To my fellow Open Spacers Having just facilitated my first Open Space Conference last Saturday, it seems the whole world (at least Brisbane!) wants to learn more about OS! (of course, I think my awareness might have a LITTLE bit to do with this!!). Anyway, I have a client who is so impressed with what I've told him about OS he wants to apply it to a second event that will follow on from a 2-hour seminar he had already scheduled this coming weekend. He has agreed to run the follow up event for a whole day, and wants me to "promote" it this weekend at the seminar.
But now I'm wondering if it will work... this is the scenario... This fellow is a lawyer (but a very OPEN one!). He specialises in corporate law and this weekend's 2 hour seminar will be a "talkfest"... ie. he will be giving information to the audience on the for's and against's on setting up trusts vs companies. It appears that this subject is extremely popular as we have only just sent out invitations and have received at least a 50% acceptance rate to date! However, he would like to open the floor up and this is where I mentioned Open Space might be more useful... but there is a very large technical element. This is how I see it happening. We use the OS frame but there are "experts" invited along (lawyers, accountants). When the issues are put up, it will be up the "experts" to determine which group they join and share their expertise. The outcomes won't be so much action plans or what to do next, but a more enlightened group of delegates who are getting answers to their specific questions. The client and I are to meet this week to determine the theme of the event. Can this work? Has anyone done anything similar and might have some pointers they can share with me? The alternative is to not even think about OS and just run the day as a series of workshops?? Any feedback would be most appreciated... Kind regards Julianne Bell Julianne Bell Exceptional Events Ph: (07) 3891 0742 Fax: (07) 3891 6244 Mobile: 0419 645 514 Email: [email protected] Exceptional events... dynamic spaces in which people connect and communicate openly.
