Yes, be prepared to be surprised. Period!!! Again i find myself humble to sacred power of ost & its self-humbled originator who has been trying to hide behind the planetary show of ost. ;-)
Thank you Katia 2012. 3. 4. 오후 3:44에 "Katia Van Belle" <[email protected]>님이 작성: > Here is one more story I would like to share. > > Last month I opened space for 450 people. They gathered around the topic > of "more holidays for more people", and were invited by a special > department of our government that provides holiday opportunities to poor > people. Usually, on their forum (which is held once a year and lasts for > half a day), half of the participants are poor people who went on holiday > thanks to the initiative. The other half are social organizations that work > with these people, and a small group are hotel owners, managers of > entertainment parks / zoo /... So it is a very unique and interesting mix > of stakeholders who meet. > > This year the department has won a prestigious international prize, and > the 'officials' were present to give the prize to our minister of tourism, > who then gave it to the head of the department, etc... However, we decided > we didn't want the officials just to sit and observe the event, and leave > without understanding (without having felt) the power of this group of > people. So we decided to include them in the open space. At least in the > second round of sessions, once the journalists had left. > > To our surprise, they convened a session on the topic of 'how can social > media help us give more holidays to more people?'. Quite a stretch we > thought... given that many of the participants didn't speak English, and > maybe many of them don't have computers at home... But that proved us > wrong! It was the largest session, with over 25 people attending, and our > international guests where pleasantly surprised by the intensity of the > conversation, the richness of the ideas shared and how many of the > participants did their best to speak English. > > "Be prepared to be surprised", how true that was once more! > > > Katia > > Op 03 Mar 2012, om 17:40 heeft Harrison Owen het volgende geschreven: > > Chuni--Several languages. Wonderful! Having been "there" multiple times - > once with 15 different languages - I have always found it the richest of > experiences. If you follow all the wonderful, detailed suggestions of Lisa > I know it will turn out just grand. But personally I find myself much > closer to Katia. I guess that is not surprising considering my affection > for thinking of one less thing to do.**** > ** ** > My approach comes from some considerable experience in good international > bars (go ahead and say something nasty about martinis J) - and one of the > things I have always noticed and enjoyed was that as the evening went > along, anybody who really wanted to talk to anybody else always managed to > accomplish their desire. The conversation might take a little time and pass > through multiple languages and persons, but the essential messages were > always delivered. Self organization at work, I think. And something else > happened along the way. As people were helping people they bonded in the > process. By evening's end, total strangers had become pretty good friends. > Doubtless the alcohol helped, but there was more than that - related to the > fact that helping each other is a good thing in itself. And all of a sudden > the disparate languages became a positive support for emerging community.* > *** > ** ** > So I advocate using the Principles of a Good International Bar (Is that > the 6th Principle?). When people want to communicate, they will do that > and the effect of their effort goes way beyond the simple passage of words. > To help out, I have used little lapel flags representing languages spoken > (like the airlines) - so if you were looking for somebody who spoke > Serbo-Croatian you might find them. This can help when you only have two > languages - however, it is almost easier just to ask people (that is a nice > civil thing to do). Bottom line in my experience is that language is a > problem only if you make it one. If the people care, they will find a way, > and be stronger for the effort.**** > ** ** > Harrison **** > ** ** > Harrison Owen**** > 7808 River Falls Dr.**** > Potomac, MD 20854**** > USA**** > ** ** > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)**** > Camden, Maine 20854**** > ** ** > Phone 301-365-2093**** > (summer) 207-763-3261**** > ** ** > www.openspaceworld.com**** > www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)**** > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > OSLIST Go to: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org**** > ** ** > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of* > [email protected] > *Sent:* Friday, March 02, 2012 9:29 PM > *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list > *Subject:* [OSList] Bi-lingual open space**** > ** ** > Hello All,**** > **** > I am working on a state-wide initiative to bring people together to > address "How Can Creativity and Innovation Revitalize New Jersey."**** > One of the communities we are planning an open space for has a large > Spanish speaking population. To host an inclusive event, we very much want > to include these people who don't speak English.**** > Does anyone have experience organizing a bi-lingual open space?**** > Did you use a translator? Did you repeat everything in both languages? How > did you handle the break-out discussions?**** > **** > Thank you so much for sharing!**** > **** > Chuni Li**** > New Jersey**** > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > >
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