Part two of my conversation with Bill King. Koos
-------------------- Dear Bill, I understand that it can be important to have a common information base. Maybe there are other ways to achieve that though, and I want to suggest an alternative. But if I am pushing it too far just tell me to back off ;-) It has been done before, but having people sit and listen to a lecture the day before you want to open the space with them is not a very good idea. I know two alternatives that will achieve the same effect and work much better in an OS setting. One is to distribute the information as a reader beforehand. That way people can work their way through it on their own and skip the parts they already know. Another possibility would be to use the first day for disseminating the necessary information like you planned, but to do that in Open Space. People who have the required information can offer workshops about the different aspects and the people interested can choose whichever workshops they need most or find most interesting. The combination will also work: sending around a reader and sugesting that people who want to discuss the information in the conference are free to do so (they always are - this is, after all, Open Space!). Also in this approach, I would not schedule break out groups beforehand. The suggestion that the information can be discussed should be enough to remind those people who want to of the possibilities. To me the whole idea of "I think you need this information and I will make you listen to it" is going against the entire philosophy of Open Space. If you are going to trust these people with Open Space, then you will also have to trust them to take the initiative to get the information they need. Cheers Koos At 09:32 26-07-1999 -0500, you wrote: >Thanks for your response. It is helpful to get both your advice and >cautions. I am passing this information along to my colleagues who are >planning the conference and it will be up to them to determine if they will >proceed with a virtual open space, prior to the physical gathering. FYI, >the first day begins at noon as people will be arriving in Chicago that >morning. We will be examining a report and related materials on the future >of associations and their work, in a variety of presentations and small >group discussions. This work will lay out the theme and provide a common >information base and understanding for this group of staff. The staff hold >varying responsibilities, have differing levels of experience in association >work, some are new others have been around 5-10 years. They only have an >opportunity to meet every few years specifically to address issues in their >role as staff (depending on topics there are several other opportunities >annually for most to get together, but this conference brings together not >just the "program/management" staff, but also the administrative and support >staff, who seldom get a chance to meet with colleagues, but because of the >small size of our staffs, often perform functions that are similar to >program/management. > >At any rate, your response has been very helpful and I would be pleased to >have you gather other input from your colleagues by sharing this >communication. > ------------ koos de heer auryn management advies utrecht, netherlands mailto:[email protected] http://www.auryn.nl/
