Reflections on nested OST forums

[owen]

At 12:58 PM 6/21/99 +0930, you wrote:
>Ever experienced a 'nested' Open Space? A full blown OST forum set
>within a conference.
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I rather suspect that Open Space done in combination with a more traditional
conference format is the most usual way -- at the very least it is done very
often. It would not be my preference, but it is certainly possible.  There are,
however, certain considerations I find useful to keep in mind (see pg 27 in the
User's Guide -- 2nd edition). The first one is -- when you are doing Open Space
-- do Open Space. Breaking it up with formal presentations tends to be (always
is) a real slow down. Just about the time people are ready to fly -- they are
told to shut up, sit down, and take notes. I advise folks to do the formal
stuff first, and then go into Open Space. It is possible to put the formal
stuff last -- but the problem is that people get the Spirit of Open Space and
tend to carry on in that fashion. This can be very hard on the egos of featured
speakers when people start using the law of two feet!

A second thing is to do a whole day in Open Space. I recognize that wonderful
things can and do happen in less time -- usually a great experieince -- but
nowhere near what I know to be possible given a little more time.

If formal sessions have already been scheduled, it is always possible to fold
them into the Open Space, but the "presenters" need to know in advance that
bumble bees and butterflys will be present in abundance. In short The Law of
Two Feet is operational. Next Fall The Organization Development Network will
hold one day of its annual meeting in Open Space. There are a number of
sessions that people have proposed in advance -- but we will all start at the
same place (probably 1000 of us) in a large circle. Previouslly offered
sessions will be posted along with all the new ones. Based on prior experieince
with this, I would expect new offerings to outweight old  ones by 2:1. Once
everything is posted, we are off to the races for a whole day. Should be a good
one.
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854   USA
301-469-9269 (phone)
301-983-9314 (fax)
email owen at tmn.com
Website http://www.tmn.com/~owen
Open Space Institute website
http://www.tmn.com/openspace
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