Oliver, I think you are asking the right questions about who has the passion and willing to accept reponsibility with respect to the issue. Today the one part of your question I am willing to share my perspective on is related to the opening...and I would be curious to have others respond so I can benefit from other perspectives.
I will make an assumption that you have done, or will do, the kind of pre-work that assures that a real issue of importance to a legitimately intedependent group has been identified and that a sufficiently large cross section of the group has been identfied and considered in determining the issue as well as the dates and location(s) of the event. For me it is essential that people who intend to participate in any of the session participate in the opening. This is especially true for groups with little or know experience in Open Space. >From the perspective of affirming the process, this is where the container is created and the shared responsibility for what will go on in the container comes to life. It is what makes the law of two feet more than just an excuse to walk into groups and dump my load on them and then walk out. >From the very judgemental perspective of someone who has been spending far too much time with my Jewish and Christian families since Chanuka began (Dec.11) and continuing through my parents' departure (an hour ago) from their first Christmas visit to Ohio in many years, my view is: if your sense of passion and personal responsibility does not lead you to play well with others for two days, you are not likely to play well afterward...so don't disrupt the process for those who are willing and able to commit. I get very irritable when people, family or open space participants, ask me to "catch them up" or explain the whole process again when they show up or ask me what they should do. [Help, let me escape into the frozen solitude of Ohio's Hocking Hills for a few days to renew my commitment to being more than a child or sibling!] Once the container is formed people can, will and must do what they will do...but the rest of the group is more empowered to sustain itself while people use their two feet. Was denken sie? Oliver Schrader wrote: > Hello! > > I`m rather new in this list, just having participated in my first > OS. > So I will organize an OS soon, but in preparing this event I stumbled > over > the question, whether somebody who wants to come, has to commit > himself for the whole time (in this case two days, in an volunteers > organization, with about 80 to 120 people possibly being interested > enough). > > As I understand the opening proces is a very important > happening of coming together and opening the space. So how about > people who (think they) can't stay all the time, either coming late > or leaving early? How to integrate them in the proces? Do the > principles of openspace also apply to OS as a whole, or is it > necessary that everybody or at least a vast mayority commit > themselves to be present the whole time, or at least at the > beginning? > > Oliver Schrader, Vienna
