Futurists are concerned about the world as a
whole, but that effective action to achieve a better future generally takes
place in one's local area. A local futurist group enables futurists in a given
area to get to know each other, share ideas, and work together to educate the
community about future possibilities.
Join a futurist group and become
involved. If you do not see a futurist group near you on the accompanying
lists, and might be interested in establishing a futurist group in your area, please read over
the Guidelines for Potential Coordinators and, if you are still
interested, fill out the Coordinator's Information Form or
contact Sue Echard at WFS headquarters.
Virtual and Online Groups
We also have groups on
Linkedin, Twitter,
Myspace and
Facebook. Only WFS members will be accepted to the Linkedin group.
The other groups are public.
Book Discussion Groups—A Wonderful
Futurist Group Activity
By Ken Harris
World Future Society Secretary, former president of the
Washington futurist group
Discussing books about the future is
a great activity for any World Future Society futurist group. Here's why:
It costs little or nothing.
It involves futurist group members in
actively thinking about and discussing the future
It develops personal bonds among
futurist group members.
It makes people aware of the
World Future Society and the idea that study of the future is
possible.
The Society’s Washington futurist
book group as met every month except August since 2004. The futurist
group runs book group meetings at no cost because a local independent
bookstore which hosts many book discussion groups, donates the space,
and meetings are announced on the futurist group website and in these weekly
online and monthly print newsletters. The group discusses a different
non-fiction book having something to do with the future at each meeting,
so attendees get to think and talk about as great a breadth of subjects
as in The Futurist—everything from alternative energy to world
politics. The regular attendees get to know each other personally, and
people learn about the Society and the Washington futurist group through the
bookstore’s newsletters. You can see our past and future book selections
on the futurist group website. The URLs are
http://www.natcapwfs.org/events_archives.htm (past selections)
and http://www.natcapwfs.org/events.htm (scheduled selections).
You too can have a local futurist
book group. Here are some tips on how to do it:
Find a leader:
A moderate time commitment is necessary. The leader has to read the book
fairly closely in order to have a few questions to ask to start the
discussion and keep it moving, answer questions from the public, and see
that readings are scheduled in advance and publicized and that the books
are available.
Find a meeting place and schedule a
regular meeting time: The meeting
place can be a local bookstore or someone’s home. Independent bookstores
sponsor book groups to get people into their stores to compete with the
large chains. The Washington futurist group formerly had book group meetings in
people’s homes on Saturday mornings (The meetings now are on Wednesday
evenings!). This is a viable option if you can find people willing to
serve as hosts.
Choose readings by group consensus:
The leader should suggest selections
himself or herself and welcome suggestions from the members. This
achieves member "buy-in" and consensus on what books are appropriate. To
help decide on selections, you can find book reviews in major
newspapers, online and in news magazines and email them to members or
pass them out at meetings. We take a few minutes at the beginning or end
of the meeting to choose future selections.
Schedule readings in advance:
Try to schedule readings at least 2,
preferably 3 months in advance to allow time for publicity, the
bookstore to order extra copies, and time for members to read the book.
Invite authors of the books to be
discussed rarely or not at all:
Remember that the object of book discussion meetings is to actively
involve the members in discussion about the future. If you invite
authors, expect the meeting to be a book talk by the author like those
on Book TV, not a book discussion.
Strongly encourage, but don’t insist,
that people read the book: The most
successful meetings are, of course, those in which a majority of
participants have read the book in detail. However, people who haven’t
read the book can contribute to the discussion by asking questions about
what the author says. This stimulates those who have read the book to
chime in with their views.
Allow wide-ranging discussion but
return often to the author’s themes:
This is preferable to the method used in the more formal Great Books
discussion groups in which the leader questions the participants about
the content of the book because attendees can at least relate a life
experience to the broad themes of the book, even if they can’t remember
the details.
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7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
Tel. 301-656-8274. E-mail info@wfs.org. Web site http://www.wfs.org.
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