*Future Search is a technique designed to bring about
  understanding and concensus in and among  groups: the
  discovery of "common ground".
 
 *Future Search builds on existing skills and knowledge.
 
 *Future Search enables all "stakeholders" (anyone with
 a stake in the business, organization, group and/or the 
 results of actions) to "put their two cents in".
 
 *Future Search can lead to concensus on a desired 
 future and the action plans to make it happen.
 
 
 

 Future Search is ideal for organizations of any kind that
 want/need to define long and/or short term goals, discover
 new possibilities, increase commitment and arrive at a 
 common vision of the future.
 
 A Future Search conference usually lasts from 2 to 3 days 
 and may include from 30 to 80 participants. There 
 is a great deal of flexibility in both the number of active 
 participants and the duration of the conference.
 
 Through a process of "collaborative inquiry" task groups:
 
 *Look at themselves within a "global perspective".
 
 *Acknowledge what they hold as common ground.
 
 *Assess the present.
 
 *Generate an "ideal future".
 
 Throughout the conference the groups get together and share
 their "findings".
 
 *To generate an "ideal future" the "task groups" reconvene 
 and come up with "action plans" which are shared with the
 whole conference.
 
 *Action teams are then formed, responsibility for 
 implementation taken, and lines of communication opened in
 order to share knowledge and resources.
 
 
 
 

 A major advantage of the Future Search Conference format is
 the ease with which conferees can maintain communication, 
 coordination, collaboration and commitment after the 
 real-time conference "ends".
 
 Task groups can meet in cyber-space to continue 
 conferencing via the internet, world wide web, intranets 
 and e-mail.
 
 Through the use of conferencing software, action plans 
 generated at the Future Search Confernce can gain and
 maintain momentum.
 
 The excitement generated  at the 
 conference can fuel hopes, dreams and action. 
 

Links to Future Search On-Line

The Future Search Conference:Planning Through Stakeholder Involvement

A good example of implementation of Future Search at Tompkins Cortland Community College. size 11k

Reading List

A great source for information about conferencing, community building and related topics. size 24k

The Change Project: Marvin Weisbord interview

An interview overview of the Future Search Conference by one of the developers of the techniques; literally, the man who wrote the book. size 33k

Beloit Daily News-Wednesday, October 11, 1995

An account of a Future Search Conference involoving stakeholders in the greater Beloit community.

 Weisbord, Marvin,
 Discovering Common Ground; 
 How Future Search Conferences Bring People Together to 
 Achieve Breakthrough Innovation, Empowerment, Shared 
 Vision, and Collaborative Action.
 
 A wide ranging collection of articles by Marvin Weisbord
 and 35 international co-authors.
 
 Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1992.