We just finished our first Open Space Technology Basic Training this past weekend.
We had over 20 participants, and it was a wonderful time of exploring both the explicate, nuts and bolts of Open Space, and also the hidden, implicate order that emerges in an Open Space meeting. We offered three one-day OS events for people who wanted to attend this training so they had the opportunity to experience OS. About half of the group had also experienced other OS events in their company or in their past (there were four participants that were with Harrison when he opened space for an ICA conference back in the late 80s). The flow of the hand out and course design was to follow my process when preparing for an OS event from the time I first talk to the Sponsor about whether OS is really appropriate, to following up with the sponsor after the event. The slides themselves are very nuts and bolt in nature as some of the participants can't read English well, so they can't follow the user's guide. What I found was that having everything clear in paper allowed us to get "off track" (if that is possible) and explore a lot of issues of a deeper nature. One of my own personal breakthroughs was the integration of a lot of the conversations that have been happening recently on the list serve about the nature of OPEN SPACE and Open Space and opening space. It seems to me that space is. We might label it "open" or "closed", but in the end, that is the label that we are putting it on it, and when I label it "closed" for me it is closed, but regardless of the label I give it, Space is. The most powerful thing I can do in an OS event (and in my life I guess) is acknowlege that the space is there, and by acknowleging it, give those around me permission to acknowlege (revel?) in that too. One of the decisions was to start a local list serve for those that attended, and for other people interested in learning about OS in Taiwan. If you would like to join this group (no idea where it will go...) you can send an email to this address: [email protected] Or check the email below about how to sign up. If anyoe is interested in a set of the materials I am happy to share them. We have two versions, one in English only, the other in English and Chinese. Reply to the following address and I'll mail them to you. [email protected] I would like to thank Peggy Holman for her support in arranging books, and would like to send out a big messy hug and a kiss to Birgitt for providing me with an excellent ground work from which to dive into OS this year. It has been a great 9 months since I went to Hamilton. In that time I've had the opportunity to Open Space more than 20 times, there are now a number of people in our company who are competent at running OST meetings, and most importantly it has deepened my commitment to myself and (growing) family, that we acknowlege that we are living in Open Space. I would also like to thank all of you for sharing your wisdom on a daily basis. If I hadn't signed up for this List Serve, I would never have had the confidence in the process to fly half way round the world to get trained, and taken the leap of faith to begin offering this style of meeting in our company. With respect from Afar, Jimbo ---------------------- Forwarded by JIMBO/ALE on 09/05/2000 04:47 PM --------------------------- OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan moderator <[email protected]> on 09/04/2000 09:51:05 PM Please respond to [email protected] To: JIMBO/ALE@ALE cc: Subject: Reply now to join the OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan group Hello, Reply to this email to join the OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan group, an email group hosted by eGroups, a free, easy-to-use email group service. JOIN NOW, IT'S EASY: reply to this email by choosing "Reply" and then "Send" in your email program. By joining OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan, you will be able to exchange messages with other group members. eGroups also makes it easy to store photos and files, coordinate events and more. Here's an introductory message from the group moderator: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You are invited to join this wonderful group in discussion, learning & sharing open space technology experience in Taiwan!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO JOIN THIS GROUP: 1) REPLY to this email by clicking "Reply" and then "Send" in your email program -OR- 2) Go to the eGroups site at http://www.egroups.com/invite/OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan and click the "JOIN" button If you do not wish to join the OpenSpaceTechnologyTaiwan group, please ignore this invitation. SPECIAL NOTE FROM eGroups: Because eGroups values your privacy, it is a violation of our service rules for moderators to abuse our invitation service. 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