Scenario Thinking
Generic Workshop Template
Lawrie Phipps
Before the day
Assigndelegates to a group and give
them pre reading. Ask them to add detail,
such as headlines that illustrate the
scenario
Introduce the day - 20 minutes
What is the purpose of the day (why are
we doing the scenario thinking/planning)
Explain scenario thinking/planning
Points to get across
Future-gazing and making accurate predictions is difficult.
Most are wrong.
Scenario planning, by using trend analysis as its base, keeps
focus in the prediction period to somewhere around the 10-year
mark, this helps build tests of plausibility into the process.
The 10 year period is far enough in the future to allow creative
thought not inhibited by what we know.
Emphasize that the scenarios are not real, nor are they
expected to come true. They are designed to be 'extreme' to aid
creativity.
The Scenario Process
• Scope the issue (why are we doing it)
• Trend analysis
• Build Scenarios
For workshops in a one day format the previous are already
done
• Further build scenarios (for example what would education
look like)
• Generate options
• Test Options
• Action Plan
Get into groups
Inthe groupwork:
Record everything on flip charts
Make notes
Record with sound and video if possible
3. Further enhancement (in groups) 120 minutes
In the education context (for which this was designed)
Brainstorm the context (e.g what would education look
like? 30 minutes
Ask the delegates to build profiles for ‘actors’ 15 minutes
per profile (try splitting group in two, do two profiles per
group) 30 minutes then feedback to each other on the
profile (worth recording)
Ask them:
Brainstorm
Opportunities 10 minutes
Challenges 10 minutes
Changes from where we are now 10 minutes
Generate Options 45 minutes
Brainstorming against the profiles - what
(technology/process) would be an enabler in this
scenario
Over Lunch
Bring delegates together in one room along with the
enabler flipcharts
Give everyone the chance to look at each one
Give everyone the chance to vote for what looks the
most interesting options
Building up the options
Ingroups (either the same ones or divide
them by 'role' eg. lecturer, student as per
the profiles, or processes you wish to
examine. It is preferable to have at least
one person from each scenario.
Spend time building 5 to 8 'favourite'
options
Testing the options
Bring the flipcharts back to plenary.
get all delegates to identify if they would
work in their scenario (ticks or post-its etc)