WorldView 2002: Wiser Futures

Today was my first day of the conference, acting as a volunteer for the pre-conference course "Wiser Futures: Using Futures Tools to Better Understand and Create the Future." The day-long session cost the 15 or so participants around $200 each and was run by the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF). Clement Bezold, Robert Olson (that's an old photo!) and Marsha Rhea presented a rushed (but entertaining and fun) version of their two day course, outlining the IAF's techniques for scenario building and visioning. It was interesting to see a set of techniques I wasn't previously familiar with. (At some point I'm going to summarise all the scenario building methods I know of, including IAF's, as a couple of people have asked me for such a resource.) To be honest I was initially sceptical whether the pre-conference courses were worth the money, but on the basis of "Wiser Futures" my scepticism's faded a little.