opening space with very small groups

[Gerard Muller]

Hello Esther,

I have had a couple with less than ten people. There's a few thoughts I 
have about OS and a small group:

- it seems to be even more important than with a large group to have a 
central question which is very powerful. After all, if you have 300 
participants and some really want to do something else,
   that's one thing. If you have a few people, it could feel different 
(meaning I am not sure whether it would really be different, because I 
haven't experienced that yet).

- I have also with the smaller groups done a full opening but with 
smaller groups sometimes comes a smaller room. If the circle is very 
small, space can get cramped. So I suggest to make
   sure you have space enough

- I have worked with teams in an organisation which had held 10-15 open 
space events. Each team member in the leadership team had actually been 
trained in OST.
   Several times OST was used in creating the agenda and process for a 
team meeting, but without the whole opening. Worked well.

Greetings from (today) Holland,




Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark
Phone: (+45) 21269621			Skype: openspace1
Mail: gm at openspace.dk







On Sep 19, 2006, at 2:29 PM, Communications Esther Matte wrote:

> Hello everyone!
>
> First, let me say thank you for the wonderful learning I found in the 
> OSList.  I’m new to Open Space, and even though I have yet to make my 
> “first big circle” as Ted put it recently, I feel more confident 
> thanks to you all.
>
> I may have two possible projects with very small groups (5-7 people) ­ 
> which is what worries me.  I have participated to one OST in my 
> experiential training with Diane Gibeault (fantastic!), and 
> co-facilitated one with 45 people. But I simply cannot visualize how 
> it works with as few as 5 people. How do you do this? Do you have 
> several rounds of discussions? In separate rooms? Do people actually 
> work by themselves and team up? Can you do it in approximately 3 hours 
> ? (Maybe 20-30 minutes opening, 2 X 40-minutes rounds of discussion or 
> 3 X 30-minutes, action planning and closing).
>
> I'm sure some of you have done this. I'll be meeting with the first 
> possible group next week, and nothing is set in stone yet for the 
> other. Any comments, suggestions, ideas or warnings will be very much 
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you very much in advance for your time!
>
> Esther Matte
> Communications Esther Matte
> 1011, Marie-Victorin
> Verchères (Québec) J0L 2R0
> www.excellence.ca
>
> "L'art de dire"
>
> Tél. : (450) 583-5849
> Téléc. : (450) 583-3513
>
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