Dear Suzanne, The event was wonderful and beyond our expectations. I was so blessed to be there. You opened and held the space beautifully.
Thank you for your inspiration. Claudia Alarcon On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Suzanne Daigle <[email protected]> wrote: > At the very beginning, the recovered “Miss Fix it” that I was with “No task > too big” from the corporate world, becoming an Open Space facilitator seemed > like a climb to Mount Everest. This weekend supported by so many friends > (Christine Whitney Sanchez, Harold Shinsato, Lisa Heft, Larry Peterson, > Diane Gibeault, Harrison of course, Alan Stewart, Juan Luis Walker and so > many others), I felt I peaked at a Base Camp level with an absolutely > wonderful team: members of the Scrum Technology community and their many > allies. Indeed I have facilitated many Open Space events but this one in > Phoenix AZ was truly unique and special. > > For this two day event, there was community before we even met. (The true > spirit of pre-work as Ms Heft would call it). Weeks before, topics were > flying on the internet around this theme of “Scrum beyond Software” on > blogs, on twitter, on facebook and everywhere. Dreams were starting to > crystallize, anticipation was building and the spirit of welcome was in the > air. > > I’ll admit that I was somewhat trepidatious in this chaotic, “who’s doing > what” shared leadership, self-organizing world with my new techie friends. I > breathed in and breathed out, knowing that what they have done to change the > world in technology, in community, as free agents and free spirits to make > this global world a smaller place, through technology change and large > system change, well I knew they had something precious to share with the > rest of the world. And share they did. > > From California to Serbia, Canada to the Eastern US, from the Mid-West to > the Far-West, they came. The banner and welcome signs became works of > art, the chairs quickly arranged in circle, everything was ready the night > before. Comfortably settled in this incredible place called “Gangplank”, > certainly worth reading about (http://gangplankhq.com/ ) that could not > have been better chosen for all its principles and values which parallel so > much of who we are in Open Space, the conversations began. Quickly > participants bounded to the center, many still infused with the Orlando > event last March that Harrison hosted. The topics just kept coming, too > many to really count because it really didn’t matter. It was the passion > behind the words that mattered most. > > What I realized in that instant is that when there is a spirit of welcome, > a diverse group, people who are there because they want to be there, a sense > of urgency because the world needs this and a complex topic that sparks and > ignites, well indeed magic or real life happens. People quickly shed > their facades, threw caution to the wind, and they got to work. In my > opening remarks, I talked about nervous energy (for those who had never sat > in a circle like this in Open Space) and pent-up energy (for those who just > wanted to get on with it so pressing were the topics they wanted to discuss) > suggesting that these were the perfect ingredients for innovation and > creativity. I invited all to pause, to look around that giant circle as > if seated in the Arizona desert to see who was there and to leave room > from within for the 4 principles and the Law of 2 feet to do their thing. > Leave some space to be surprised, I said, and let go of pre-determined > expectations. These principles and this law, would be some of the > precious take-aways to be used in our life beyond this event. > > No sooner were those words spoken than my job was done. I truly became > invisible (with a slight tad of sadness I’ll admit) knowing that passion and > responsibility had found their place and there was truly nothing left to do. > Yes in some cases, there were concerns: were people documenting their > reports, were we capturing the names of all the participants…and I chose to > simply smile knowing that I could not interrupt the intense conversations > (butterflies, bumble bees and participants) as it would perhaps crash the > one magical moment where individuals were connecting and creating something > greater than I could imagine. I had no doubt that everything would be > alright, that responsibility would combine with passion and that action > would naturally emerge which it did and will. > > So I stood back and quietly watched the intense expressions, the energy > bouncing off the walls (exhausting at times), the charged discussions, the > markers flying on the flip chart sheets, the smart phone video cameras > capturing the action in the moment, the live stream twitter comments > enticing folks outside the room to respond. It was exciting; it was > exhilarating! Anyone interested, have a peak (blogs and live stream) > http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/ > > And then at some point, I shed my facilitator role too and had a few > wonderful and life changing conversations with a few butterflies. > > As we closed the circle after two days asking people to say not what they > thought but rather to describe how they “felt” about what had happened, I > knew then just as I had experienced it at the Wave Rider event in Toronto > and also at WOSonOS in Taiwan that these moments would never happen > again. This is it and this is now! Certainly what happened in those two > days borrowing from the title of one of Harrison’s books is that for those > two days in Phoenix, we were “Expanding our Now” and I, for one, will be > forever grateful to have had a small part in making this happen with others. > My love affair with Open Space continues. > Suzanne > -- > Suzanne Daigle > NuFocus Strategic Group > 7159 Victoria Circle > University Park, FL 34201 > FL 941-359-8877; > CT 203-722-2009 > www.nufocusgroup.com > [email protected] > * * ========================================================== > [email protected] ------------------------------ To > subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > [email protected]: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about > OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
