large open space report

Jeff Aitken jeffa at tmn.com
Tue Jun 15 11:04:53 PDT 1999


Reading Birgitt's report reminds me to report on the Open Space for 400
that I facilitated a couple months ago. It was the annual conference of an
association of conference center professionals, and the Open Space was the
second day of the four day event. The location was Squaw Valley,
California.

Four hundred were seated in three concentric circles in the largest
ballroom on the property. It felt amazingly intimate. After a rousing
musical introduction by Sourdough Slim, a banjo picking master in cowboy
clothes, I walked to the center and opened the space.

I try to not take personally the fact that the weather was absolutely
gorgeous, after an evening of fresh snow, and that two thirds of those
present decided to use the Law of Two Skis! Those who remained indoors
engaged in thirty different sessions and returned with enthusiastic
appreciation for the process and the content before boarding buses to Reno
for more recreation.

The closing circle that day was conducted in darkness because we only had
30 minutes, and decided to use an audience-voting system (handheld devices)
which projected the results immediately onto a projection screen. It did
not feel so intimate, but the feedback was clear to all.

I'm happy to discuss lessons of large open space which I encountered.

Jeff



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