Liz
Thanks for posting this sounds wonderful! Lisa has responded with much wisdom to many of your points (what time is it with you Lisa?!) already. I would add a couple of ideas: I am with Lisa on concerns about using a theatre but if that is all you have that is all you have. I once ran an open space in a large marquee is there a circus tent that you could borrow? Do check out the stuff that Phelim has posted here recently regarding his use of a theatre to create a (sort of) flat circle in a tiered place! As you will know they have these wonderful cardboard wall structures in Germany that we used at the WOSONOS a few weeks ago. I am currently exploring whether I can put the German company who manufactures these in touch with a mate of mine whose business is cardboard packaging. (I will get back to you soon Jo!) Perhaps there might be scope in setting up the company links in time for your event. I have tried contacting the company direct but to no avail. Maybe with your EU contacts it might be possible to import them anyway? As Lisa suggests there are other fixes including just getting some panels from a DIY shop such as the polystyrene they use in house insulation though not very eco friendly! Metaplan boards are good and I know the distributor in this country if you need me to I can put you in touch. Signing again I am with Lisa I have to say that I have never bothered with this heresy! I use balloons (big letters floating 2m off the ground) so that people can take their group wherever they wish to go the space moves around flexibly if a large number show up.... I had an option of a large projector screen in the last series of OS I ran in the end we did not bother. It felt just a bit too techy and the dynamism of an agenda wall flows much better. I now dont bother with grids. So long as you have the time slot spaces mapped out clearly and distinctly there is no need. The post it notes identify where the session is happening. For the sake of clarity I have different colours for the different times... The action planning stage of the WOSONOS in Berlin was new to some people (including me) but I thought it worked well and allowed for some convergence. Our BOSCOP colleagues may have some views about this too of course! Indeed so might others. But to pick up on what Lisa says convergence for what? What are the outcomes that are expected / hoped for / anticipated? Who will be invited? How long will the events be? How will you be organising the training? There are plenty of people who could help out if you need it. How are you linking all this stuff with the Prime Ministers big society? If you would like to meet up face to face do give me a call. We could meet half way somewhere (I am Buckingham based) I am happy to share whatever I can to assist. Very best wishes Jon ____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Jon Harvey Director " <http://www.jonharveyassociates.co.uk/> www.jonharveyassociates.co.uk ( +44 (0) 7771 537535 ( +44 (0) 1280 822585 <mailto:j...@jonharveyassociates.co.uk> j...@jonharveyassociates.co.uk ¹ Skype: jonsharvey JHAL logo.jpg Helping you connect the prose and the passion to deliver superlative results <http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/> http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/ for ideas about how to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of public & third sector services <http://jonharveyassociates.blogspot.com/> http://jonharveyassociates.blogspot.com/ for articles & ideas about leadership and organisational change from a whole systems perspective <http://twitter.com/JonSHarvey> http://twitter.com/JonSHarvey for conversations, ideas & questions to help build a more ambitious, creative and fair world <http://tinyurl.com/JonHarveyLI> http://tinyurl.com/JonHarveyLI to connect with me on LinkedIn Jon Harvey Associates Ltd Registered Office: Chandos House, School Lane, Buckingham, MK18 1HD Company Number 6661588. VAT Registration Number 936 2921 11 Please consider the environment before printing this email. Thank you. All business mileage is offset with <http://www.carbon-clear.com/uk/index.php> http://www.carbon-clear.com From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Lisa Heft Sent: 21 July 2010 16:38 To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Large-scale community project Hi, Liz - how exciting! I am one of those who has done quite a few OSs for 1500 and 2000 and more. One of my recommendations is to keep in mind that while the form of OS stays the same (and scales up to those overall group sizes) your pre-work shall probably include lots of thought about what makes the site intuitively easy to navigate / find a session they are interested in way across the site without folks getting lost, ability to hear and to see and access Agenda Wall, facilitator, session convenors announcing their sessions, other access issue such as wheelchair/crutch/weaker legs issues and so on. All true of smaller events too - but in my experience, crucial in the larger ones. Also watching traffic pattens not just for ease of navigating but for safety issues as well (should there be a fire or other emergency, where are the clear routes of access and exit). So as a 'Devils Advocate' question - the theatre is the only big space you can use? rather than an auditorium or conference hall with completely clear (for discussion area set-up) floor space? I'm guessing you went through all that investigation and the theatre space is what you have. Wall space: I have used and heard of sticky walls (parachute-like material with spray-adhesive where the topic signs just stick - but of course you have to affix that fabric and its weight of signage onto the wall as well), exhibit walls such as in trade shows (often cost a lot to rent), fold-out cardboard walls such as Neuland products offer (perhaps a bit expensive as well), 'Canadian tables' (tables leaned upright so their faces become the 'wall' surface), sides of busses, clotheslines with clothes pins (again, plan for sag and weight of signs), curtains and straight pins... ...I am curious why you need walls when it is a theatre...perhaps you can explain the space more - thanks. Signing up: Many of my dear colleagues who I respect deeply feel the signing up on the topic signs is essential for setting intention and furthering the self-organization. I experimented with dropping that as 'one less thing' and I found it improved upon the situation. The 'situation' I refer to is not just about traffic jams at the wall (which was my initial reason for trying this one less thing) but also I noted that some session convenors saw nobody signing up for their sessions so assumed nobody would come and removed their signs (when in actuality through the course of the day folks are drawn to more or different sessions than they signed their names on to / thought they might be interested in at the beginning of the day) - others said 'oh my - this is a big group coming - I must go find a big room ' and when it actually happened maybe 10 people came - because again - their interests and energies changed throughout the day. So to me, the not signing names on topic signs (except of course for the convenor placing her/his name on their own sign) seems to be an improvement. However I do invite my great colleagues - especially those who have done larger events who do still include the signing-up element - to share what works, why they retain it and so on - many diverse experiences lead to several options and styles. Video screen: I have had several large events where this has been part of the design - and in each one found that the client worked hard on this (such as transcribing what is going up on the wall immediately so they can throw it on a screen / multiple screens) but the participants have ignored the screen and instead go up to the wall with the papers on it - whether that Agenda Wall is in the main room where most sessions are convening (with some breakout spaces down the hall) or whether the Agenda Wall is moved to the hallway or something specific to that site. What are other folks' experiences, especially in these larger group sizes / events? Convergence: For that I would have to ask you what is your objective for that convergence. If you mean Closing Circle comments and reflections as your convergence, I just use multiple microphone locations and invite folks to come up to share their reflections, discoveries, breakthrough conversations, exciting stories and rich learnings of the day. And I have those scribed to include in the Book of Proceedings. Not going around in a circle but offering time for folks to come up to the mic. Is that what you mean? And: are you doing documentation / having participants take their notes to co-create a Book of Proceedings? I've done that as well for these large events and I am sure my colleagues who do larger OS events have done this as well - ask away. I look forward to hearing my colleagues similar and different experiences for these larger groups, Lisa Lisa Heft Consultant, Facilitator, Educator Opening Space lisah...@openingspace.net www.openingspace.net Ask me about the The Power of Pre-Work workshop for facilitators -August 18-20, 2010 - San Francisco and the Open Space Learning Workshops - October 15-18, 2010 - Medellin, Colombia and December 15-17, 2010 - San Francisco On Jul 21, 2010, at 8:00 AM, Liz Martins wrote: Dear all Im involved in a large-scale community project in Bristol, UK, based on OS. As well as local OS events across the city, it culminates in large (1500 people) OS event in February. Ill put information about the project below, if youre interested. No doubt Ill be coming to the list quite a few times over the next months, but just now Id really appreciate some help about · Whether anyone has a large event coming up (in the UK or Europe) that might be possible for some of our project team to attend · Whether anyone has done something like our project and is willing to share any learning And, starting to think about the process detail for the big event (which is in a big theatre with additional breakout space in a large modern extension so has limitations on flexibility) · We know were going to need masses of additional wall space and wondering how best to achieve this - weve seen/heard of people using portable stands, cardboard walls etc whats out there? · What about people signing up or not signing up whats lost if they dont do this and just go to the conversations? The traffic is going to be a challenge, and this would be one less thing to do. · Our plan is to have separate sections of wall for the different session times but within this, any thoughts about whether, given the large numbers of people, its best to use a grid or free-form posting using post-its? · Experience of using large video screen(s) so people can see whats going on the wall? · Thoughts about convergence in very large events? · Anything else that you think of that might be helpful .! With many thanks in anticipation of help Liz Liz Martins <mailto:lizmarti...@gmail.com> lizmarti...@gmail.com +44 (0)7977 932066 Bristol Open Space Project - Part of EY2010: European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. A Better Bristol For All The Open Space project is part of a larger European project (EY2010). Key aims are to give voice to those experiencing poverty and social exclusion and also to raise awareness of how we need to work together as a society towards equality and inclusion. Bristols response to EY2010 is a series of events and projects around the whole city under the heading of Working Together for Positive Change. The Open Space project, A Better Bristol For All, aims to support better contact and flow of creativity between local grassroots social and community action groups within the context of the whole of Bristol. Each neighbourhood is being invited to put on an Open Space event to look at local connections and creativity and then culminate in coming together in February 2011 in one mass open space event. This will bring together the ideas, creativity and inspiration that has been sparked locally, so that Bristol comes together, to be more in contact, more creative, and move to a Better Bristol for All. The project starts with forming a project team of about 16 people keen to learn about facilitating OS meetings and using it in their future work in communities. The aim is to grow OS facilitation as a resource for the city. Most of these people are already signed up. Theres a one-day training in OS for them in September with more during the project. The flow of the project is to start with a central focus involving key people, then out to local communities, and then back to the major event in February. In October theres an OS day with about 100 people from the council and Bristol city neighbourhood partnerships, grassroots community groups, service users etc. This event will provide the impetus for taking the project out to the local areas. In Nov/Dec/Jan there will be 12 local neighbourhood OS events across the city, funded by the project and facilitated by people from the project team, working with local organisers. Then, in February there will be the final big OS event bringing together people from across the city who have been involved in the neighbourhood events, and others, including from European cities twinned with Bristol. The key themes that come out of the project will be taken forward and presented to local and national government. Im holding responsibility for the OS process, with my colleague Vivian Broughton who had the vision for the project initially. We will be training and supporting the project team and facilitating events ourselves or supporting project team members to do so. The logistics, budget, PR etc and everything else are being held elsewhere, though we will be involved where it impacts on the OS process. Vivian and I both have experience of facilitating OS, and Vivian was at the big 2000+ event in Germany facilitated by HO and Michael P, but we havent done it like this before, at such scale. We expect to be very surprised! * * ========================================================== 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
