The momentous events sweeping the Arab world since the end of 2010 raise important questions about the art and science of analyzing political and societal events. Stimson invited a group of experts to evaluate how various non-government sectors looked at prospects for change in the Middle East prior to December 2010: university scholars, think tanks, democracy and human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, social media, and private business. No sector would claim to have predicted the exact sequence of events, but many had deep insights into changing conditions in the region. This was a lively discussion about our analysis featured in the new publication, Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East.