History of the Future
History of the Future is a collaborative story building exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- go forward to in order to give participants a little more guidance of time frame versus just Past Put swimlanes on the timelines
- These can reflect any subdivided element of your gatherings objectives
- Ideally in 3 different colors representing past, present and future.3
- It works really well to pass out markers and have everyone write directly on the timeline
- Ask them to write down at least one example for past, current and future sections of the visual
- If you have less than 20 participants, have each of them come up and quickly explain their addition to
- the timeline If you have over 20 participants, have participants join their People Science team and share their post its
- or just storm the timeline and all write at once
- Then instruct each team collectively to share from 1 to 3 depending on the number of teams you have
Run this exercise live
The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
go forward to in order to give participants a little more guidance of time frame versus just Past Put swimlanes on the timelines
These can reflect any subdivided element of your gatherings objectives
Ideally in 3 different colors representing past, present and future.3
It works really well to pass out markers and have everyone write directly on the timeline
Ask them to write down at least one example for past, current and future sections of the visual
If you have less than 20 participants, have each of them come up and quickly explain their addition to
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: History of the Future. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: go forward to in order to give participants a little more guidance of time frame versus just Past Put swimlanes on the timelines; These can reflect any subdivided element of your gatherings objectives; Ideally in 3 different colors representing past, present and future.3; It works really well to pass out markers and have everyone write directly on the timeline. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.