I sort of thought that was what you meant (explanation). I can understand why you did that - and I try very hard to answer few if any questions. There are several reasons. The first is just practical. The more time you spend answering questions, the less time folks have with the really good stuff (what they came to talk about). Also I find that in most cases (all cases?) the questioners are simply trying to deal with their anxiety. At the extreme you can find yourself in a situation where somebody is questioning the theoretical basis for OS. If that happens, you might as well give up and turn the morning over to a theoretical discussion. Now you might think that reducing anxiety levels is a good thing (feeling comfortable) - but actually I find that a good sense of anxiety/adventure is really a positive. Adds some extra "oomph" to the start. The third reason I never answer questions is that I "know" that most people will forget the answers AND they will figure it out by themselves anyhow.
This last point is really important for me. When a group understands that the meeting is really their own, and that they are responsible the "empowerment quotient" goes up by many degrees. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Funda Oral Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 8:35 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: my second space in istanbul thank you all - harrison, gail, juan luis, marina, raffi.....and everbody- who follow my adventure with ost. dear harrison and esther, when i say less ritual and more explanation i mean less words for principles and law more explanation on technical-simple information such as; where to go for group meetings, what the convener should do, who shd write the report, what do we do with the report, what is a session etc. i tried to answer shortly all the questions regarding the practice without taking their space. i felt that i had to do that for the participants to feel comfortable and secure with the method. few times i had to say "pls stop asking questions, let's live,..." ..... funda * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
