Thank you Diane for your wonderful feedback. The event was indeed magical and as a pioneering event in the direction of opening space, providing people an opportunity to hear each other's voices in a virtual conversation, it was a step in the right direction. In the end, there were a little less than 200 who actually participated (from the initial 590 who registered) and that seems typical of free virtual events especially that many were from around the world having to figure out phones and connections. The interest in these Global Conversations however attracted thousands of people globally judging from the hits and visits we received to our site, to our facebook, etc. All of these elements were part of the experimentation in social media to see how we can create awareness and deepen connections between us.
Thank you Alan Stewart, Open Space colleague and dear friend, for waking up in the wee hours of the morning to participate and then calling me personally from Australia to say congratulations later that day; to Larry Peterson, who wrote me a lengthy note and who was such a wise and supportive counsel throughout, and to Elaine Hansen, my co-lead who I met in Seattle when I went to my first big Open Space event a few years ago. As happens often in Open Space, Elaine and I became dear friends through this volunteer project. Elaine, (with her husband Eric), are passionate about small group virtual conversation <http://hansen-rd.com/> and were also the geniuses who made the technology happen with Maestro Conference along with a few other wonderful volunteers. Important things happened in the planning of this project not the least of which the enthusiasm of a wonderful team with all the "open space" type of discussions between us that happened as we each activated our unique talents and gifts.There was laughter, there was learning, and so much generosity. Perhaps the most powerful thing of all in this entire project is the deeper understanding in the doing of work amongst a team who was living the power of self-organizing, sharing and opening ourselves to each other, living intensely in the present moment, feeling the risk of what we were inviting. And then there was Brené Brown whose message and invitation through her video Power of Vulnerability<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o&noredirect=1>and book The Gifts of Imperfection touch people and awaken them in the same way that happens experientially during an Open Space. Her message to let go who we think we are supposed to be to embrace who we are, resonates with the deep intention of freedom and choice, passion and responsibility that Open Space invites -- a coming home to who we are inside. Brené attended our event and emailed Elaine and I saying this: *"Just watching how y'all cultivated and nurtured this opportunity taught me so much about the power of conversation, intention, and community. I would love to highlight some of the art that emerged from the conversations and the artists. If there's anything I can share on my blog, let me know and I will.* *Thank you again for bringing this like-spirited tribe together - it's exactly what the world needs right now.”* So in the spirit of Open Space, I felt us making some inroads and the seed of aha moments towards the types of conversation we have in Open Space is starting to spread. I feel the possibility of new technology emerging with things like Skype, Maestro and other tools. I want to continue participating in the evolution of those tools, wanting them to do all that Open Space invites, identifying topics, shopping the Marketplace wall, the small group discussions, bumble bees and butterflies, book of proceeding, leading to action. Sunday was a beginning! I apologize for writing and repeating in multiple posts the hopes, intentions and dreams associated with this project. I just wanted all of you to somehow be part of this knowing there is a world who is hungry to go beyond the surface conversations in cyber space to something deeper. I still have tears in my eyes because on Sunday, people in their small groups discovered each other; many had very intimate conversations and are now continuing to converse through email and in other ways. The "whenever it starts, it starts; when it's over, it's over" has a different meaning when people meet in conversations like these in the virtual world. The conversations do not stop; they continue immediately and into the next day and beyond. I was copied on some of these emails and blogs, catching a glimpse of the intimate conversations between people and felt moved by the depth of their passion and the power of their connection. I know the deep relations I have developed through Open Space and how through these I have been activated to greater courage. As it is in Open Space, we do not always know what happens after an event. All is not contained in a book of proceedings. I have become more acutely aware of this now. Ben Roberts who also assisted us as a volunteer, one of the founders of Occupy Café <http://www.occupycafe.org/>, speaks also of the power of Open Space and seeing it into the future of what they are doing in the ever expanding weekly calls*."**I see a big place for Open Space in Occupy Café’s future,"*is what he said. And finally I want to honor Gerry Kirk and Chuni Li who contributed so very much and Julie Gieske, Juliane Neumann and Susanne Hoogwater, the graphic recorders, such great friends of Open Space, who not only created the most incredible art<http://global-conversation.posterous.com/wwwmapthemindorg-makes-a-visual-capture-of-th>but who also inspired others, regular folks, to do the same. As an experiment, of course we can see things that could have been done better, where we worked too hard with perhaps little participation (i.e. not enough summary reports for example) but in the space of 2 hours and the 2 months of dedicated work we put into this, I feel we accomplished a lot.We invited deep dialogue between men, women, young and old from different parts of the (many mainstream people who had never done anything like this before). It was a act of courage for them to even be there. I close now, wanting you to see my own vulnerability through all of this, the moments when I battled with myself watching so much dedicated work on our team and wondering if this was really important to do in the whole scheme of things, in the sense of “ a real job and real work, with so much real pain in the world to heal and so many problems to fix". As I watch others in this community making such important contributions, working on the ground, inviting democracy, helping build countries, working with schools and the media, doing big and small events that seem to be more action-oriented and results-focused than endeavors like this one, I wondered. And then in the moments when I saw people from around the world *creating their topics and creating their own conversation*, *not listening to experts, leaders or facilitators*, seeing them open up to each other, reading their comments as to why they wanted to participate in our Global Conversations, reading between the words the loneliness, the isolation, the fear, the longing to connect and do something, I realized that wherever and however we are opening space, it is important. We had a deep intention of invitation Elaine and I and in the end, we know that this invitation is what resonated to create this event "from nothing" less than 2 months ago to what happened on Sunday. On that note I *invite you* to come visit us here: Global Conversation<http://global-conversation.posterous.com/> and Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Conversation-The-Gifts-of-Imperfection/181146155298478> to see a sprinkling of the magic. Thank you for being there lurkers, doers and wise advisers in this wonderful community; thank you for giving me a place to speak my dreams of Open Space. Suzanne On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 5:49 PM, Diane Gibeault <[email protected]>wrote: > Suzanne congratulations > > I was one of the 500 people who participated today to the 2-hour Gobal OS > by telephone that you and your colleagues organized. Congratulations !! > Very inspiring experience and great model for future use of virtual OS. > > You integrated very well both the spirit and the process of the OST method > to create conditions for participants to open space. In this experience, > the medium of the telephone allowed for hearing the voice of the speaker > instead of reading comments on an internet chat list type of medium. This > is a very conducive and real time way for "feeling the conversation" when > face to face is not possible. > > Birgitt you said that all we can do is to "create containers so that the > Open Space of infinite possibilities can be formed and shaped by the humans > that engage with it." > > Suzanne, Elaine and everyone else of the hosts and organizers of this > virtual gathering OST style, I feel you did just that!. > > Thank you again for being pioneers and leading the way to more > possibilities. > Cheers to you! > > Diane > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > -- Suzanne Daigle NuFocus Strategic Group 7159 Victoria Circle University Park, FL 34201 FL 941-359-8877; CT 203-722-2009 www.nufocusgroup.com [email protected] twitter @suzannedaigle -- Suzanne Daigle NuFocus Strategic Group 7159 Victoria Circle University Park, FL 34201 FL 941-359-8877; CT 203-722-2009 www.nufocusgroup.com [email protected] twitter @suzannedaigle
_______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
