This page includes the sketch of the programme for the first of three PULSE visioning days, focusing on scenario building for the cultural sector in transition. More about the process and the results in Dutch can be found on pulse visiedagen and pulse_visiedag_1.

A summary of the flow, presented on the curve of the U process

09:30 - 10:00 Arrival

10:00 - 10:10 Intro

Goal: inspire, energise and inform the participants about what the visiedagen are all about, how we are planning to proceed for the day, what our goals are and how we expect them to participate.

1. Framing content for the visiedagen from the perspective of PULSE (Guy?)
2. Framing scenario thinking, proces & flow of the day
3. Framing core question and goal of the day

10:10 - 10:30 Icebreaker

Goal: ease the participants into the content by asking a question they can connect to personally.

Appreciative Inquiry, a dialogue in pairs about a situation that made them feel a part of the 'transitie' - focusing on what they felt, what they did and what made the situation possible. 5 minutes per person, one person 'interviewing', the other talking, then swapping roles; at the end the facilitators ask who would like to share their findings with the group and collect 5-7 different answers.

Facilitators frame the exercise, keep the time, moderate the discussion, record and summarise the findings (focus on emotions, actions and resources).

(To end, possibly a short physical/grounding exercise that can be done on the spot, just standing up for a minute or two; e.g. the taoist tapping the meridians, or a simple breathing exercise…)

10:30 - 11:20 The present situation and key factors

Goal: get a clear picture of the present situation of 'cultuur en transitie'; understand what the issues are an what will make 'cultuur als motor voor transitie' succeed or fail.

1. Framing the session (as a question) with clear instructions about what to do and where to go
2. 30 minutes, 8 breakout groups. first 15 minutes: discussion about what is known, presumed and unknown about the present situation (based on the http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/kpuu_framework), second 15 minutes discussion about the key factors (from inside the cultural sector) that can make the central issue (contained in the core question) succeed or fail.
3. 15 mins sharing in the whole group, perhaps setup as a fishbowl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbowl_%28conversation%29); 8 reporters in conversation with one facilitator, another facilitator summarises the key factors of the present situation.

11:20 - 11:30 Break

11:30 - 12:30 Drivers of Change

Goal: get an overview of the 'macro scale forces' that can influence or change the role of 'culture in transitie'. Focus on political, economic, environmental, cultural, social and technological trends.

1. Framing the session (as a question) with clear instructions for participants about what to do and where to go

1. 40 mins discussion based on the 'world cafe' method (http://www.theworldcafe.com/method.html), 4 rounds of 10 minutes each (quite high speed and high intensity, to deliberately avoid too much 'opinionated' discussions - it’s more about listing the drivers than expressing what people think about them). 8 breakout groups - 2 groups of 4 tables discussing different types of trends: T1 & T5: political & economic, T2 & T6: social & cultural, T3 & T7: environmental, T4 & T8: scientific & technological. One moderator per table stays for all rounds, the other participants move to a different table after every round in order to create diversity of conversations. the moderator leads the discussion and summarises the most important trends.

1. 20 minutes sharing with the whole group. 8 moderators name 3-4 important trends per category (PE, SC, EN, ST). Facilitator writes down a summary of the trends.
2. 5 minutes: one of the facilitators summarises what has been done during the morning sessions, and outlines plans for the afternoon.

1. At the end of this session each participant receive 3 coloured sticky-dots. Just before the lunch break, we will ask the participants to use their dots to select which of the key factors and drivers of change they find most important for our core question of the day. One of the facilitators will transcribe the factors and trends with most 'dots' which will be used after lunch. During the lunch break, one of the facilitators will make a graphical recording of the morning sessions).

Lunch: 12:45 - 13:15

13:15 Silent reflection

Goal: refresh people’s mind and allow them not to talk or think for a few minutes. Invite participants to spend 15 minutes reflecting in silence. They can go out for a breath of fresh air, lay down or just breathe deeply, taking time to let the morning discussions sink in, (in facilitators’ jargon - to check in with their gut feeling)

13:30 - 14:15 Critical Uncertainties

Goal: select which factors and trends are the most important and most uncertain for our core question of the day. We want to do this as a relatively playful exercise, to help keep concentration during the usual after lunch lull.

1. 5 minutes framing the session
2. 15 minutes voting on the relative ranking of the selected 'important' factors and drivers (on a linear scale from important → very important → extremely important → essential). We can do this as a whole group and get people to either yell out, raise hands or stand up (TBD).
3. selecting 8-10 most essential factors and drivers (visually)
4. 10-15 minutes ranking the most uncertain of the selected factors and drivers

14:15 - 14:30 Scenario Axes

Goal: select four critical uncertainties to make two sets scenario axes

1. selecting two sets of two critical uncertainties
2. deciding on clear phrasing for each of the axes
3. dividing the group into two (each to work on a set of four scenarios)

14:30 - 15:30 Creating scenario skeletons

Goal: create imaginative scenario narratives in words and images (a moodboard) incorporating important factors and drivers, as well as extrapolating from the present situation.

1. Frame the session in 2 groups (with 2 facilitators)

1. 2 sets of 4 tables (world cafe style), 4 rounds of 15 minutes each. Each table fleshes out one scenario in words and images, 15 minutes per round, with guiding questions for each round. one moderator per table stays for all rounds and is responsible for guiding the conversation and summarising the scenario at the end.

15:30 - 15:40 Break

15:45 - 16:15 Answer the core question, finalise the moodboard

Goal: summarise scenario narratives as answers to the core question, as well as visual impressions (moodboards)

1. Frame the session in 2 groups
2. Moderators from each of the 2×4 tables of the previous session work with the last group from the previous session to formulate a succinct answer to the core question from their scenarios, as well as finalise the moodboard so it can be presented (possbily on one of the walls).

16:20 - 16:35 Possible answers to the core question of the day

Goal: get a range of different answers to the core question, depending on the perspective of each respective scenario.

1. frame the session for the whole group
2. moderators from each of the 8 tables provides a short answer to the core question from their scenarios; one or two people from their groups hold up their scenario poster (moodboard) as illustration.

16:35 - 16:55 Summaries, conclusions and next steps

Goal: get everyone together to review what we achieved together, reflect on the content and process, as well as discussing next steps

1. short summary of the goals and results of the day (max 5 minutes)
2. popcorn style discussion to collect reflections and suggestions from the participants
3. summary of next steps leading to the second visiedag (fleshing out scenario narratives online, translating them into experiential exercises…)
4. thanks and good byes

16:55 - 17:00 Closing

Goal: physical closing of the day, last spark of collective energy before dispersing

• get everyone to warm their hands and clap all at the same time

A peek behind the curtain of the facilitators' running sheet (in Dutch): Procesbegeleiders' draaiboek