On Monday, featured speaker Rebecca Ryan introduced attendees to the cycles or seasons in America's history, with the U.S. currently being in a winter stage (era of survival and gathering) with spring (an era of hope, promise and peace and prosperity) on its way. With this change, Ryan explained the importance of strategic foresight and shared the futurists shortcut to shape your community's future: STEEP (Society, Technology, Economy, Environment and Politics).

As you prepare for your community's future, Ryan suggests to consider the following:

• Framing - What is the domain to explore? What are the hard edges?
• Scanning - Survey the trends and forces that may shape the future of the domain
• Forecasting - Identify likely scenarios that could come true in the next 20, 30, 50 years
• Visioning - Envision a preferred future
• Planning - Create milestones, strategy and feedback loops to achieve this vision
• Acting - Get it done! 

Find out more about Rebecca Ryan and her books, here.