HI Thomas
At my most recent one-day OST we had 80 people creat 22 reports. We
used the
USB sticks. We did as you said: one USB stick for collating all
reports and
taking them to the printer station. Each person saved to the desktop
of the
local computer and then the person responsible for reports captured
them. We
kept a list of which reports were on what computer (numbered the
computers
and kept track of who owned which computer number). The list proved
invaluable because when the report of proceedings was being
collagted, one
topic report was missing. We were able to track it down quite easily
and
only had a short panic. We did have a hard copy though, which was the
fall
back position. I always make a second copy of the printed copies for
myself
in case of disaster.
Like you I have found that having the participants enter the reports
on
computer lends itself to reports that are much clearer and easy to
follow. I
often find people will take notes on flip chart paper and work as a
team to
consolidate it. While for some they don't like to miss any time
(which measn
the lunch breaks are very busy and the end of the last session can be
very
busy). I often have people comment how much they like to see the
product of
their discussion all typed up and posted so quickly...and in the
multi day,
to take away reports with them is an exciting bonus. In a number of
cases,
people go back to their home offices and get started on the actions
in the
report the next day!!
The optimal computer station is when all computers are networked to
the
printer. When this is not the case, I "protect" the computer
connected to
the printer and use it only for printing reports. HOwever, usually
this
computer/printer is in the "newsroom" area and if the computer
monitor is
busy helping someone else, someone will start their report. It is
challenging near the end of the day when trying to generate reports
for
posting.....and it usually ends up being the person who wants to
write a
thesis.
Michelle
Michelle Cooper RN, MScN
President
Integral Visions Consulting Inc.
200 Crestview Avenue
Ancaster, ON L9G 1E2
(905)648-1220
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of
Thomas
Herrmann
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 5:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: USB-sticks and computer station during OST + some more..
Dear friends
I just had a 2-day OS-meeting where we used a computer station.
Lately I´ve
used flip-charts for quite some time. Before that I used floppys -
according
to "the book" (Harrisons User´s guide) and it worked great.
Using USB-sticks, I think, is a bit more tricky to people than it was
to use
floppys (and now most computers can´t take floppy discs). There are
so many
different spaces to save onto nowadays. And USB-sticks are also quite
expensive if one would have one for each report as when using floppys.
So I think the best way (although it is "one more thing to do") is to
have
only one USB memory which the person responsible for the computer
station
has (I don´t ever take full charge of this while facilitating!).
We asked the person writing the report to save it onto the desctop,
calling
for the person in charge of the computer station who checks that it is
really saved there. Then saves it onto the USB memory stick and taks
it to
the administrators computer for the printout... It really takes some
work to
make 100% sure no report will be lost! And as said I will never do
this
again as a facilitator - learning from experience some years ago when
I got
stuck just before closing - not good.
Do you have any experiences to share regarding this? How do you
organize the
computer station nowadays?
Another couple of things.
1. I noticed again that the computer station is quite a creative
space which
sparks lots of creativity and activity. We had it in the hallway
which was
between the main room and the breakouts.
2. The reports are more worked through which sometimes is quite
important.
This organization got lots and lots of important ideas and thoughts
documented. Flip charts are nice with colours and sometimes drawings
but not
always easy to understand and not as worked through.
What do you guys think about this?
A little more sharing about this OS-meeting. This organization is
nationwide
in Sweden, 120 from the regional and national offices were gathered
for two
days. We had a full day of sessions and a little more than half day
for
convergence and actionplanning. 30 reports and 8 actionplans. And
lots of
energy and learning. I used re-opening which becomes more and more
natural
for me. Thanks for this contribution to OST, Chris and Michael.
Cheers
Thomas
Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89
Pensévägen 4
434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Email: [email protected]
www.openspaceconsulting.com
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