Hello Rob,
Congratulations on your first!
The way I look at it is that in preparing for an
Open Space gathering, I create a sturdy and safe
container in which the process can unfold. Once
the process is unfolding, I let it go. The only
thing I watch for is if the space feels still
open. So if people try to take over the process,
I encourage them to do their thing inside the
process, as a session in the Open Space. That
usually works well. That is the only thing I
stick my nose into. Anything else is off limits for me.
If people take long breaks and don't go back to
their sessions (as happened a few weeks ago) - I
let them have their break. After all, Open Space
is supposed to be one big coffee break. And who
am I to tell them to go do something? They decide
where and how they are most productive.
So I always try to think what the container needs
so that it can be a safe and productive place for
the process to unfold. I think it needs a clear
and compelling theme that is advertised
beforehand. It needs the four principles and the
law of two feet. I think it needs an agenda that
is empty at the start and that is filled by the
participants based on their passion and
responsibility. I think it needs some structure
in time and space so anybody who wants to be in a
specific session knows where to go and at what
time. And it is nice if there is a nice big room
with lots of air and light and a big empty wall
on one side and if the management is open to the outcome of the conference.
So maybe I have missed one or two, but those are
basically the essentials for the container. Once
I have secured those, I can let the rest go. And
my only task is to watch over this safe place until it is done.
I often have the feeling that people in The
Netherlands find it rather difficult to use the
Law of Two Feet. I have asked for feedback about
my introduction, and people tell me that I
explain it well and that they understand it and
like it. But still they feel inhibited to walk
out on a conversation. I have learned to let that
go too. I can do only so much, after that it is
op to the folks themselves. Next time, I may try
to put a few extra posters of two feet around the
room, as a gentle reminder. But if people need
the experience of bering bored and feeling
unhappy before they take the hurdle, who am I to
take that experience away from them?
Now I think you did pretty well. I think I would
have been a bit more structured with the agenda.
And I would have put it on the wall, so it is
easier to take a look at when you are going from
one session to the other. But it sounds like it
worked fine! If folks are happy and get results, that is what counts.
Thanks for sharing! Hope to see you at a stammtisch some day.
Koos
At 12:07 23-11-2011, Rob van der Eyden wrote:
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Hello all,
I still wanted to share some of my experiences
in the Open Space I facilitated a couple a weeks
ago. The event was a Veranderdiner
(Changediner) that we organize a couple a times
a year for a network of people interested in
behavioral change. Topic this time was: What
can I do to make the world a better place?. About 20 people showed up.
We had positive reactions on the event, lively
conversations, new people met. Valuable
experience gained in facilitating an Open Space.
All good. About the Open Space technique:
· We asked the participants to set up
the circle of chairs for them self. Worked really well.
· The agenda we had lying on floor in
the middle of the circle. After a short
introduction, I asked the participants for their
topics / sessions. Lot of (very diverse) topics
were raised, each put an a paper. Each paper was
put somewhere at the agenda, but mostly not at a
specific location / timeslot. That was probably
because I did not put post-its on the agenda,
that could be taken by everyone that wanted to
host a session (so will do that next time). So
we ended with a stack of topics suggested to be discussed, but no agenda yet
· So on to signing up: based on the
discussion on the OS List, I decided to ask the
participants to sign up for the topics they were
interested in by putting their name on that
paper. Result? Nobody did that, but the buzz did
certainly get going. And probably a bit
different than it should, because we did not
have clear topics assigned to location/timeslot.
I managed to leave it to the group to figure
it out. There were some participants that
started trying to organize the whole thing
(lets do it like this
), but in some way
several groups formed about some topics (which
were probably all different from the ones posted
in the first run) and they got to work and have a good time.
· I did feel some struggle within me
during the event. Before we got started one of
the participants told me about a (to me very
good and clear) topic he wanted to discuss, but
for some reason he did not raise it in the
group, but chose to raise another topic (to me
very vague). I felt some regret, decided to let
it go, but when another topic related topic came
up, I did make a reference. That went nowhere,
so probably I should have stayed out in the
first place. Later when I listened in to some of
the conversations, I got the feeling that some
participants were more involved than others, so
I started wondering why dont they use their 2
feet? and should I remind them about that
possibility? I did not. Any other experiences
on that? I had the idea that participants still
feel it as not done / not polite to leave a
session
Guess I am still trying to find the
balance letting the group do it themselves and
trying to influence / taking care of the participants
· We closed with a nice talking stick
closing circle with warm reactions.
So probably I did not do it all by the book, but
still I look back to a great event and am looking forward to try again ;-)
Again: thank you all for sharing your thoughts on signing up earlier.
Best regards, Rob
Van: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] Namens Rob van der Eyden
Verzonden: dinsdag 8 november 2011 21:30
Aan: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
Onderwerp: Re: [OSList] Signing up for sessions
Wow! How good to see how alive this open space
community is. Thank you all for all your
valuable thoughts on signing up. I will try to
find my way based on your suggestions and I will
share my experiences with you afterwards.
Best regards, Rob
De Veranderarchitect B.V.
Rob A.I. van der Eyden
"Change is disturbing when it is done to us,
exhilerating when it is done by us" (K. Moss Kanter)
Parkietstraat 30, 1171 HV Badhoevedorp
M: <tel:%2B31%20%280%296%20512%2072%20127>+31 (0)6 512 72 127
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
www.veranderarchitect.nl
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