Wanda Vollmer knows what it’s like to go through a disaster. When she was in her twenties, she moved back to her family’s central California ranch to help care for her mom. In August of 1994, in San Luis Obispo County, what became known as the Highway 41 fire burned 49,000 acres of land and 42 houses including Vollmer’s family home.

Bob Johansen, a futurist and author, and our own Scott James, founder of Bainbridge Prepares and author of Prepared Neighborhoods, will participate in an interactive dialogue about “Being Future-Ready in the Noisy Now” on January 23. The two will discuss the mindset it will take to thrive in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. They will look at how we can individually and collectively be more prepared in the present.