Congratulations on your upcoming adventure, Rob !
On Nov 5, 2011, at 12:10 AM, Rob van der Eyden wrote:
Hi all,
I am preparing an Open space later this week. My first one… So was
going through the book yesterday. Sounds all good and exciting.
One – probably stupid – question though: after the issues have been
raised, agenda made and marketplace opened, how do participants
sign up for sessions? Is that really by subscribing on paper or
just by showing up at the time and place that was planned for the
session?
Thanks & best regards, Rob
Let us know what you noticed and learned and felt after you have this
experience.
As you may well know, there are no stupid questions. It is just not
possible. Every question someone asks is an opportunity for us all to
learn and share and think together.
There are two thoughts on this particular item - and perhaps other
different thoughts as well that I am not aware of.
One thought is that after all the topics are up on the wall and you
have explained anything left to explain (about the notes-taking
process, about when lunch or Closing Circle will be, etc.), you invite
people to come to the wall and write their name on any and all of the
topics they are interested in and inspired by. So they write their
names directly on the topic signs. This signifies intention.
Another 'school' of thought is that by doing that - convenors of
sessions are looking at how many signatures they got - and responding
according to the old / only model they know about meetings. If they
have zero signatures some of those convenors decide 'oh I guess nobody
cares about my topic' and some remove their topic sign, thinking there
is no interest. Other convenors think 'oh so many people are
interested in my topic I nust find a huge area for our conversation'
because they see so many signatures. When in actuality, with everyone
moving about with the Law of Two Feet and as butterflies and
bumblebees - and being inspired by what happens at each moment
throughout the day - that original bunch of signatures is not an
indication of what will actually happen during the day. And the
person removing themselves from the agenda because they do not see
signatures may be the key visionary whose very diverse thought can
change the whole nature of the work. Even if they meet in their own
session by themselves and write for an hour to add that reflection (or
those questions) to the Book of Proceedings. So these facilitation
colleagues do not include that step about participants coming to the
wall to sign their names on those topic signs for which they have
interest.
Either way - yes - people just show up to the conversations. And move
around. And come in and out. Those signs stay on the Agenda Wall and
that is always a point of reference in the large meeting room where
all the conversations are happening.
I invite my colleagues to share more about their different thoughts
and experiences with this element. As you can see perhaps by my
writing above, I am of the second 'school'...
Either way you decide to do it, Rob - is perfect.
And you might want to try it one time one way, the next time you
facilitate you can try it the other way - and see what you yourself
feel and observe - as information for the next time.
Enjoy breathing and not intervening and trusting the people and the
process, Rob, and we look forward to hearing how it went,
Lisa
Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
President, Open Space Institute US
Fellow, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution
Opening Space
[email protected]
- The Open Space Learning Workshop / el Taller de Aprendizaje de
Espacio Abierto - December 14-16, 2011 - San Francisco, USA (en inglés)
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