The Emerge event, held in Tempe, AZ in March 2012, brought together a range of scientists, artists, futurists, engineers and students in order to experiment with innovative methods for thinking about the future. These methodological techniques were tested through nine workshops, each of which made use of a different format; Emerge as a whole, then, offered an opportunity to study a diverse set of future-oriented engagement practices. We conducted an event ethnography, in which a team of 11 researchers collaboratively developed accounts of the practices at play within Emerge and its workshops. In this article we discuss findings from this ethnography, using our data both to describe the techniques used within Emerge and to analyse key patterns which occurred around those techniques. As we close we reflect on the implications of these findings for practice, suggesting ways in which our results can help hone the tools and techniques of future studies. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.