In March 1977, the Division of Conservation Research and Technology of the Energy Research and Development Administration (now the Division of Power Systems of the Department of Energy) began a series of interactive planning workshops designed to involve private citizens and representatives of industry, the academic community, public interest groups, and state and local government in the division's planning process. The first workshop, the Energy Conservation R&D Objectives Workshop, hosted by the Coast Community College District of Costa Mesa, California, was held in San Diego on March 6-8, 1977. At the workshop, participants discussed, and made recommendations on, the division's planning process and the use of the workshops as a mechanism for involving those outside the government in the planning of energy Research and Development (R&D)