Future Search
Future Search is a large-group planning conference, developed by Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, that brings a cross-section of everyone with a stake in an issue into one room for about three days. Working in mixed and stakeholder groups, participants review their shared past, map the trends shaping the present, describe the future they want, confirm what they agree on and plan action on that basis. Differences are acknowledged and recorded but not worked through; the energy goes into the common ground.
Facilitation script
- 1
Open with the task and the three-day arc. Seat people in mixed groups and have them add events to the three timelines: world, personal, and the history of the topic. Groups then read the timelines and report what stories they tell.
180 min - 2
Build the trend mind map with the whole room, one trend at a time, called out and drawn on a single large sheet. Hand out sticky dots so people can mark the trends that matter most to them. Close the first day here.
120 min - 3
Second morning: move people into stakeholder groups. Each group reviews the marked trends, reports what it does now and wants to do, and then names what it is proud of and sorry about in relation to the topic.
180 min - 4
Back in mixed groups, ask each group to describe the future it wants and to present it to the room in a form of its own choosing.
210 min - 5
Have groups extract the themes common to all scenarios and post them. Work through the list with the whole room, merging duplicates and moving anything not fully supported to a differences list. Sleep on it, then confirm the common-ground agenda the next morning.
180 min - 6
Third day: people form action groups around the confirmed themes. Each reports its commitments, owners and first steps. Agree the date of the review meeting before closing.
210 min
Tips
Most of the work happens before the conference: if a stakeholder group with real influence on the issue is missing, the action plans will stall on exactly that gap.
Keep all three days and both overnight breaks, because people need the time to absorb what they heard before they commit to anything.
As facilitator, manage the task, the time and the room and stay out of the content; the groups run their own discussions, recording and reporting.
Common pitfalls
Inviting only the willing or the senior: the room agrees quickly, and the plan then fails with the groups that were left out
Trying to resolve disagreements in plenary during the common-ground session, which burns the time and goodwill needed for action planning. Record the difference and move on
Cutting the event to a day and a half to suit diaries: the past and present sessions get rushed and the future scenarios stay shallow
A facilitator who summarises, interprets or steers content, which shifts ownership from the participants to the front of the room
Ending without named owners and a review date, so the common-ground statement becomes a poster and nothing else
Variations
For more than about 100 people, run several conferences in parallel rooms and bring the common-ground statements together. The German name is Zukunftskonferenz, which is easily confused with the Zukunftswerkstatt: that is Robert Jungk's Future Workshop, a different method with critique, fantasy and implementation phases. If you shorten the design to a single day you lose the overnight breaks and much of the common-ground work, so treat that as a different event.
Where it fits
When to use it
An issue cuts across departments, organisations or sectors and no single party can act on it alone
Earlier planning produced documents but no joint action, because the people needed for implementation were not in the room
Stakeholders hold conflicting positions but depend on each other, and you need to find out what they can agree on without first resolving every dispute
A sponsor is ready to let the group set the agenda for action and to back what comes out
You can get the same people for three consecutive days
When not to use it
The sponsor has already decided the outcome and wants buy-in. People notice within the first day; run an honest briefing and consultation instead
Key stakeholder groups will not attend. A partial system produces a partial plan; use a smaller format such as a Future Workshop with the people you do have
The task is to resolve one specific conflict. Future Search sets differences aside by design, so use mediation or a Restorative Dialogue
You only have a day or less. World Café or Open Space Technology give useful results in the time available
The issue is abstract or has no room for local action, so the action groups on day three would have nothing to commit to
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Future Search?▾
Future Search is a planning conference for large groups, developed by Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff. A cross-section of all stakeholders in an issue spends about three days together looking at their past, their present and the future they want, then plans action on the points they all agree on. Disagreements are noted but deliberately not worked on.
How long does a Future Search take?▾
The standard design has five half-day sessions spread over three days: an afternoon, a full day and a morning running into the early afternoon. That is roughly 16 to 20 working hours. The two overnight breaks are part of the design, not padding.
How many people take part in a Future Search?▾
A single conference room works with up to about 100 people. The number matters less than the mix: the invitation list is built so that every group with a stake in the issue is represented. Larger systems run parallel conferences.
What is the difference between Future Search and a Future Workshop?▾
They are different methods with similar names, especially in German (Zukunftskonferenz and Zukunftswerkstatt). Future Search is a three-day multi-stakeholder conference that works from past to present to future and builds on common ground. The Future Workshop, from Robert Jungk, moves through a critique phase, a fantasy phase and an implementation phase and is often used with smaller, more homogeneous groups.
What happens to the issues people disagree on?▾
They are written down on a visible list and left there. The group does not try to negotiate them during the conference. Action planning uses only the themes that everyone in the room supports, which is why the resulting commitments tend to hold.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, Future Search Network.