Hi Lisa! Thank you for the warm welcome back! And thanks for sharing your experience. I will contact you off-list to see if you can mentor me through the design of this event. When I get it together I will summarize the design and its reasoning back to the list for those interested. I think that both youth events and OS-within-a-larger-conference are important applications that have some special puzzles to work out (without * adding* anything unnecessary, of course [?]). Cheers, Chris
On Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 6:46 PM, Lisa Heft <[email protected]>wrote: > Well if it isn't the fabulous Chris Weaver ! > Your presence is felt in much of the work I do -and- I use your invitation > text (strategic plan for Swannanoa) in both my The Power of Pre-Work > workshop and my Open Space Learning Workshop. > Welcome back, you inspiration. > Although I know you have been here in spirit all along. > > I do a lot of OS work in conferences and a lot with youth. > Here is what I have learned - and of course other colleagues on the list > may see and do it wonderfully differently. > > a) So so hard to have a concurrent OS - running at the same time as a > larger conference - if the young people also have to give workshops or > attend the larger conference. > Hard to hold the space, challenging for folks wandering in and out to feel > what is happening (in the same collectively-held way as the others who are > already in the room), hard for the young people (smart as they are) to > remember when to show back up in the OS room because they are living in the > now and often lose track of time. Not a catastrophe, because great things > always happen - just harder for the facilitator. Me, at least. > > b) Physical space - if the young people are also participating in the > larger conference - think about how to keep that 'hidden' space present for > them. Once I gave everybody pocket cards to share and pass with / to their > friends that said where and when and gave the energy of the OS event. Plus > fun signage in the halls etc. Low tech and effective. > > c) Inviting others to flow in and out and look at the wall, participate, > etc. As much as I love engaging the whole system - in the conferences where > I have done a youth conference-within-a-conference - the youth have > consistently said that it was so amazing to have a youth-only space. > Youth-only meaning: they loved having a facilitator who was older than them > as witness-without-telling-them - so you don't have to be the same culture > as the participants. But youth-only meaning - the only other adults that > are allowed into the space are those one or two or four who are > specifically invited by a youth participant to come into the room. Like one > time when the young people wanted to talk to an adult who had been in the > military for something they were working on in OS. Another time they wanted > to talk about aging and include someone older than them. All by invitation > at the event and rather spontaneously done as-needed. To me - especially in > a mixed-age conference it is HUGE to give youth their own self-led space. > In all ways. And this is true for other countries I have worked in as well. > > I guess the question is why. How does it serve the youth. What is the > objective of this youth conference-within-a-conference session. And the > conference as a whole. And I would design according to that. > > d) Let the adults know of the cool things happening in the room in some > other way. They'll find that the cutting edge topics happened in the youth > space rather than the main conference. Posting those topics out can happen > after the conference or during but of course it does not have to be your > job to do that because your job is to hold space for what's happening in > the youth OS room. > > c) To me, young people are no different than adults: if documentation is > not obvious / apparent / seen - it does not get done. Even if a community > is very high-tech or tech-oriented. There is no felt space. No noticing > that yes, others are documenting so I guess I should get my notes in too. > Even in a high-tech environment I always place a physical newsroom with a > few laptops and signage to remind peoples' minds and bodies of the presence > of documentation. Even when people say 'oh we all use GoogleDocs' you can > see how nobody is turning aside to post notes - they are mostly taking > notes for themselves. And here's the biggest thing - to me: Each time you > adjust or 'improve' or change something - something else shifts. Which is > fine. But just know what you are shifting and then make your decision - > that's what I remind myself when thinking of these things. So in > eliminating a 'take your notes on paper, then go to the Newsroom and > transcribe them' - you are eliminating the ability of someone to re-write > the notes for the 'outside reader' (someone not in their group discussion) > - not in shorthand but in a way that shows responsibility for > knowledge-sharing across the groups; you are eliminating the ability of > someone to think again about their experience as they transcribe - thus > further integrating their experience; you are eliminating the 'come here > and sit with me at the Newsroom - let's talk about these notes'; you are > eliminating your paper back-up system (should computers fry - which they > have done). Those are reasons I often prefer going with a laptops Newsroom > if laptop technology is available. Or graphic templates or some other thing > that make it more than a flipchart: because I notice that most things folks > draw on flip-charts have meaning to the group that was there when it was > created - but others wish for just a little bit of text so they can > understand, too. So perhaps a graphic template with a little box for some > descriptive text? > > d) Of course documentation design also depends on the group culture and > capacity, how the information / ideas might be used post-event, how > participants might be able to access the information, and so many more > things. > > At the risk of sounding like a broken record (hmmm...new > technology...scratched cd?) - those are the many interconnected elements we > talk about and explore in my Power of Pre-Work workshop - which is coming > up next month in San Francisco. I don't know if you have resources for > travel Chris but housing is very cheap if you need it (a great hostel) and > registration is pay-the-most-you-can so if you time and resources allow - > join us and we'll all explore together ! (let me know and I can send you > more information - dates below). > > I look forward to hearing others' experiences that might inform Chris and > I'm so glad that these young people will have such a great space-holder ... > > > Lisa > > > > The Power of Pre-Work > - August 8-10, 2012 - San Francisco, USA > The Open Space Learning Workshop / el Taller de Aprendizaje de Espacio > Abierto > - October 9-11, 2012 - London, United Kingdom > (before the World Open Space on Open Space in London) > - December 12-14, 2012 - San Francisco, USA > - In English y en español: 2013 dates and countries to be announced > > > > On Jul 29, 2012, at 10:25 AM, Chris Weaver wrote: > > Hi OSList, > > I have been away for many years, but now I am back, seeking advice. > <330.gif> > > I am negotiating a proposal for an OST youth summit, nested within a much > larger traditional conference. The youth OST will have 100 to 200 > participants; the larger conference will have 1,000 to 1,200. (And no, > there is no prospect of holding the whole thing in OS, as lovely as that > would be). > For the moment, two questions: > > 1. I am weighing the pros and cons of inviting participants who are > part of the larger conference but not the youth summit to even so pop by > the agenda wall, and drop into an OS breakout session if they wish. They > won't have been in the opening. You tell me: enhancement, or catastrophe? > 2. The last time I put together newsrooms, I used word documents & > memory sticks, or hand-written reports & posters. Have people had luck > with web-based documents like GoogleDocs, allowing participants to type in > reports on their personal devices? I want to catch these high-school and > college youth leaders where they are at...but I want it to work! > > Thanks for your thoughts. > Warmly, > Chris Weaver > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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