Hey Harold! I'm smiling about the OS-Rainbow Gathering connection! I had my first intensive gathering experience in 1981, in Washington State, then in 1983 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Have been to a few more since then...
About a decade later, when I attended my first Open Space -- the Organization Transformation Conference in Napa, I believe it was 1994 or 1995 -- and met Harrison in person, I remember telling him that I was blown away that "he had figured out how to hold a Rainbow Gathering indoors". :-) The next time I was at a Gathering... it may have been a regional in New Mexico a few years later? I remember talking with some of my long-time gathering friends, and telling that there was this crazy thing that they could do with organizations, helping them hold Rainbow-Gathering-like events indoors... I think they thought I was nuts! *1. when did you first hear about os or ost?* 1994 or 1995, in the Bay Area, saw Harrison's book at my friend Kim Rosa's house. I read it all in one sitting, then called him up using the phone number in the back of the book, and was blown away when he answered the phone. I told him I'd just finished reading his book, and really wanted to experience this... he asked me where I was calling from, and then told me that I was in luck since the conference in Napa was going to be happening soon... *2. what was the hook? how did you notice it might have value?* I think it was somewhere on day two, when I really got that if something wasn't being offered, it was up to me to do something about it. Some friends and I offered a session or two. It was a blast.... The closing was really amazing also, a huge circle, then snake-dancing through the building, turning the energy outward toward the world, feeling this huge circle at our back... *3. when did you notice that you'd started letting it inform how you live?* I think that first OST gathering was it... it's been a huge reinforcement ever since then, for my already-present tendency to "listen inside" for where I need to be... *4. what has happened since then? what difference does it seem to make?* some time shortly after that initial encounter, a friend and I offered a one-day OS gathering for the education reform non-profit I was working at, that was going through major re-org. It was small, but very meaningful... I remember going to some OS training with Harrison in SF, maybe in 1998? Then in 1999, I assisted my friend Tom Atlee with another one-day OS event that he was hosting in the Bay Area... At the time, I remember worrying at that OS had "spoiled" me, as I had been wanting to go back to school for a master's in OD, as a way of moving into consulting work... However, after experiencing OS I was worried that I would not be able to deal with a program that was not open to self-organization! Fortunately, I ended up finding Sonoma State University's great OD program, which is quite open to dialogic processes... :-) :-) :-) Got to play with Future Search and other good stuff there. And, in 2000 I encountered Dynamic Facilitation, which is particularly useful and fun for small groups working on complex issues. I didn't connect with this list until a few years ago when my friend Peggy mentioned it to me. Mostly lurk but occasionally comment. I've been on the hosting team for a few conferences in Austria using Art of Hosting, where we do some OS, but I wouldn't really count that as hosting a multi-day OS gathering, which is where I feel the real juice is... and which I've only attended so far, not hosted. So I'm very much an amateur in the OS world... with all best wishes, Rosa *Rosa Zubizarreta* *Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaborationhttp://www.diapraxis.com <http://www.diapraxis.com/>* On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 3:01 PM, Harold Shinsato via OSList < [email protected]> wrote: > > Such awesome stories. Much gratitude, and may the powerful stories to > continue to emerge. I'm in! > > 1. when did you first hear about os or ost? > > Short answer: May 2007. Long answer: I first about OST from the wonderful > Kaliya Hamlin who was hired to conduct a sideline "barcamp" in San > Francisco at Moscone Center for the annual (huge) JavaOne conference in May > of 2007. The only reason I was drawn to that was because something really > struck a cord in me when I heard read on the web in 2007 what was happening > at FooCamp (a watered down version of OST), which would be hard to > experience as only 250 a year get invites. When I heard that BarCamp's were > a copy of FooCamp and something anyone could conduct, I got quite excited > about offering one in Montana. And a few other influential people in the > tech community in Montana were also interested and had heard about BarCamp > and supported my intention. But the JavaOne sideline 'barcamp' was pretty > much a glorious failure. Out of 10-20 thousand participants, only 10 showed > up for our BarCamp and only stayed for an hour (despite one of the handful > of lead conference organizers showing up saying he thought all tech > conferences would eventually be in this kind of format). Kaliya did a small > "barcamp" anyway and she told me about the real stuff, Open Space > Technology. Kaliya was conducting her Internet Identity Workshop less than > an hour south in Mountain View the following week, and when I showed up > there Kaliya introduced me to Lisa Heft who offered me a short slideshow on > how OST was used around the world in very diverse and powerful > environments. I took Lisa's workshop December 2007, facilitated my first > OST the month after at SAP in San Jose, CA, and my first "BarCamp" in > Missoula in April of 2008 - but I did full force OST. No watering down. > Have been hooked ever since. > > 2. what was the hook? how did you notice it might have value? > > That's a long story - but the short version is I had had such a mind > blowing experience of seeing self-organization in effect (before I had any > words for it) - in 1996 at my first National Rainbow Gathering where 15-30K > people camp for a week offering all kinds of things and feeding everyone as > well without any official leadership. Also, my experience taking improv > classes 1995-1998 offered the same kind of urging towards the emergent. And > then hearing about self-direction and self-organizing in Agile Software > Development in 2001. And finally, Jim and Michele McCarthy's bootcamp for > me in 2002 also offered a huge level of self-direction and > self-organization. I just *knew* it was the right direction. And Open Space > had such a simple process and a beautiful invitation that let me feel like > I or anyone could do it. The principles were already built in to our > humanity. Anyone can play. > > 3. when did you notice that you'd started letting it inform how you live? > > Hmm, I'd say with confidence that I started let OST inform how I live well > before I even heard about OST. See the story above. And what I find is that > Open Space is so amazing that it keeps teaching me as I continue to > practice. > > 4. what has happened since then? what difference does it seem to make? > > OST has made such a difference for me and so much has happened, more than > I can imagine writing. Short answer, it has totally changed my life for the > better. Ten facilitations under my belt since 2008. Participated in 2-3 > times as many, several I think will go down in the history books like the 3 > WOSonOS events in 2010, 2012, 2013, "Leadership in a Self-Organizing World" > and "Scrum Beyond Software". Serving on the Open Space Institute board and > helping keep the OSLIST alive on the cheap by finding us free hosting. > Leaving my day job this year and getting to face Open Space with even > deeper commitment and intentionality for Open Space being my real life work. > > I'm so grateful to Harrison, the early pioneers; for the many incredibly > transformative relationships as well as getting to participate in the > lively OSLIST with all of you. Blessings! > > -- > Harold Shinsato > [email protected] > http://shinsato.com > twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush> > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > >
