After the action planning groups described their plans, there was a brief closing ceremony. Bottles of sparkling cider were placed on each table. When glasses were filled, we joined in a toast to the success of the conference. Anyone so moved expressed his or her thoughts on the event. Some acknowledged the tremendous amount of work that had been done over the past two days; others noted the impressive quality of thinking; still others marveled at the amount of knowledge in the room.
The Future Search facilitators then turned the conference over to the CISA Project Director. Participants were given the option to continue on with a managed process coordinated by CISA to implement the Action Plans. A brief explanation was given: These action plans would become action groups, with each group having access to centralized resources both technical and financial, and that there would be a coordination of the groups to share with each other information and lessons learned. Two orientation sessions would be held in the next few months to present more detailed information on this process.
The conference was officially over; however, many participants lingered to finish conversations, exchange phone numbers and addresses, to keep the connections going.