PRECONFERENCE COURSES AND

THE EDUCATION SUMMIT

Note: Course registration is  limited, early registration is recommended for the course(s) of your choice.

C-1 Introduction to Futures Studies

Friday, July 25, 2008
9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

The most frequently asked question posed to futurists is "How do you tell what is going to happen in the future?" The future is a constant source of fascination and anxiety in society, but what to do about it? Few have taken a course, much less a degree, on how to think about and deal with the future.

This course fills that gap. We will share the approaches that futurists use to anticipate and influence the future systematically and effectively. We will give participants a framework to understand what futurist are saying and a method to create their future in productive and useful ways. We’ll address futures thinking, futures methods, future events and issues, and planning and change management.

This workshop will share the approach that futurists use to anticipate and influence the future. The approach will be rich in resources and approaches for meeting one’s educational and career objectives. The approach is interactive in order to answer participants’ real questions and even to experience some of the techniques discussed. Anyone who is thinking about living in the future should take this briefing before they start out!

Who should attend: Anyone interested in a comprehensive overview of the theory, methods and the field of futures studies
What you’ll learn: Principles—the basic principles used by futurist in preparing for the future; methods—the techniques employed by futurists to anticipate and influence the future; field—an overview of the futures field including leading organizations and individuals; resources—texts, journals, and Web sites
How can this new knowledge be applied: Organizations, governments, individuals, and businesses can use this comprehensive overview to futures thinking and techniques to help understand change as well as anticipate and influence the future.

 

Faculty: Peter Bishop, associate professor of human sciences; chair, Studies of the Future graduate program, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Founded in 1974, the University of Houston program is the only degree program in the United States and one of only two or three in the world devoted exclusively to the study of the future.

$140 members/$190 nonmembers  Register Now

C-2  “So You Want to Teach the Future?”: Topics, Tools, and Tasks

Friday, July 25, 2008
1:00 p.m.- 4:00p.m.

Whether you want to include futures in your course or workshop or you want to build a course on the future, this workshop provides practical “how-to” information. Attendees will review existing futures courses and learner exercises that can be practically applied to their academic environment. Participants will also create new exercises directly related to their needs and will have an opportunity to share experiences with others. We will give actionable advice on how to create templates for course/learner syllabi, online credit and non-credit courses, outlines for crafting futures exercises, and unique learning experiences. Workshop leaders are experienced futures instructors from the Institute for the Future at Anne Arundel Community College (www.aacc.edu/future) who can share their knowledge and guide creation of new learning opportunities.

Who should attend: People particularly focused on and those just starting the “futures teaching” process. High school and college educators, trainers, and those who want insight into some topics and strategies in teaching and learning the future will benefit from this workshop.
What you’ll learn: Participants will add new futures learning and teaching strategies to their repertoire. They will also find out how to create their own futures exercises and courses.
How can this new knowledge be applied: This course is practical. Attendees will take away new processes and procedures for futures teaching and learning. 

Faculty: John Sagi, advisory team, Institute for the Future at AACC, School of Business Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland
Stephen F. Steele, director, Institute for the Future at AACC, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland

 $60 members/$85 nonmembers Register Now

C-3 Enhancing Future Consciousness: The Development of Constructive, Optimistic, and Creative Attitudes and Behaviors about the Future

Friday, July 25, 2008
9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Future consciousness is the total set of psychological abilities, processes, and experiences humans use to understand and deal with the future. This workshop provides basic concepts for understanding all the major dimensions of future consciousness and an array of techniques and principles for heightening its capacities. The central activity for participants will be the development of preferable future life narrative based on the ideas learned in the workshop. Participants will also do a quick self-assessment on their level of future consciousness. As a starting point, human emotion, motivation, and constructive goal-directed behavior are addressed as core components of future consciousness. The environmental context and lifespan development of human emotions are highlighted. The pivotal significance and influence of hope and fear upon future consciousness is closely examined. Next, cognitive capacities such as critical, reflective, and possibility thinking, foresights and imagination, creativity, and planning are described, as are a number of tools to assist in the development and management of these psychological abilities. A key feature of human psychology is self-identity. Self-efficacy, self-narratives (personal storytelling), and optimism are reviewed as important aspects of self-identity in contributing to enhanced future consciousness. A unique and powerful feature of this workshop is an examination of a set of key human virtues and how strengthening these virtues lead to heightened future consciousness. In this concluding section of the workshop, the virtues of self-responsibility, courage, and transcendence are described and connected to the strengthening of future consciousness. The virtue of wisdom is identified as the highest expression of future consciousness and various principles and activities are described that will facilitate the growth of this key virtue.

Who should attend: Educators, psychologists, social service workers, business leaders, and any individual interested in personal or professional growth.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will gain a thorough understanding of the psychology of future consciousness and the importance of virtues and wisdom in heightened future consciousness, and learn a variety of principles, strategies, and tools for enhancing future consciousness.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Knowledge gained in the workshop can be used to significantly enhance a person’s abilities to think constructively and imaginatively about his or her personal or professional future and to measurably improve his or her chances for creating a more fulfilling, positive, and rewarding future. Attendees will also learn how to construct an effective preferable future life narrative that will positively impact the quality of their lives. 

Faculty: Thomas Lombardo, futures professor and faculty chair of Psychology, Philosophy, and Integrated Studies, Rio Salado College; author, The Evolution of Future Consciousness and Contemporary Futurist Thought, Tempe, Arizona

$150 members/$200 nonmembers  Register Now

 

 

 

C-4 A Science-Based Approach to Collaborative Innovation

Saturday, July 26, 2008        
9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Strategic visioning for the purpose of innovation can be both an art and a science. A purely artful approach is random and surreptitious. Traditional brainstorming sessions, where bright people gather in a room and throw thoughts and ideas around on flip charts, have been the traditional and antiquated approach to innovation and visioning.

This course presents a scientific and technologically advanced approach to collaborative innovation that is multi-dimensional, structured and disciplined. The methodological framework entitled Six Steps to Collective Genius is a science-based knowledge system applying bisociative brainstorming theory, which borrows classic concepts from quantum physics and new research in neuroscience to stimulate new ideas.

The full-day course will provide an interactive series of exercises to demonstrate the methodology in the morning as well as share case studies of successful implement. Attendees will have a hands-on experience with an Enterprise 2.0 Group Intelligence and demonstrate how it can be implemented in their organizations. 

Who should attend: Academics, executives, community leaders, R&D technologists, and entrepreneurs that need to develop new skills in collaborative innovation processes that stimulate new ideas throughout all levels and functions of the organization and its stakeholders.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will learn a higher-order thinking concept for envisioning the future; discover a replicable methodology for harnessing the collective genius of the organization and its stakeholders; understand the importance of focusing research on dynamic knowledge; learn how the infinite possibilities of the future can be better articulated from the convergence of dynamic knowledge; and understand the impact of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 Collaborative Technology. Attendees will become certified visionary coaches and satisfy the prerequisite for certified business associate training in this methodology.
How can this new knowledge be applied: The methodology will allow attendees to develop applications in their organization for think tanks, technology commercialization, product development, futurist visioning, and strategic planning.

Faculty: Howard S. Rasheed, founder, Institute for Innovation; associate professor of business, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina
Miles Davis: Associate professor of management, Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah University; director, Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leesburg, Virginia  

$155 members/$205 nonmembers  Register Now

C-5 How to Think Like a Futurist (two-day course)

Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26, 2008
9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

This course is an intensive introduction to all aspects of studying the future, giving particular attention to the intellectual characteristics and practical strategies which futures work requires. The course consists of three components. The first is a brief presentation of a study that covers the professional and psychological preparations individuals must undertake to effective e engage the future.

The second component includes exercises for both individuals and teams. We will cover the “why,” “when,” and “how” of useful techniques, including trend identification and extrapolation, cross-impact analysis, expert judgment (Delphi), environmental scanning, moot hearings, trees, signed digraphs, and scenarios. For each one of these methods, participants will be carried through a practical example, advised about when and how to use the technique, and informed about relative costs and requirements for special training or equipment a team assignment taking a minimum of two hours (completed during the interval between the two days) will require substantial group work and is designed to solidify the course material in the minds of the participants.

The third component involves presentation and critical reviews by the members of the teams as well as by the instructor.

There are no preliminary requirements. Everything needed will be supplied on site. The participants must be prepared to work strenuously in a high-pressure intellectual setting.

Who should attend: Professional and a vocational futurist as well as those who wish to better understand, interpret, and use futures material will benefit from this course.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will experience all aspects of studying the future, giving particular attention to the intellectual conditions and practical strategies and tools which futures work requires. All concepts will be demonstrated and reinforced by examples drawn from first-hand experience.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Individuals will be able to apply practical strategies and futurist tools to their every day lives.

Faculty: Joseph F. Coates, president, Joseph F. Coates consulting Futurist, Inc.; co-author, 2025: Scenarios of U.S. and Global Society Reshaped by Science and Technology; author of over 500 articles and reports to clients of the future, Washington, D.C. Web site www.josephcoates.com 

$350 members/$400 nonmembers  Register Now

C-6  An Introduction to the Principles of Forecasting for Professionals

Saturday, July 26, 2008
 9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

The field of forecasting is concerned with approaches to determining what the future holds. It is also concerned with the proper presentation and use of forecasts. The terms “forecast,” “prediction,” “projection,” and “prognosis” are too-often used interchangeably.

Forecasting is often confused with planning. Forecasting is concerned with what the future will look like, while planning is concerned with what it should look like. One would usually start by planning. The planning process produces a plan that is, along with information about the environment, an input to the forecasting process. If the organization does not like the forecasts generated by the forecasting process, it can generate other plans until a plan is found that leads to forecasts of acceptable outcomes. Of course, many organizations take a shortcut and merely change the forecast.

Knowledge about forecasting comes from comprehensive research. Research on forecasting has produced many changes in recommended practice, especially since the 1960s. Research findings have often been upsetting to established “experts.”

Forecasting is concerned with how to collect and process information. Decisions about how to structure a forecasting problem are very important. For example, when should one decompose a problem and address each component separately? Forecasting includes obtaining relevant up-to-date data, checking for errors and making adjustments for inflation, working days, and seasonality. Forecast error sometimes depends more on how information is used than on getting ever more accurate information. The question of what information is needed and how it is best used is determined by the selection of forecasting methods.

Many mistakenly believe that common sense is enough for good forecasting. It has been shown that judgmental forecasts are usually significantly less accurate than formal methods because they are subject to many biases such as optimism and overconfidence. The good news is that forecasters can learn how to overcome many of these biases.  

Who should attend: This course is designed for all those whose success and survival in their jobs or in their daily lives depends on their ability to construct high quality forecasts. This course will benefit everyone from senior CEOs and executive managers, technical professionals, social workers, military/peacekeeping personnel, inventors, software developers, or interested laypeople.
What you’ll learn: Participants will be able to understand all of the principles of modern forecasting and will be able to apply them to the solutions of the most difficult, complex and interlinked, real-life problems that they face.
How can this new knowledge be applied: It is the purpose of this course to teach participants how to overcome their personal and professional biases so that they can become effective forecasters.

Faculty: Paul D. Tinari, director, Pacific Institute for Advanced Study, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada; professor futurist to many Fortune 500 corporations; instructor of Futures Courses, Simon Fraser University

$150 member/$200 nonmembers  Register Now

C-7 Wiser Futures: Using Futures Tools to Understand and Create the Future

Saturday, July 26, 2008
9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

The Institute for Alternative Futures offers its workshop introducing its world-class approach to aspirational futures techniques in communities, organizations, governments, and corporations around the world. IAF will take you through the four dimensions of aspirational futures to help people and organizations learn about the future, discover their aspirations, choose a preferred future and lead change. You will get practical advice on when and how to use powerful futures methods and tools to transform organizations and create preferred futures. IAF will survey participants in advance to select several futures methods to experience in the workshop. Every participant receives a compendium of tools and resources.  

Who should attend: This course is valuable for individuals from organizations and corporations responsible for foresight and strategic planning. Previous workshop attendees from associations, government agencies, small businesses, large corporations, and independent consultants have all found it very useful.
What you’ll learn: Three experienced practitioners will provide their wisdom and hands-on experience in identifying trends, developing forecasts, creating stimulating scenarios, and discovering powerful visions for an organization. The course provides an introductory overview to the steps the Institute for Alternative Futures considers the core of aspirational futures.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Participants can use this knowledge and skills to wisely apply a range of futures methods to their specific challenges and organizational priorities. Practicing futurists will appreciate this opportunity to benchmark their tools and approaches against a leading futurist organization.

Faculty: Craig Bettles, futurist, Institute for Alternative Futures, Seattle, Washington
Clement Bezold, founder and chairman of the board, Institute for Alternative Futures; contributing editor, THE FUTURIST magazine, Alexandria, Virginia
 Devin Fidler, futurist, Institute for Alternative Futures, Alexandria, Virginia

$200 members/$250 nonmembers  Register Now

C-8 How to use Future Studies to Assess Organizational Risk

Friday, July 25, 2008
9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

We live in a world that is characterized by change. As the pace of change has increased in recent years, the costs of being wrong-footed by change have increased as well. This means that we all now need to be conversant with risk and how to assess it. Future studies, as an aid to management, can help to identify and assess the risk that an organization faces. This session will demonstrate how future studies can be used to assess organizational risk. It will also include a workshop example during the day so that those attending might gain an insight into the practical aspects of the material delivered.

The course will cover three broad topics–an introduction to risk and how it relates to future studies, defining a basic model of future studies that can be used as a management tool, and using the future studies model to assess organizational risk. Throughout the session, we shall refer to a simple worked example to enable those attending to try out the techniques discussed.

Who should attend: The session is designed for those whose work involves future studies but who would like a sharper edge to the practical applications of the discipline, and to those who work within an organizational context who have to bring a future dimension to their work.
What you’ll learn: We will examine the relationship between risk and uncertainty, the different types of risk category, how future studies can tease out the nuances of the different risks facing an organization, and how the organization can develop an early warning system to alert is to changes in the environment.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Those attending the session should be able to use a range of basic foresight techniques to assess and manage risk within their organization. 

Faculty: Stephen Aguilar-Millan, director of research, European Futures Observatory; director, The Greenways Partnership, international futurist consultant; Ipswich, Suffolk, UK

$195 members/$245 nonmembers  Register Now

C-9 Scenario Planning: How to Build and Use Scenarios

Saturday, July 26, 2008
9:00 a.m-5:00 p.m.

Nobody can predict the future, but proven tools help us illuminate the path ahead so we are able to make better decisions about opportunities and threats in an uncertain future. The most comprehensive of these tools is scenario planning, a storytelling technique which allows managers to explore different “plausible model worlds,” each based on alternative resolution of the most important pending technological, societal, or regulatory uncertainties facing them.

Scenario planning has been adapted for both corporate and non-profit/government situations, and there are fundamental differences in these two approaches. In this course we will investigate both types of scenario planning, with a focus ultimately on policy-oriented, public-interest scenario planning.

Following a methods overview and elaboration of past examples, attendees will get a chance to make and test scenarios in small groups.

The program will also teach participants best practices in extracting the value from scenarios–how to use scenario to test and improve decision-making, and how to distil from competing scenarios the optimal decisions a specific organization in a particular sector at a given time should make.

The program is part of an MBA course “Industry Foresight and Strategic Innovation” taught by the presenter at various prominent business schools worldwide.  

Who should attend: This course is relevant both to futures professionals who seek the tools to work more closely and deeply with client companies, and to managers who seek to be better able to develop future insights and apply them in their daily work. It will be relevant to participants from business, nonprofit, and government sectors, with a particular emphasis on executives in public policy and governmental organizations who are required to negotiate, determine, and communicate robust initiatives for managing the future under conditions of external uncertainty.
What you’ll learn: Participants will emerge knowing how to build scenarios and with an integrated method for getting from scenarios to strategic decision-making and innovation. The course selects the best materials from both academic and business sources, including many past examples, good and bad. It is pragmatic in style and approach.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Attendees will have the opportunity on the day to apply the tools learned to their topic area, and to work up scenarios that are directly relevant to their situation. Over the longer term participants will be able to use the tools learned to develop scenarios of the future in their topic area, and use them to challenge their own or others’ future thinking and future preparedness, or utilize this as a basis for fundraising or media exposure or other initiatives to positively influence the future.

Faculty: Adam Gordon, director, The Future Studio, a consulting and executive education firm specializing in industry foresight, scenario planning, and innovation for business and public-sector organizations; Cardiff, UK; instructor, INSEAD, Monash, Australia

 

$205 members/$255 nonmembers  Register Now

C-10  Framing and Forecasting Patterns of Change (two-day course)

Friday July 25, 2008 and Saturday, July 26, 2008
9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Sharpening abilities to pinpoint core principles, patterns and perspectives revealing what’s coming has never been more important as businesses, organizations and governments increasingly are bombarded by change. Gain all-encompassing intelligence about major factors that influence change. Never get caught by surprise. Sharpen insights that enhance staying in the forefront of change. Learn to take steps avoiding affects of incorrect decisions, maximizing opportunities and minimizing adversities.

This course will help participants: 1) assess their organization's capacity to detect and map change, 2) upgrade scanning, monitoring and knowledge systems, 3) apply futures methods and models vital to strategic planning, 4) recognize "signatures of change" to frame ideas and issues, advance solutions, and resolve problems, 5) track waves of technological inventions and social innovations that shape markets and communities (long, linear, deterministic and cyclic time series), 6) factor in silent forces (philosophical, theoretical and cultural) that shape change, 7) highlight intervention points for capitalizing upon opportunities implicit in coming changes, and 8) articulate a sound basis for future program or service investments responsive to bellwether groups and emerging economic paradigms.

Interactive presentations will be reinforced by practical models, best practices and case examples. The faculty will facilitate personal and group learning, expert feedback, and group discussion. This is a unique opportunity to learn how to break down silo-thinking and build consensus around many-faceted dimensions crucial to successful goal seeking 

Who should attend: Anyone seeking professional development as a consulting futurist, corporate planner, business analyst, venture capitalist, or public policy/political sector strategist.
What you’ll learn: Twenty-two-step template model of change (including mind-stretching millennial forecasts), and leadership tools to spur on change and future management systems.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Forecasting methods and models from inception to outcome (many of them developed by the presenters) will hone horizon scanning, emerging issues analysis, policy formation, strategic forecasting and futures thinking overall.

Faculty: Graham T.T. Molitor. president, Public Policy Forecasting, former vice president and legal counsel, World Future Society; research director for U.S. Presidential campaigns; White House staff forecasting responsibilities; legislative counsel, U.S. Congress, editorial board chairman, Encyclopedia of the Future; Fayetteville; Pennsylvania

Jay Gary, associate professor, School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, program director of the Master of Arts in Strategic Foresight at Regent University; co-author, Forecasting Fundamentals: Principles, Patterns and Practice, (forthcoming), Colorado Springs, Colorado

$350 members/$400 nonmembers  Register Now

Saturday, July 26, 2008
9:00am-5:00pm

The Education Summit will explore the cutting edge of education. A full-day program, the Summit will look at what tomorrow holds for education, including new technologies, new techniques and approaches to teaching futures, and visions for the coming decades.

Global Online Learning Pioneers (Panel of 7 students)

Ted Kahn, co-founder, president, and CEO, DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc.
 Neerja Raman, senior fellow, Stanford University and Media X Project

Online and virtual learning are now expanding rapidly beyond the major industrialized countries. The availability of high quality learning and teaching resources on the Web, many free of charge through open source or open access portals, is opening up incredible learning opportunities for students of all ages all over the world. However, we also need equal focus on how these resources are put into practice and how to support the diversity of student learning needs.

Some Suggested Priorities for Futurists in the Classroom

John Smart, president, Acceleration Studies Foundation
Ideas will be shared for better foresight curriculum development at all educational levels, and the increasing importance of online community development for futures students and futures educators (see http://futuresnework.org). A brief overview of what is involved in developing and teaching a required undergraduate course in Foresight Development at a leading university (UAT in Phoenix, AZ) will be discussed. (Open course wiki: http://foresightdevelopment.wetpaint.com).

Designing the Future of Education
Irene Brock, partner, FuturEd, LLC

A comparative overview will be presented that enables participants to identify the critical differences between the old factory-model schools we still have and the 21^st century learning centers we need.

Teaching Futures and Futures Education

Stephen Steele, professor of future studies, Institute for the Future
Peter Bishop, president, Strategic Foresight and Development

 

 

 

Future Trends and Visions for Education

David Pearce Snyder, principal partner, Snyder Family Enterprise

 

 

 

Dennis Peterson, superintendent, Minnetonka School District

Arthur Shostak, professor emeritus of sociology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

 

 

$75 members/$125 nonmembers (includes light continental breakfast)  Register Now

For more information contact: World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814;
Tel: 1-800-989-8274 or 1-301-656-8274;  Fax: 1-301-951-0394;  Web Site: www.wfs.org;  E-mail: sechard@wfs.org.