Thank you, Michael, for the story and the good wishes. I'll check out
the blog.
I am holding the notion of "all kinds of downstream/elsewhere
conversations". As you know, Arizona certainly holds a ton of light
and shadow...
Warm wishes from windy Phoenix,
Christine
Christine Whitney Sanchez
Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
1.480.759.0262
www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
www.promiseusa.com
Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
http://www.facebook.com/ChristineWhitneySanchez
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinewhitneysanchez
On May 2, 2010, at 6:17 PM, Michael Herman wrote:
christine,
i did a world cafe program about a year ago where a group of 100 or
120 students met in a world cafe way heavily informed by open space
principles -- where they got to create their own questions in the
first round and then address them in the four later rounds.
one of the points of this model was that these students were being
considered for scholarships at a couple of major universities. but
some of them would be cut. the moment of being together was short
and then the decisions came out. regardless of who won and who
lost, we wanted to create an agenda that worked for the day, but
also could travel easily back to all the high schools these folks
came from and then on to college with them. or we wanted to create
an agenda that at least had that potential for travelling.
so the first question we asked was something like "what questions do
young people who aspire to be leaders need to be asking and
answering for themselves?" in that first round, each table made
lists of questions. one person stayed to explain, and the others
moved on at the end of that round.
then in later rounds, those gathered at each table chose a
question. or the person who stayed could pick the question,
allowing folks to select a table based on the question to be
discussed. hints of os. just barely. there was also the option to
cluster questions or have sequel conversations or add new questions
to the list.
this is how i remember it anyway. but a blog post at the time has
more and better details.
http://www.michaelherman.com/wordpress/archives/2009/04/02/leadership-cafe/
to me, the main benefit is that we were able to identify and
validate (in a sense) piles of questions that could then be raised
in all kinds of downstream/elsewhere conversations. this part of it
seems like it might be helpful in arizona now. hope so. and good
luck!
m
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.ronanparktrail.com
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
http://www.openspaceworld.org
312-280-7838 (mobile)
On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 5:47 PM, Christine Whitney Sanchez <cwhitneysanc...@gmail.com
> wrote:
Cross-posted on the AI & NCDD lists...
Dear Open Space Friends,
There are many opportunities for generative, strength-based citizen
conversations popping up in Arizona due to the law that was signed
last week by our governor, making it a crime to be an illegal
immigrant in Arizona and mandating police to stop anyone they
suspect of being "illegal". One third of our population in Arizona
is Hispanic. You can imagine the tensions and the grief.
I'm working with a local group that would like to host a large-scale
conversation on May 26, working title: Transformation Talks: Our
Voices - Arizona's Future. We are designing a 2 hour event in
Phoenix that can accommodate up to 1,000 The reason for the large
number is that the governor and many others constantly refer to a
(poorly designed) poll with a sample of 500 that claims that 70% of
Arizonans favor such a law.
We will likely use a World Cafe format, use appreciative questions
and create the conditions so that people can self-organize for
collaborative action. The team I'm working with feels strongly that
people in Arizona need a chance to talk about their pain, fear and
anger first before they will be able to move into thinking about the
future. I agree.
When my twenty year old son first heard the concept, he said, "Who
will pick the questions?" Not long ago, someone (was it you, Chris
Corrigan?) mentioned a process where the questions emerged at tables.
I would be grateful for any stories about working with grief on a
large scale and your thoughts/suggestions on event design and
questions that will encourage deep conversations and move into action.
Warm wishes on a windy Phoenix day,
Christine
Christine Whitney Sanchez
Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
+1.480.759.0262
www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
www.promiseusa.com
Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
http://www.facebook.com/ChristineWhitneySanchez
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinewhitneysanchez
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