Christine -- thank you for sharing -- thoughts, notes, forms and pictures!!
You mention the sponsor decided to stay with just one session -- were the conversations deeper and did butterflies and bumblebees emerge? Thanks again for sharing a part of your day! Judi __________________________________________________________ Judith Richardson, MA Coaching & Consulting Optimizing Performance, Potential and Profitability www.ponoconsultants.com www.emergentfeminine.com -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of Christine Whitney Sanchez Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 12:50 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: What would you do? Dear Michael H., Birgitt, Jack, Gerard, Peggy, Larry, Judi, Michael P., Therese, Lisa and all OST friends, I can't thank you enough for your advice, questions, concerns, bright ideas and overall thinking out loud together when I asked about facilitating a 90 minute Open Space dialogue at the end of Arizona State University Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management's 6th Annual Forum on Nonprofit Effectiveness: Building the Capacity of Arizona's Nonprofit Sector. Thanks to your suggestions, the great group who gathered last Friday, and the elegance of OST, people quickly understood what it was all about and moved right into discussions they really cared about. I took your ideas to heart and suggested the sponsor narrow the focus of the question. They ended up with "What opportunities exist to strengthen the capacity of our organizations and our sector in Arizona?" As you predicted, Birgitt, by that time in the day, we had less than 90 minutes to pull the whole thing off. The sponsor went with only one breakout session to encourage more dialogue. Eleven topics were originally posted with several groups merging to create a final 8 groups among the 100 or so remaining participants. Despite the less than ideal conditions (all breakouts had to be crammed into one ballroom so the noise level was difficult, the biggest group was just getting into the meat of their discussion when we had to reconvene) there was obvious energy, playfulness and focused conversation going on. In the final 15 minutes of the day, we reconvened (despite yet another snack setup :-). I asked for a time keeper who rang the Tibetan bell when one minute was up and then each reporter posted and gave the headlines for their group's key ideas. Each group also filled out a report form - ASU is going to post the results on their website within a week. I'll let you know when that is available. The final 5 minutes was a very abbreviated talking circle, tossing a stuffed bumblebee to whomever was ready to speak. Some of the comments were: "I can't believe how many great ideas got shared in such a short amount of time." "I love Open Space - my organization uses it all the time and it is transforming our work!" "I'm excited to see that the time has come for us to take our power as nonprofit leaders." "Thank you for giving us a taste of this amazing process." "Next time let's do Open Space all day!" One interesting highlight - there are a handful of people in Arizona who have taken the lead in creating a state association of nonprofits. It looks like the time is right for such a move. One fellow has made this the heart of his work for the past several years and speaks eloquently about the association needing to grow organically. There was some concern ahead of time that he would dominate the day. He did post a session and then merged with similar topics. During the breakout, his voice was one among many as they began to sort out "who will lead and who will follow?" I'm attaching 3 of the handouts the participants had in their packets and some photos of the breakouts. Thank you again, everyone, for supporting a tiny bit of Open Space and ever growing Light in Arizona. Namaste, Christine Christine Whitney Sanchez Triune Milagro, LTD 2717 E. Mountain Sky Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85048-8990 milagr...@cox.net 480.759.0262 phone 480.759.0403 fax VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.triunemilagro.com <http://www.triunemilagro.com> Invoking the wisdom and capacity of the human spirit! * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
