This document contains the proceedings of a conference on technology and the future as it applies to occupational educators, with an emphasis on determining how vocational and technical education must change to meet the needs of the future. Following the introductory remarks on the themes of the conference, five presentations were given. In the first speech, Theodore Conant, consultant on technology information, engineering, and technical development, provides an overview of technology assessment, particularly in terms of its effect on the American work force. He comments that the U.S. is increasingly not competitive compared to Japan and European countries, which have a pool of human resources with a higher level of technical education. In the second presentation, Bert Cowlan, telecommunications consultant, outlines telecommunications technologies and their effect on future work and personnel. The third paper, by Larry Kamm, operating mechanical engineer and inventor of industrial robots, calls attention to the growing shortage of qualified maintenance engineers, and suggests that educators pay more attention to assessing the skills-learning potential of their students before directing them into high-technology fields. In the fourth presentation, Herbert Gerjuoy, futurologist, predicts the characteristics of the labor force in the year 2000 and the general technological trends and educational preconditions for changing work attitudes. Finally, Dr. Michael Hudson, consultant and technological forecaster, provides a macro-overview of how technology assessment information can be used in occupational education and what education can do to solve problems of long-term unemployment. (KC)