The search conference is a participative planning method that enables people to create a strategic plan for their community to achieve their most desirable future—a plan all stakeholders will support. In a search conference, participants who are residents, community leaders, and business leaders actually become the community planners. A search conference makes it possible for a community to thrive in uncertain times.

Purposes of a Search Conference:
The search conference is useful for coming together around a common purpose and searching to create a most desirable future. The search conference works for the following systems:

• Communities looking for a desirable future regarding complex social issues, such as the environment, education, or social services
• Organizations—corporate or public sector—searching for new solutions, strategies and directions
• Organizations wanting to develop a plan for merging their business strategies or integrating their service delivery

Search Conference Outcomes:
A search conference is a powerful, dynamic planning mechanism because, as facilitated by STAR Group, the search conference will produce the following:

1. A series of Goals, Strategies and Implementation Plan: These are comprehensive and contain the participants’ commitments to their community.
2. People who:

• Are eager to implement their plan and share their learning with other community members
• Have shared their information and positions and learned about those of others
• Can fine-tune their plans and support the community

The following chart identifies the various components of a USC: