by people from 57 countries around the world – all one thing is certain – there has never been a more to host us at Parliament – and then COVID hit. driven to make a difference for our future. important time to re-imagine and re-build our world. He waka eke noa – we are all in this together. COVID has turned our world upside down. All of Our amazing speakers and contributors ranged from us have been impacted. When New Zealand went world class entrepreneurs and leaders of business On behalf of our team at Inspiring Stories and into lockdown and the ban on public events and and government, to young people leading change in Festival for the Future, thank you!! gatherings was announced, we really only had two grassroots communities – the diversity and strength options – postpone the Festival until who knows of people involved was incredible. when, or try and figure out how to take it online. Either option came with huge uncertainty, and our While there were challenges in transforming the updated financial forecast did not look good. Festival into an online experience, there were also Guy Ryan Sonia Pearson Founder, FFTF Manager, FFTF
PAGE 1 David Galipeau Louise Mabulo Jamie Tuuta Bernadette Meehan Tong Yee Claudia Batten Next Generation Technologies Entrepreneur, The Cacao Project Chair of Tourism New Zealand The Obama Foundation CEO, The Thought Collective Technology Entrepreneur
50SPEAKERS+ A GLIMPSE OF OUR Sonya Renee Taylor Shay Wright Maxine Burkett Benson Saulo Helianti Hilman Award-winning artist & activist Co-founder, Te Whare Hukahuka WORLD CLASS TALENT Institute for Climate & Peace Investing for inclusion CEO of Javara
Daniel Flynn Pat Dwyer Karime Kuri Rinesh Sharma Tamatha Paul Raf Manji Co-founder, Thankyou The Purpose Business Robotics, IOT, Smart Cities Founder, Smart Farms Fiji Wellington City Councillor Investing for Climate Futures
Florence Van Dyke Laina Greene Brianne West Sissi Chao Shamubeel Eaqub Anna Kominik Co-founder, Chia Sisters Investing for Impact CEO & Founder, Ethique CEO & Founder, REMAKEHub Author and Economist Autonomous Flying Vehicles Guy Ryan Alice Canton Arizona Leger Vicky Robertson Brianna Fruean Anna Guenther Founder, Festival for the Future Award-winning Theatre Artist Human Rights Masters Candidate Ministry for the Environment Pacific Climate Warriors PledgeMe & Crowdfunding
50SPEAKERS+ A GLIMPSE OF OUR Mary Haddock-Staniland Shaquille Shortland Bariz Shah & Saba Afrasyabi Paul Smith Rohini Kohli Champion for Diversity Indigenous Wisdom WORLD CLASS TALENT Empowering Afghanistan Future Directors Institute UNDP Climate Adaptation Lead
Okirano Tilaia Maya Soetoro-Ng Mikhara Ramsing Brad Olson Manita Ray Nathalie Whitaker Creating Inclusive Communities Institute for Climate & Peace LGBTIQA+ communities Senior Economist, Infometrics Investing with a gender lens Toha – Investing for Impact
Rosalie Nelson Shruthi Vijayakumar Natasha Lewis Julia Whaipooti Yolanda Joab-Mori Laura O’Connell Rapira Callaghan Innovation Global Shaper, WEF Ministry for the Environment Social Justice Lawyer Community Action for Climate Collective action for change KEY METRICS 1100+ 400+ ATTENDEES SCHOLARSHIP Our scholarship efforts helped to increase access for more than 400 attendees both in New Zealand and abroad. 50+COUNTRIES REPRESENTED ACROSS SIX DIFFERENT CONTINENTS Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, 9.7/10 China, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, Hong Kong, LIKELY TO RECOMMEND India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, On average, the attendees who completed the Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Rwanda, event survey rated their likelihood to recommend Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka Sweden, Festival 9.7 out of 10. Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Uganda, UK, USA, Vanuatu, Zambia.
TOP NZ REGIONS AGE ATTENDEE TYPE 30% – Auckland 25 = Average 24% – Wellington 12 = Youngest 56% 11% – Northland 80 = Oldest Professional EVERY REGION 9% – Bay of Plenty NZ 8% – Canterbury % REPRESENTED Student44 4% – Manawatu-Whanganui 4% – Otago 2% – Waikato 2% – West Coast
PAGE 4 MEDIA COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS 1.6M+ ESTIMATED MEDIA 15STORIES REACH ACROSS NZ’S MAJOR BROADCASTERS
Maxine Burkett from the Institute Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi with Jesse of Climate and Peace on TVNZ Breakfast. Mulligan on RNZ.
Rez Gardi on The AM Show with Duncan Garner. Guy Ryan on TVNZ Breakfast with
Hayley Holt & Matt McLean Maya Soetero-Ng on RNZ with Katherine Ryan.
PAGE 5 FEEDBACK FROM ATTENDEES
I attended my first Festival for the Future back There are no words to simply express our It was an inspiring, thought-provoking and in 2014, and was lucky to be able to attend the gratitude. It was fun, exciting and rewarding empowering experience with too many special following two years as well, with each event to see this summit change lives in so many moments to share but I will leave you with a being a source of inspiration, motivation and ways. To put it into context – Patrick, from a quote from the incredible Maya Soetoro-Ng on hope. In 2020 the Festival went digital, and it’s refugee camp in Uganda, would wake up at climate change action: been an incredible experience. 4.00am to attend, and then go off to share his “All of us have a role to play and a responsibility learnings with other youth in refugee camps. An to do what we can. We have to re-frame the It is difficult to articulate the impact of an event experience of a lifetime. Thank you! daily choices we make and look at the systems like Festival for the Future and to summarise Esmerelda Lo Tam, Scholarship Partner, and the ways we can impact them. But we also what I’ve learnt, but what I do know for sure is Pacific & Youth Advocate, EI8HT SPORTS have to ensure we are demanding that people that this moment in time that we are all living of colour, refugees, people in the global South through is an incredible opportunity to enact are not suffering.” radical change. My first ever festival was back in 2016 before Emma Appleton, Colmar Brunton Ellen Lear, Content Marketing Specialist at I began my tertiary education. My eyes were The Warehouse Group opened to a whole new world of opportunities that I had no idea existed. Since then, I have I’ve learnt a lot and had some amazing gone on to finish an engineering degree and discussions. The key message today was to serve my community in many ways. Festival ‘Hope’ and it was such an honour to hear A lot of conferences and summits have been truly inspired and continues to inspire me at what this meant for the speakers – Louise cancelled this year. I would like to congratulate viewing the world through an inclusive and Mabulo, Claudia Batten, Bariz Shah, Saba the amazing team who have taken Festival for daring lens. While others are waiting for the Afrasayabi, Shruthi Vijayakumar, Jamie Tuuta the Future online. The panel discussions and pandemic to be over, Inspiring Stories is and Bernadette Meehan. Their stories were all workshops were very insightful! adapting and taking things to the next level – so inspiring and I admire all of them for their Agatha Natania, ASEAN Institute for Peace big ups for you and the team for doing this! courage and honesty. Honestly, I can’t pick a and Reconciliation Bariz Shah, President of the Muslim favourite they were all amazing! Students Association of Canterbury Lia Arroyo, Aspiring Entrepreneur
PAGE 6 GATHERING IN PERSON?!
As well as people engaging using their individual devices, there was a range of in-person gatherings and ‘watch parties’ that took place. This included some our Future Leaders gathering in Whakatāne. Future Leaders is a year-round leadership development programme that we run at Inspiring Stories, which works with young people in rural/provincial communities across New Zealand.
During the “bold visions for the I liked all of the different future” session I heard one of perspectives on certain issues, the speakers say “say yes to and it broadened my own views. opportunities and to try new I gained more knowledge about things, and that we all have systemic racism, how NZ has its amazing capability and potential” very own space company, and – it was a strong reminder that I how we can help to create a low can do anything I set my mind to. carbon future. Courtney Cox // Kawerau Stevin Shaji // Whangarei
I’m going to start having the conversations that no one has the guts to have, to help see a positive change in our community.
Zakkaia Waipouri // Greymouth
PAGE 7 A FEW SPEAKER INSIGHTS
Consumers spend something like $51Trillion a year on consumer products. To end Stop making decisions about us without us. extreme poverty, it’s estimated to cost around $1Trillion. Our goal at Thankyou Arizona Leger, is to help consumers use their everyday purchasing power to end extreme poverty. G(irls)20 Indigenous Delegate Daniel Flynn, CEO of Thankyou
Everyone stands on a stage, everyday. We need to use our stage COVID-19 presents the greatest to advocate for the change we want to see in the world. Mary Haddock-Staniland, Diversity Works. economic shock in living memory. We cannot downplay the seriousness 20 years ago – no one in business or of the challenges ahead, but we must investment circles was talking about impact. Understanding the power of the collective – also recognise that we have a once- While the UN Sustainable Development Goals the collective decisions on what we choose have helped to provide a road map to help to buy, where we work, how we spend in-a-lifetime opportunity to regenerate address the major challenges that we face, our time – all of these things impact our it’s taken time to align the goals with the economic and political systems, and are a our economy in a sustainable way. language of business, governments and the vote for a better world. Florence Van Dyke, Chia Sisters investment community. Now – the language Shruthi Vijayakumar, World Economic of impact and purpose in business and Forum Global Shaper NZ’s first carbon-zero beverage company investment circles is much more common. David Galipeau, SDGx
PAGE 8 KEY THEMES & FOCUS AREAS
EQUALITY CLIMATE ECONOMY HOPE
How can we build a more equitable How can we accelerate the transition What are the new business & A new sense of what’s possible, & inclusive society? to a low-carbon future? investment models for impact? motivation beyond COVID.
CONNECTIONS KNOWLEDGE INSPIRATION SKILLS & TOOLS
Connect with a global community Build your knowledge of key issues Get inspiration for new ideas and Walk away with practical skills and driven to make a difference for our & solutions for planet, people & opportunities for impact. tools you can use to amplify your future. economy. impact.
PAGE 9 PROGRAMME & EXPERIENCE
The Festival programme played out across the week, Monday–Friday, with the bulk of the content taking place between 2–5pm New Zealand time. The main building blocks were interactive panel sessions on the ‘main stage’, 1-on-1 fireside chats, facilitated connection and networking sessions, as well as multiple concurrent breakout workshop sessions delivered by a range of incredible partners.
See the full programme – www.festivalforthefuture.co/programme
PAGE 10 THE VIRTUAL EVENT PLATFORM
We delivered the majority of the online Festival experience through an event platform called Hopin, as well as using ZOOM for the breakout workshop sessions. The Hopin platform included a main stage area, breakout sessions, live video and text based chat functions, a marketplace feature to showcase organisations and opportunities, as well as connection and networking functions. WORKSHOPS & BREAKOUTS
A total of 2 different sessions in this stream A total of 6 different sessions in this stream • Carbon Zero by 2050 • Reporting live: Kiwi journos working in Asia • Risks & Resilience: Adapting to life in a The global phenomenon of K-pop A total of 2 different sessions in this stream changing climate • Getting into Governance: Is it too early to • Introduction to wushu (a Chinese martial art) think about the boardroom? • Making it in Asia: Young Kiwis tell you how. • The role of boards in shaping the world • Sustainability in Southeast Asia around us • Getting to grips with Chinese – how to pronounce Chinese words correctly
A total of 2 different sessions in this stream • Curating communities for achieving SDGs A total of 2 different sessions in this stream 1 session in this stream • Policy & programming in the climate change • What Key Global Shifts can offer NZ • Systems Mapping - understanding the agenda innovators problem, mapping the change! • Smart Tools for Social Entrepreneurs • Growth through innovation
PAGE 12 WORKSHOPS & BREAKOUTS
1 session in this stream 1 session in this stream 1 session in this stream • Build Your Futures Literacy, transform your • The Power of You - A Masterclass in • What is your World Scenario for the Future? thinking Activism Join us to design it
1 session in this stream 1 session in this stream • Storytelling for Impact • Design thinking for high-impact social solutions
PAGE 13 THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE
The Festival Marketplace enabled a range of organisations to engage, showcase their pathways, products and services with Festival attendees from New Zealand and around the world.
PAGE 14 PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS!
GOLD PARTNER SILVER PARTNERS
BRONZE PARTNERS STUDIO PARTNER
CHAMPION SUPPORTERS DELIVERY PARTNERS
PAGE 15 ABOUT INSPIRING STORIES
Inspiring Stories is a registered New Zealand charity with the vision to see young people realise their potential to change the world. The team at Inspiring Stories have built an impressive track record of programmes and partnerships, and supported thousands of young people to connect, explore future challenges, build capability, and make a difference for their communities, country and beyond.
www.inspiringstories.org.nz
10,000+ PROGRAMME ALUMNI www.festivalforthefuture.co www.theimpactawards.nz
50,000+ VIA PUBLIC SPEAKING
$20,000
IMPACT AWARDS PROVIDED www.futureleaders.nz www.inspiringspeakers.co
PAGE 16 THE TEAM BEHIND IT
THE TEAM AT INSPIRING STORIES
Guy Ryan Finn Shewell Kaea Williams CEO & Founder Marketing & Coach, Future Leaders Communications Ōpōtiki
Sonia Pearson Bridget Cassie Tania Bristow Manager, Manager, Coach, Future Leaders Festival for the Future Future Leaders Whangarei
Jo Bailey Marlena Martin Stephen Brassett Operations Manager Coach, Future Leaders Coach, Future Leaders Kawerau Greymouth
Rachael Elder Talei Bryant Andrew Weaver, Board Chair Business Development Coach, Future Leaders Executive Director, Manager Whakatāne Digital Identity NZ
JJ Stuart-Manning Karen Hepi Kim Young, Board Trustee Account Manager Coach, Future Leaders Marketing and community Far North engagement consultant
Hana Osawa Nakita Ferguson Callum Skeet, Board Trustee Head of Design & Digital Coach, Future Leaders General Manager, Ōpōtiki SolarKing Ltd
PAGE 17 FINANCES
COVID-19 had a significant impact on the Festival revenue. The $284K revenue secured in 2020 includes the apportioned Government Wage Subsidy, which was 45% lower than revenue secured in 2019. We reduced expenses significantly compared with 2019, and the 2020 Festival made a small surplus of $8K.
REVENUE EXPENSES TOTAL REVENUE = $284,910 (Compared to $519K Revenue in 2019) TOTAL EXPENSES = $276,137 (Compared to $507K Expenses in 2019)
$83,140 Sponsorship $44,324 Ticket Sales $236,811 Salaries & Associated Expenses
$18,314 Virtual Event Platforms & Associated Delivery Tech
$80,000 Grants – Wellington City Council $10,232 Contractors
– Office of Ethnic Communities & Volunteer Expenses – Wellington Community Trust
$15,000 Donations $10,780 Marketing & Publicity $62,446 COVID-19 Govt Wage Subsidy
PAGE 18 LEARNING & RECOMMENDATIONS
COVID has turned our world upside down, and we’re all trying to figure out new ways of working, learning, and delivering great experiences online. We transformed Festival for the Future into a virtual summit in a very short space of time. We’re not experts, but have learnt a few things along the way.
DESIGNING THE PROGRAMME DYNAMIC SPEAKER SESSIONS CONNECTIONS & WISDOM
Less is more – keep the programme simple. Engagement – from passive to interactive. Connection and conversations look very different In order to deliver value for attendees the temptation Providing engaging content online is very different online but can be just as powerful. Programming to provide a comprehensive and packed schedule is from an in person event. The ‘main stage’ sessions and facilitating opportunities to help attendees very real. We programmed up to 4 hours of content at #FFTFLive were 50 minutes (reduced from connect with each other, and share their own per day over a 5 day period - this was too much. the usual 90 minutes at the in person event) and stories and ideas with others in the community instead of a person speaking ‘at’ an audience with can add real value. At times, our programme offered eight concurrent presentations slides, we designed our main stage options for attendees to choose from. Running sessions to be highly curated and dynamic panel Never forget that networking and speaking in front concurrent sessions creates unnecessary interviews, and not use slides. This worked. of people can be intimidating, and as a facilitator competition, and can be stressful and confusing for you need to help build people’s confidence and attendees as they look to create their own unique Between sessions an intentional 10 minute break comfort to connect virtually. Setting the scene journey and experience. incentivised attendees to refresh and reflect and we with expectations and how attendees will be actively encouraged engagement with speakers via asked to interact, and starting off with easy Limiting content to single stream would enable a the interactive chat Q&A. exercises in pairs or small groups can help to simple and stress free experience and improve the increase comfort. experience for speakers and facilitators as session These small shifts allowed more digestible content numbers would be maximised. and ranked the most popular feature of the summit. ZOOM has good functionality to achieve this.
PAGE 19 LEARNING & RECOMMENDATIONS
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATION ACCESSIBILITY
Useful tools & tech for collaboration. Because our community and network was mostly While we needed to make the financials work, The entire Festival experience was designed with New Zealand based, we wanted to expand our we wanted to make #FFTFLive as accessible our team working remotely. Luckily we’re a team of reach by working with people and organisations as possible. Thanks to generous support from digital natives who are pretty tech-savvy and already who had much greater relevance and street cred in individuals and partners, we provided scholarship had most of the systems in place. other parts of the world. We also had already been support for more than 400 people. developing a relationship with the United Nations In terms of the design and planning, we used a tool Development Programme (UNDP). Whilst transitioning from an in-person event to digital called Miro (www.miro.com) – which is basically a can be daunting it has the potential to open up a giant online whiteboard that lets you drop in images, Our alumni played a critical role in helping to make whole new community and often to attendees who post-it-notes, links, connections, comments, and introductions in this space. For example – Shay otherwise wouldn’t have access. plan out the programme and experience. Miro was Wright from Te Whare Hukahuka connected us the perfect tool for creative collaboration. with the Obama Foundation; Shruthi Vijayakumar Access to devices, connectivity and data are vastly connected us with people at Global Changemakers, different across New Zealand, and even more so Other key tools and tech we used: and the World Economic Forum; Alexia Hilbertidou across more developing nations. Many users are – Hopin as the main event platform from Girlboss NZ connected us with people at One limited to viewing content via a mobile device which – ZOOM for both internal and external meetings Young World. From there, it began to grow. can limit functionality should the programme design – Slack for internal communication be too complicated. – GoogleDrive (Docs, spreadsheets, etc) When engaging in conversations with potential – Hubspot (CRM, marketing, sales pipeline) partners and collaborators, we always made a point Going digital brings new costs such as the – Squarespace for all of our websites of trying to learn as much about who they were, investment in learning and development, the – Adobe Creative Suite, making things look good what their goals were, where the opportunities for virtual event platforms and supporting software. It alignment could be, and to be open minded about also avoids huge bills associated with the venue, feedback and ways that we might work together. catering, and AV/production.
PAGE 20 CAN YOU HELP US GROW THIS?
Our work at Inspiring Stories, including Festival for the Future – is only possible thanks to the generosity and support of a wide range of people and organisations. If you’re interested in becoming a champion, and helping to make a difference for our collective future – we welcome your support.
CONNECTIONS & INTRODUCTIONS FUNDING, PARTNERS & SPONSORS SUPPORT THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
In the age we live in ‘who we know’ is just as As a registered New Zealand registered charity The scholarship fund helps to provide support important as ‘what we know’. We’ve seen first hand (#CC45932), we’re always looking for new and to young people from marginalised, lower socio- just how powerful it can be when we connect with innovative ways to build partnerships, unlock economic or financially challenged backgrounds to good people who share our vision and values, who sustainable funding, and amplify our impact. attend the Festival. Support can vary depending on go on to become champions. At Inspiring Stories, we have a bold vision to see circumstances. In some cases, scholarship support young people realise their potential to change the could include travel, ticket and accommodation. All of us have a network. Whether it’s friends and world. family, the organisations or industry that we work We know the Festival can be a life-changing in, or a 2 degrees of separation to the CEO of an There are four key initiatives that we currently deliver experience. Thanks to support, we’ve now provided aligned organisation – do you know someone who – Festival for the Future; Future Leaders; The Impact more than 1,200+ scholarships. wants to make a difference for our future, who could Awards; and the social enterprise speaker bureau, become a champion for our work? Inspiring Speakers. If you’d like to contribute towards the scholarship fund, you can make a one-off or regular tax We’re always looking for potential speakers and In the context of COVID and the challenges we face, deductible donation. Donation receipts can be contributors for the next Festival. We’re always there has never been a more important time to invest arranged on request. looking for generous individuals and organisations in our future, than now. If you’re keen to get involved who could help to buy tickets, fund scholarships, or and want to explore opportunities – please get in Our Kiwibank account is 38-9017-0138250-07. help us to amplify our impact. touch.
PAGE 21 SAVE THE DATE FOR 2021 HAPPENING IN PERSON, 30TH JULY–1ST AUGUST, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND