I thought Anne was speaking to the perceived need Jon lays out of a
participant having to justify the expense of the conference to their
employer (assuming the employer is footing the bill for the
participant to attend). The inclusion of "talking head" experts
presumably helps "sell" the employer on paying for the employee to
attend.
Anne - was this what you meant by the "underlying transaction" -
using the talking head experts as a lure? And did you also mean that
using such a lure ultimately might create more of a barrier to the
overall success of the conference than ending up being successful
bait to get people to Open Space?
And Harrison, are you saying Open Space will trump the downside of
using (and wasting time on) the "bait" of including experts?
On Jan 10, 2011, at 8:35 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
Anne – You Sneaky Lady! And I suppose it may be a factor of
increasing age and curmudgeonly disposition, but when faced with
the suggestion of admixtures, alternatives, and/or dilutions of
Open Space I obviously do not have your grace and patience. It
really boils down to my aversion to wasting the participants’
time, the client’s time and my own. If there is something to be
done that is worth while doing, the people who care are in the best
position to accomplish the task, provided the essential time/space
is available. In a word – Open Space. The suggestion that
somehow “These Participants” will be unable to function
effectively is to demean those people, consigning them to the
bottom end of the intelligence/ability curve. Perhaps someday I
will run into a truly aberrant group, but experience to date says
that if the people fall generally within the classification Homo
sapiens, they will do just fine. Of course clients, sponsors and
facilitators do get nervous, but that is not the issue, though it
may be the problem. I am reminded of the CEO of a large American
corporation who reportedly said in reference to the employees,
“Never turn the asylum over to the inmates.” With a corporate
mindset like that it will not surprise you to learn that the useful
mental and emotional space available in that place of work was
minimal, closely paralleling an appalling lack of innovation and
creativity. It should also come as a non-surprise to learn that
when “the inmates” were introduced to open space, their
performance was outstanding. Blew your socks off! As for the CEO –
he survived. As a matter of fact, when last heard from he was
laughing all the way to the bank to deposit the profits from the
renewed innovation and creativity.
Yours timorously,
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
Phone 301-365-2093
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
ANNE BENNETT
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 7:19 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OS & Open Conferences
Hi Jon
I have indeed made fast and loose with OS form and process in such
events - I appreciated greatly Lisa's skillful and instinctive list
of key design and decision issues recently in response to the US+
50 events extravaganza. I would add one of my typically esoteric
points, which is about finding a way to be explicit about facsimile
engagement which colludes with the starting nervousness and self-
limits the experience and conclusions/perceptions of what OS is
about...I feel it really is better to say "of course this is not
the real thing/we are not doing the real thing because ...." and as
one can expect a belated "but we could hack that/why did you under
estimate us?" I embolden myself earlier on to push against the
timorous prologue with the client....
Anne M Bennett
Champion Hill
London
From: Jon Harvey <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, 10 January, 2011 12:09:51
Subject: OS & Open Conferences
Dear all
I think I have managed to persuade a public conference producer to
run (and charge for) one of their conferences using Open Space. I
debated with her that the ‘talking heads’ type of conference
with a smattering of workshops (which are usually mini plenary
sessions too) could be so much more valuable and productive if OS
was used. I said I would enquire if anyone else had done this –
how did it go – what lessons did you draw?
This is something of a gamble I recognise, as this will not be
quite the kind of issue that has to be solved yesterday kind of
context. (Although given the current austerity measures which are
sweeping across the UK public services right now – a lot of things
have to be solved yesterday!) Also the people gathered will be a
community of interest (ie they will all have signed up to come to
the topic in questions) but not a community / group in any other
way...
So what do people think – can this work – has this worked?
Many thanks
Very best wishes
Jon
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