Hi Paul and all Regarding your question about break out groups, I always do the following during an OST:
1. I prepare the break out groups with putting chairs in a circle only (+ extra chairs nearby). No flipchart standing in each group as I find it can create a non-dialogue-structure a. For action planning I do put a flipchart standing and chairs in U-shape. Because now it’s “no more talking”. Now focus is on producing an action plan. 2. Offer a sheet of paper and a board to make notes during the meeting, to be re-written when finished the meeting on computer station or more commonly on flipcharts in the newsroom. 3. Inspire the convener to ask for help, with taking notes/writing the report 4. Offer the convener to use “Tips for good dialogue” – if he/she has other preferred ways, fine! Listening to each voice once around for a start increases the likelihood of being open and inviting to all participants and lessens the risk that it will be a monolog or just a few speaking. Most conveners/groups do start with this once around, and it’s beautiful! I think that this makes a huge difference. a. Start with once around - invite everyone to present him/herself by name and to say a few words about why they chose this topic. b. Listen and pay attention to each other c. Give everyone the chance to speak. d. Speak from yourself e. Pay attention to what is emerging f. You may finish by a once around, inviting people to share what they learnt Then I trust they do their choices keeping the principles and the law in mind. Cheers Thomas Herrmann, Sweden Från: OSList [mailto:[email protected]] För Paul Nunesdea via OSList Skickat: den 22 mars 2015 16:23 Till: Lucas Cioffi; World wide Open Space Technology email list Ämne: Re: [OSList] Great formats for breakout sessions? Hi Lucas, Spot on. I have seen this happening, the energy gets wasted, specially in small OS seems that social pressures inhibits the Law of two feet. Wonder if the same happens in virtual OS, where people can actually leave the "virtual rooms" without any social pressure... Thanks for such well thought questions. Best Paul >From my iPad On 22/3/2015, at 15:10, Lucas Cioffi via OSList <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Hi All, I checked the OST User's Guide and the OS List archives, but I didn't find any mention of what format the breakout sessions can/should take. During some but not all OS events I've attended, facilitators have mentioned that breakout sessions should be conversations rather than presentations. The OS philosophy would say "there's no need to suggest how to run a breakout session" and "empower the participants to choose their own formats for each session" and "do less" and "it just happens". However, we all know from firsthand experience that some breakout sessions are more personally satisfying/rewarding than others, just as some 3-person coffee break conversations during normal conferences are better than others. Here are some potential problems with breakout sessions if they are implemented poorly by participants: * There can be too many sub-topics for the breakout session so some ideas do not get brought up at all. Most of the time people do not brainstorm all the topics at the beginning of a session and they dive right into the discussion of the first issue that comes to mind. So they don't ever know all the topics that are on everyone's minds. * Some people do no feel comfortable for various reasons related to introversion, discrimination, or office politics, so they never speak up. As facilitators, we know ways to avoid this but the participants may not know how to avoid these meeting pitfalls. * One person dominates the discussion. The built-in remedy for this is that everyone else votes with their feet and leaves to form their own breakout session later, but sometimes this doesn't happen and it's simply a lost opportunity for everyone. Here are my questions for the group: 1. What formats to the breakout sessions usually take at events that you facilitate, and are some of these formats better than others in your opinion? 2. What formats could breakout sessions take? Someone usually starts with why they convened the session, but then what usually happens? What could happen? 3. What meeting tools/aides/games can help improve the quality of breakout sessions? Thank you for your insights! -- Lucas Cioffi Facilitation Community of Practice on QiqoChat <http://dialogue.qiqochat.com> Charlottesville, VA 917-528-1831 _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org Past archives can be viewed here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
_______________________________________________ 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 Past archives can be viewed here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
