Beyond 250
Futures Workshop · Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2026 · Lake Nona, FL
Beyond 250
FACILITATED FUTURES WORKSHOP · LAKE NONA, FL · AUG 31 – SEP 2, 2026
Beyond 250 brings veteran-led businesses, and the people and institutions around them, into one room to rehearse what's coming for their local economy, and decide what to do about it.
Save the date
Aug 31 – Sep 2 2026The moment
In 2026 our country marks 250 years, a moment when a nation looks back and forward at once. Beyond 250 points that civic energy at a plainer, more durable question: what happens to the businesses that hold our communities together, and who is choosing their future?
WALK AWAY WITH
Most convenings end in goodwill and a photo. This one is built to send every participant home with something they didn't have on Monday morning.
A pressure-tested read on the single biggest thing headed for your business in the next few years — a supply shock, an AI tool reshaping your trade, a founder's exit — seen from angles you can't get from inside your own company.
Not a someday report. A concrete first move on that one thing, developed with you in the room and yours to keep.
The working relationships that come from solving a real problem next to someone — not from swapping cards at a mixer.
How it works
The structure is adapted from a proven futures-workshop playbook. Three days, one phase per day, and we don't let the phases bleed together. We'll keep adjusting as feedback comes in.
Set the goal, build shared context, form deliberately mixed teams, and surface the real questions worth working on.
Open the problem space wide. Map what people quietly know, generate together, then develop the strongest ideas in detail.
Push past the appealing surface into how an idea would actually work. Prioritize, then present to a real audience.
Who's in the room
Veteran-led businesses anchor the room. Around them we bring the people and institutions who shape a local economy, and subject matter experts. The pilot is open to beyond veterans.
You've built a business. Beyond 250 puts you in a room engineered to spot the thing you can't see coming, and to leave with a first plan for it. Three days, with people who've been where you are and a few who'll challenge how you think.
This is my room →You convene for a living, and you know the difference between a well-attended event and one that produces something. This is built for the second kind: a documented read on the risks and opportunities your local businesses see coming, surfaced by them, in a room you helped make possible.
Bring your region to the table →Your members' trust is the thing you can't rebuild, and most people who want access to "your" veterans give little back. This is veteran-led by design and built to serve the people you serve, they leave with real plans, and you get something concrete to show for putting your name behind it.
Stand behind the room →The health of the businesses around you is your business too. Backing this room puts you next to the veteran-led companies and civic institutions shaping the region's next decade — not as a logo on a banner, but as part of the room that did the work.
Support a room →Partners & affiliations (prospective)
FAVOB, UCF Business Incubation, America 250, Camaraderie Foundation, Concerned Veterans for America, VEI, Lake Nona Regional Chamber. This is a working list, part of the work ahead is confirming who will join the room.
Why it matters
When a veteran-led business gets sharper about what's coming, the families, workers, and neighbors connected to it feel it too.
The civic frame
Convening for the future of our community is a form of service.
The exchange
You bring
We bring
Take part
Beyond 250 runs August 31 – September 2, 2026 at GuideWell Innovation. We're assembling themes and agenda. Tell us about your business or organization and we'll be in touch about taking part, as a participant, a partner, or a sponsor.
Thanks — message noted. This is a working draft of the offering, so there's no live inbox here yet. In the meantime, reach the team directly at [email protected].
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