Dave: I love the skits and have used them for feedback from Open Space converging discussions after closing the self-organizing part in church groups when there was time. I have also encouraged "reports" be developed in a variety of media. I have had groups develop choirs, murals, masks and all that was needed was having the materials in the main room.
On the weekend I led an Open Space for a gathering of progressive social activists from across the province. They were not a "group" but this was the beginning of a networking effort with large number of organizations linked through the participants. Any form of voting or setting priorities was not appropriate for this group either as they had no organized "collective" agenda. So, convergence was done in two ways. Individuals were asked to read the "book" of reports and identify where their personal energy for action was and what their next steps might be. We then met back the whole group and had participants identify topics for "sector" discussions--with topics tied to individuals willing to lead the discussion. This is not truly "Open Space" but has some of its character. I've used it lots of time when there was not time to fully Open the Space. They came up with 3 topics, had great discussions and made some brief announcements about next steps during the final closure for the event process. I usually have 2 "closures" during an event--Different than others I know. I close the use of Open Space (at least the self-organizing part) before moving on to convergence which is more guided and takes many forms depending on the needs of the group. Then, I work with the sponsors to close the whole event. I find this changes the character of the convergence. It is more guided, with more up-front facilitation, than Open Space. I have often Opened the Space within other events and I find closing the less guided approach enables people to make the transition more easily to the more guided facilitation. Larry Larry Peterson Associates in Transformation 41 Appleton Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada, M6E 3A4 Tel:/Fax: 416-653-4829 [email protected] http://www.inforamp.net/~lpasoc
