Thank you Dan for your comments, and great "tips". Elisabeth Venezuela & right now in Spain
On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 2:22 PM, Daniel Mezick <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Friends! > > On 9/29/2011, we (Agile Boston) execute on AGILE DAY 2011, a joint effort > with AgileNYC. (www.AgileNYC.org) > > In Boston, we receive about 230 persons attending and conduct a 3-round > Open Space event in the PM after lunch. > > This is the trip report and learnings documentation. > > Some related pictures and info are here: > http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/ > http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/agileday2011/ > > Findings: > > 1. BALLOONS. Balloons filled with helium signal fun and work great for > identifying the labeled spaces. Ballons have no markings because ink > decomposes latex. Balloon have value in terms of being visible from far > away. > > 2. SIGNAGE FOR MEETING STATIONS; EASELS. We use file folders torn in 1/2. > We tape the 1/2 of a file folder to the easel sides so they stick out from > the side. We use dark marker to mark location '1", "2", etc. One person goes > around and labels each with Sharpie; next worker comes behind and darkens > the signage with a big wet dark marker so the signage is visible from far > away. The set up took about 1 minute for each station we have 20 stations. > > 3. MARKETPLACE. We use flip chart paper and tape to make a huge Marketplace > surface 6 FT X 50 FT across. This works great. The hotel has a rule that we > can place flip chart paper and use painter tape (blue) but cannot remove it; > they want staff to remove. We work inside that using this method and it > works great. We put it up during AM prep. No problems. > > 4. OPEN. > > a. We tell people about proceedings duties. Some receive the messaging; > some do not. See below. > > b. Session pads. We receive guidance from facilitator, Jay Vogt. We buy > STAPLES flip charts. We use STAPLES to cut them for us. Result is ninety > 10X12 pages (30 to a pad) for 30 cents each. Thanks to Jay Vogt for this > idea. We refine it a little (found SKU with paper 30 inches across for > making 3 sub-pads) and it works awesome. > > This SKU is 30 inches wide by 23 inches tall, by 30 pages up: > > > http://www.staples.com/Post-it-Super-Sticky-Self-Stick-Landscape-Easel-Pads/product_751161 > > STEPS > Cut it vertically twice, then trim to 12 inches tall > The result is: 3 pads of 10 wide by (whatever you like tall, for example > 12) wide, each pad has 30 pages > So 90 pages of 10X 12 for about $30 per pad > Use STAPLES print shop to do the trimming for free. > So there you go ! 30 cents a page 90 pages > > 4. SESSION ROUNDS. We do 3 rounds. We do 60 minute segments consisting of > 50 minute session and then ring bells to signal 10-min transition. We budget > 10 minutes for people to transition and relocate/engage. This transition > time we deem essential. Again, effective and useful guidance from Jay. > People report good feelings about the session-body of the event; we think > the 10-minute transitions contribute substantially to that. We have no proof > per se but have gut feeling about it. > > 5. CLOSE. We have space so we keep Opening circle intact for use during > close. We had a jaggy close because it ended before Reception space was > prepared for the people to use. Thus we have time to fill in at end of > close. (see below). > > a. Close Chairs Count. We have an idea about chairs also. Next time we > intend to reduce chair count for the close so it is a little tighter since > many people leave before OST close. We see many gaps between people. We plan > to experiment with chair count reduction and see how it feels. Closing in > leftover Opening circle space has many open seats in typical OST events so > we plan to tweak and see what happens. > > 6. PROCEEDINGS. > > a. Clip boards and Forms. We did full proceeding for first time. We signal > to conveners with emphasis that they are required to make sure proceedings > are captured. We provide clip boards with pens secured with string. We > prepare these during lunch-time prep. > > b. We plan proceedings. We establish naming scheme to stay organized. We > produce PDF with text and images. Images are camera-capture JPGs of > artifacts such as flip-chart diagrams. Text is transcribed from scanned > images of session proceedings form from clipboard. We capture all during > event. We box up all proceedings in files and folders in a file box from > STAPLES. We place single camera and interface cable and battery charger in > box. We tape up box at end of event and then on to Reception (see below). > > c. We produce proceedings. After event, next day we work to build PDF. We > engage transcription service who takes scanned forms as input and produces > RTF text files as output. This makes writing legible, organized. This also > makes PDF searchable on terms like 'agile coaching', 'leadership', 'testing' > etc. We work online and by phone with transcriber service. It works great. > PDF ETA is approximately 48 hours following event. Could be faster but next > day everyone is tired and skips a day. So day-after-day-after is when works > happens. It is quick and easy. > > d. Proceedings Delivery. We plan to deliver proceedings not later than > Monday COB 10/1. Event date is earlier, Thu 9/29/2011 > > 7. RECEPTION. We plan a reception. We provide games, beer, wine, food. We > provide cocktail tables where people stand. We place weird interesting toys > and gizmos on tables for people to play with. We play music and display > video and pix on big screen. These include some videos of Harrison at Scrum > Gathering by accident. (not planned). We provide background music intended > to support engagement and conversation. > > a. Moments. We arrange for live music. At several points in time, we stop > DVD music and engage live musician. Live music is fellow named Brian Tarbox, > who plays North American native woodwind instruments. Music is awesome and > has a very spiritual tone and tempo. (again not planned) A moment emerges > where Brian is playing this live earthy music for several minutes. Everyone > stops and listens. At that moment, a random video is playing on the huge > screen. The lights are low, the music is live and in-person. The image on > the screen is Harrison larger than life. No audio, just the video imagery of > him talking. It is Scrum Gathering Orlando footage. Angle is up and > proximity is close. Image and impact is unique. The throaty music is > playing, the lights are low. Harrison is on the huge screen. It is a special > moment. I am standing, I am listening and looking and immersed....a person > stands next to me. I sense him and smile with him, we watch and listen. > After a while, he says "...now here is something you do not experience every > day of the week..." > > We keep watching and listening. The music and imagery goes for quite awhile > longer, and ends ... the moment ... is over. Poof. > > I look to my right, the person is gone. > > This is the most significant moment of the event for me. > > > > > Things to Improve: > > 1. Not every session convener executes on commitment to fill out > proceedings form. We seek ways to balance autonomy/self-org and prescription > such that we get more participation > > 2. Marketplace chairs. We continue to act stupid in respect to chair near > Marketplace. We need to learn to move these chairs well in advance of the > movement to Marketplace moment. > > 3. Better articulation of ground rules for Open and Close. For Open, we > want better alignment of sessions with theme (Freedom At Work). For Close, > participants marketing of other upcoming community events and some shameless > hype leaked into the close, as people grabbed the mike and over-steped with > out-of-scope announcements and messaging etc. An announcement and even a > poster with ground rules (in addition to canonical OST posters) is needed to > remind people of what is "out". Posters may also help in terms of a) > preventing this and b) explicitly referring attention to these posters and > all other a-priori ground rule agreements about the meeting when people > behave in this way. > > Summary > > This is by far the best OST event we have done to date (this our 5th OST in > 30 months in Boston). We try balloons, file-folder signage on easels, big 10 > X 12 fabricated pads for sessions, monster MARKETPLACE surface, full > proceeding in searchable PDF using transcription, and Reception. All work > really well. We plan to tinker with seat count at Close at next opportunity. > > > We welcome questions, suggestions/feedback from everyone who has interest > in learnings from this event, what we are doing in Boston. > > > Some related pictures and info are here: > http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/ > http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/agileday2011/ > > > Agile Boston who we are: > http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/visionmissionvalues/ > > > Regards, > Dan > > -- > Daniel Mezick, President > New Technology Solutions Inc. > (203) 915 7248 (cell) > AgileDay2011 Sept 29! <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/agileday2011/> > > Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>, Blog<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>, > Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>, > Team Training <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/>, Team > Coaching <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/> > Agile Boston! <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/> > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > -- *XS*
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