large open space report

[owen]

At 11:04 AM 6/15/99 -0700, you wrote:
>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.
********************************
Sounds wonderful Jeff -- but I think there is probably also a lesson here about
"appropriate technology"  Over the years I have been approached by the
purveyors of any number of  electronic widgets and gidgets. In most cases I
found they simply got in the way, and performed tasks that could be more
easily, and usefully performed by the participants themselves. My experieince
has been -- technology is wonderful, but it is essential to remember what is
the horse and what is the carriage.

Harrison
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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