Foresight Tutorial: Futuring 101
Successful Models in Foresight Consulting ($100)
B08 Conference Room, Gates Computer Science Building, Stanford University
Dr. Peter Bishop, Chair, Studies of the Future M.S. Program at the University of Houston
Tom Conger, CEO, Social Technologies, a leading futures consultancy in Washington, D.C.
George Gilder, Editor in Chief, Gilder Technology Report, Chairman of Gilder Publishing, author of Microcosm, 1990, Telecosm, 2000, and Silicon Eye, 2005

The faster change goes, the more acutely we need to develop foresight in our global, institutional, and personal affairs. In this intimate, daylong tutorial you'll get an overview from three different foresight leaders of the practices they use to prepare their clients for our complex future, as well as learn how to add greater foresight proficiency to your own organization and personal life. If you are interested in consulting in this growing field, either as a professional or informally within your organization, you don't want to miss this chance for small group interaction and extensive Q&A with some highly successful change leaders.

Developing strategic foresight goes beyond the conventional time horizon of strategic planning, which is typically three to five years, depending on industry. There are many methods available, and successful and questionable practices abound. Come learn the basics and best-class examples of foresight development, forecasting, and foresight consulting from some highly successful practicing experts, and some of the history and future of this fascinating field from the founder of the leading futures studies graduate program in the United States.

Suggested Pre-Tutorial Preparation:

1. Order and skim one prediction- or future-oriented book, and bring one or two insights with you to share with the class. Some to consider: Paul Halpern's The Pursuit of Destiny: A History of Prediction, 2000, a physicist's lay explanation of the history and limitations of prediction; John Malone's, Predicting the Future: From Jules Verne to Bill Gates, 1997, a book with a few research flaws but a very readable treatment of predictions (accurate and wrong) over the centuries; Laura Lee's Bad Predictions, 2000, a light discussion of a century of poor predictions in a range of areas, illustrating the overly imaginative mindset of some popular futurists; Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, 2005, a superlative example of a book predicting the future continuance of one megatrend, globalization, that today seems to be a statistically inevitable developmental process. Many other books that could be suggested for a range of "developmental" trends in computation, communication, commerce, transparency, security, democracy, etc., but Friedman's new work is an excellent place to start for business futures. If you have an interest in technical methods, J.S. Armstrong's Principles of Forecasting, 2001 by a Wharton Business School professor, is probably the leading survey work on the range of methods of foresight development being used today. Spyros Makridakis's Forecasting: Methods and Applications, 1997, is an even more quantitative reference work covering similar material.

2. Take a look online at a good book on consulting practice development, such as Alan Weiss's Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice, 2002. Browse a few of Alan's free tips for consulting at his website. Whether a formal or informal consultant, consider the practical issues involved in building a client base, an expertise network, and the type of foresight development that best fits with your background, interests, and career goals. Bring your questions on these topics for Peter, Tom and George.

Investment Tutorial: Making the Future Work for You
A Successful Investor Teaches You How to Safely and Profitably Manage Your Own Account ($100)*
B12 Toshiba Classroom, Gates Computer Science Building, Stanford University
Mike Korns, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Korns Associates;

This tutorial is for anyone who wants to get significantly better at managing all or part of their own investments. Whether you are a low or high net worth individual, a beginning or experienced investor, you will learn skills to better make and manage your own investments.

Mike Korns, Founder and Chairman of Korns Associates, wants you to know the strategies he has learned over the years as a self-made investor with no prior financial education or qualification. The disciplined application of basic strategies anyone can learn has brought him wealth as a professional investor for more than a decade. Mike presently makes multi-million dollar annual returns, and regularly beats the stock market averages, including during these last few turbulent years. For many, investing is a complex and habitually difficult topic. This is a rare opportunity to gain experience on these issues directly from a successful multimillionaire investor in a relaxed tutorial environment.

If you are comfortable leaving all your investing to sales agents, large institutions, and professionals, this isn't the course for you. But if you would like to learn the inexpensive, uncomplicated strategies of successful self-made investors, this is a unique opportunity to learn how to safely grow your savings capital to where it will greatly exceed your annual income from all other activities.

Basic investment strategies explained include buying and selling equities, fixed income, safe option hedges appropriate for an IRA, and risk management to help you navigate occasional market crashes. We'll visit online resources from The Motley Fool, Value Line, and other sources, and you'll get a sense of what works and what doesn't for the busy professional with no prior financial education. Mike will also outline a few advanced strategies in agent-based trading, including genetic algorithms, that can be used by those with a technical bent to gain superior market returns.

*A Note for New and Occasional Investors: If you have never invested before or are not presently invested, you may attend the investment tutorial for only $50 if you promise to use the remaining $50 to start your own account after the tutorial. Enter "AC2005-NEW" as a discount code to receive this special new investor rate, or register by phone.

Suggested Pre-Tutorial Preparation:

1. Visit Investor's Business Daily (IBD) Learning Center, and take their four short tutorials and brief quizzes on stocks, options, and the "CAN SLIM" indicator. See also their 20 rules for stock market success.

2. Order and skim Mary Buffett's The New Buffettology, 2002 and William O'Neil's, How to Make Money in Stocks, 2002. The first outlines the self-made investment king Warren Buffett's "value investing" strategy. It include's Buffett's strategies in both the go-go 1990's and the post-2000 bear market. The second outlines William O'Neil's "rational investing" approach, including his "CAN SLIM" checklist. O'Niel is another self-tutored investor, and founder of the Investor's Business Daily.

Second Life Tutorial: Building the Dream
Creating and Profiting in Virtual Worlds - Session Full! Registration Closed (special FREE session with a Second Life account! only a few of the 40 spaces left, email Jerry Paffendorf to RSVP)
B02 Computer Room, Gates Computer Science Building, Stanford University
Cory Ondrejka, Vice President of Product Development, Linden Lab, creators of Second Life

Excerpted from Cory's presentation at Accelerating Change 2004 (IT Conversations podcast):

Digital worlds are established destinations for fun and adventure. Like all frontiers, entrepreneurs are in these worlds, generating real-world profits. Digital worlds face important decisions around whether, and how, to embrace these business activities.

As their populations grow, digital worlds are drawing from all walks of life. People from around the globe are discovering worlds where the only limit is human creativity. People, ideas and cultures are interacting in ways never before possible.

Sustained economic growth relies on innovation. Historically, innovation has been a function of transportation and communication costs, property rights, belief structures, and capital markets. Digital worlds optimize these factors in ways the real world cannot, allowing significantly higher per capita growth than any terrestrial nation.

Over the next decade, visionary entrepreneurs will emerge from the digital melting pot of distributed and connected populations. Innovation and growth will allow digital worlds to capture an increasing share of the global economy. They will soon be in direct economic competition with real-world nations.

This is a rare opportunity to learn hands-on skills and engage in high-level discussion of the present benefits and future promise of digital worlds from some of the most highly respected innovators in the field. You will not only learn important new business skills, but we guarantee that you will have lots of fun in this unique and groundbreaking tutorial.

Suggested Pre-Tutorial Preparation:

1. Create a free Second Life account at https://secondlife.com/join to prepare an avatar and acquaint yourself with the world.  
Check out the Find menu to see what types of goods and services Residents are selling. Explore any of the in-world malls and shops to get a feel for what's popular.

2. Check out the IT Conversations podcast of Cory's "Living the Dream" presentation at AC2004

3 . To see what users are creating and selling visit SL Boutique and SL Exchange. Visit Anshe Chung's—Second Life's most successful real estate provider—at  www.anshechung.com and http://trade.secondserver.net/ to see a directory of Trade and Service Providers in Second Life.

4 . Insightful stories about the Second Life community came be found at New  World Notes—the blog of Second Life's embedded journalist Hamlet Linden

5 . Scan this list of press about Second Life, much of which is focused on entrepreneurship and making money. Of special interest are the New York Times, LA Times, Second Life Newsletter citing the Wall Street Journal, and East Bay Express articles.

Directions, Parking, Maps, & Dining
Address: Gates Computer Science Building, 353 Serra Street, Stanford CA 94305 (see Google Map)
See the Stanford website for directions and parking information.

Registration & Info Desk will be outside rooms B02, B08, B12 (B-Level)
Registration opens at 8:15am (bagels & coffee provided).
Maps to local restaurants and dining halls will be provided at the registration desk (90 minutes for no-host lunch, feel free to use the time to continue discussions from your sessions).
Directions from Gates to Tech Night at SAP Labs can be found here (Tech Night starts at 6pm, tutorials end at 4:30pm - Note: Tech Night is open to full conference registrants only).