Dear List I wanted to share an experience with you all first of all because it was really great and felt like an affirming experience for me to continue to keep working with open space and second because when I was organizing it I asked the list for help and got great help, so I wanted to let you know what happened.
I just did a very short (micro) open space here in the Netherlands within the context of a larger conference. We had 1,5 hours planned (2x with different groups). As is normal in my experience with these sorts of conferences the planned time schedule was way too optimistic and people didn't arrive to my 'workshop' until about 15 minutes after the appointed time (and then they wanted to have coffee before starting.) I decided to wait to open until the majority of people were there (about 2/3's). So this meant that we had about 1 hour for the entire event. The people who participated fed back to me that they were -- even in this extremely short time -- able to talk deeply with one another about subjects that really mattered to them. They also said it felt like a freeing experience, which felt to me good enough for the time we had. I know I can't provide an entire OST event like a 3 day event in this time-frame, so what I went for was to give the quality of the space and to let that be sufficient. I was amazed that 6 topics were posted among 20 people in 2 break-out time slots. The other thing that was nice to hear is that people wanted more -- so maybe next time they will be able to do more or plan a longer event... The way I arranged it was: I waited until there was a critical mass of people (about 2/3's) in the room. When people came late they then caught on quickly and could ask for help if needed (the latecomers seemed quite easily able to integrate). The other thing I did in the breakout sessions was to indicate that we had 2 timeslots of approximately 25 minutes but not to indicate the exact times (because then I was getting stressed about the timing with late start). Instead I told them that I would ring the bell when we reached the 1/2 way point. When I did this I reminded them that this was not an invitation to stop what they were doing, but rather an indication of clock time passing. I invited them to remember the principles and the law of 2 feet and to work with them, as they wanted. This worked out well, actually, in one group three people stayed speaking on 1 subject the entire time, others circulated, and others continued for a time and then went on to the second break-out sessions. The other thing I did with them for the end time was to explain from the beginning that we were doing this session in Open Space within the Boundaries and Context of this larger meeting and that this meant that unfortunately there were some time restraints (like we had to finish as close to time as possible so they could go to other events). It was helpful to make this clear, and people could laugh at it and work with the paradox of bounded and unbounded time. Personally it was the first time I had done such a short OS event and I was really nervous about it, but it worked really well and I'm really happy to have the chance to share the experience here and hopefully to be of some help to you for the event you have planned. It also gave me inspiration to continue finding opportunities to work with Open Space Thanks again Doris -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] Namens Christine Koehler Verzonden: woensdag 1 juni 2005 21:25 Aan: [email protected] Onderwerp: OS with people coming late Hi all, Next Monday I am going to facilitate a short OS event . This meeting is usually monthly, facilitated by someone who provides information and answer questions on a specific topic. It lasts 2 hours. We don't know in advance who is coming . As there seem to be more than 20 people, the round-robin format within a short time frame is becoming difficult, so I offered to do it as an Open Space. The meeting must finish at 3.30 (we have to clean the room). I have one concern with the opening circle , let me explain you why : the meeting is supposed to begin at 1.30pm. But usually most people arrive late, every few minutes someone new comes in. (for those who are not familiar with France, arriving 15mn late is the norm,-ie it is not considered as late). And here as people are mothers with babies, I expect people still arriving at 2.15, maybe more. If I wait until everybody is here, the risk is that we begin only at 2.30, so we would have only a very short taste of open space. If I open the circle around 1.30, most people will miss it and won't get how it works... I don't know what to do. What do you suggest ? Christine Koehler Paris, France * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
