Hello Dear Lisa: At 16:25 12-06-2001 -0700, Lisa Heft wrote:
Friends -- I would like to share with you an experience I had last week -- I am still mulling it over (...) I learn the most when you all share the 'crumbly' moments as well as the perfect ones. I shall do the same here.
Thanks for your story. Much courage is needed to share a "less than perfect" story. But I agree with you that "less than perfect" stories are the ones that can teach us most. Reading your mail I felt that it was not a story of ONE OST but a story of TWO different OSTs, for the same people. I think the main problem was the change of room and the fact that you could not use the walls in the second one. So I assume that you couldn't move the Boletin Board. Were there any sessions planned in day 1 to de held on day 2? Has anyone the experience of changing the main room in the middle of a single OS? I think of OS as "changing meeting rules" (for the ones of OST). If then you distribute the proceedings of Day 1 and begin day 2 with something that is not exactly OST (like storytelling) I suspect thay you are transmiting signals that a different event began and maybe that confused people (?). I am not sure about that, of course, and would like to see other opinions. And what if the second day would be tretead as a different OST with a sligtly diferent theme and openning? I have no solution, only more questions... Anyhow... Eventually the groups that wanted to got together, the same deep
learning and communication ensued, and in the closing circle all the right comments came out. We even did written evaluations after this event, and the evals underlined peoples' delight with this new process, wish to use it again although in a longer conference (a full 2 days, for example or 2.5 days), and overwhelmingly positive comments on how networking and finding out things in common was one of the biggest benefits of their experience together. There was even an announcement for a next similar meeting. And even better, there were a few comments on how, if this group was waiting for a leader to tell them when to begin, maybe that was reflective of their current situation in the California Central Valley -- nothing is being done because everybody is waiting for some outside leader to tell them when to begin -- when in reality *they* are the leaders -- *they* are the people they have been waiting for. I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.
...in the end, it worked ok. Those are good news, aren't they? Regards Artur * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
