Futurecasting: How to Project Future Possibilities

As many of you know, I serve on the board of the Yankee Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. We have monthly board meetings in which we discuss the organization's overall "health" as well as deal with the mundane issues of chapter governance: Budgets, upcoming events, promotions, publicity, membership, etc.

I am new to the board, so I try to put my finger on the pulse of the discussion before I add my two cents. It's taken me a while as a marketing communications professional to truly understand that you learn more when you use your ears as opposed to using your mouth (after all, God gave us two of the former and one of the latter--you'd think we would take the hint!).

Our meetings are pretty routine... except when they're not.

While discussing our collective desire to increase participation in our events--we have monthly events for professional development, networking, etc.--we stumbled upon an area to which I have, of late, devoted considerable thought: Futurecasting.

Paltry attendance at our events is a matter of ongoing concern. We considered several reasons why our events are achieving less-than-desired attendance: Lack of time, proximity to work/home, competing priorities, time of the event, topic of the event, etc.). We've surveyed members; the responses we received indicate all of the above are factors contributing to declining event participation.

I said: If we're not getting the attendance numbers we want, we need to change the way we offer the events. Perhaps it's event frequency, content, time, and/or the media we use to convey program information.

Three to five years down the road, are any of us going to be less busy? How will such seemingly ordinary issues like gas prices affect attendance rates? Who will be our target demographic, and how will they expect us to provide them programming and information?

Moreover, should we continue measuring the success of our events just on the basis of how many people attend, or do we need to consider other, undetermined measures that indicate success?

I suggested that we devote some time in an upcoming meeting to discuss the future; to brainstorm regarding the hidden opportunities of the uncertain communications future. As communications leaders, we can't get caught up in the present (although of course the present is the immediate priority).

Ultimately, by engaging in a rigorous conversation about the future, and involving professionals from other disciplines, we will benefit every organization and every individual we serve. We'll be better positioned to capitalize on opportunities as they arise, and less tied into "the way we always do things."

"The way we always do things" has gotten us this far; "futurecasting" will take us to the next level.