Call for Open Space Stoires

[Peg Holman]

CALL FOR STORIES--
The Open Space Institute (US) is launching an online newsletter, to share
with each other our experiences in Open Space. We hope to publish 3 - 4
times
a year, beginning in June or July.

If you'd like to have your story published, keep reading. We also invite
your ideas for our newsletter title.
If you'd like your story in the first issue, please contact Joelle Everett,
email jleshelton at aol.com or phone 360-426-8517 by May 12, and let us know
what you are writing for the June issue.

We are looking for first-hand accounts of Open Space conferences that you
have facilitated or taken part in. Your stories may be short and simple. The
guidelines below can serve as a checklist.

GUIDELINES FOR STORIES:
What:   Theme of your Open Space?
            Process. Was it a "by-the-book" OS? OS combined with other
processes?

Who: Client.  If your client is willing to be identified, great! If not,
we will keep the name confidential. If you want to use a client's name,
please get written

permission.
People Involved.  Your Open Space may include a whole
corporation, a single department, a community group--let us know.

When:   Anything about the schedule or timing which made a special
contribution?

Where:  In what country, community, type of organization did this take
place?
For colleagues in the contracting stage of a project, it can be helpful for
the client to know that OS has been successful in Austria, in a small town,
in a public school.

Why:     did you and your client say "yes" to an Open Space event?

Summary:  the rest of the story. This could be Outcomes, Special Moments,
What Made It Successful for Your Client, or . . .

OTHER MATERIALS:
The focus of the newsletter will be stories from Open Space, but we'd also
like to include some shorter pieces: poems, short essays, vignettes
(mini-stories that relate an anecdote or observation from Open Space).
Original materials, please. Call or email if you have questions.

PUBLICITY FOR EVENTS:
We want to list your Open Space events, including training and public
conferences.  We will put a short listing in the newsletter and, if you send
a piece with more detail, we will post it on the website.

MATERIALS IN OTHER LANGUAGES:
We will publish stories in languages other than English.  Please provide an
English translation of the title. If a translation of the whole story is
available, send it and we will put it on the website, with a reference from
the newsletter. We may be able to help you find a translator--email us to
ask
about this.  I'm an unreliable editor in languages I don't know, so please
ask a friend to check your story for small errors.

RIGHTS TO PUBLISHED MATERIALS:
Rights to materials belong to their authors. Because the newsletter is
online, we expect stories to be copied. We will request that readers include
the author's name and source information when they copy a piece. If there
are
constraints on copying a particular story, the author needs to provide that
information, and we will publish it.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
May 12--  Let us know if you want your story in the first issue.
May 26--  Send all materials for first issue on or before this date.

Materials may be submitted at any time, clearly marked "OSI Online
Newsletter." Submitted material may be published immediately or held for a
future issue. Stories may receive minor editing.

REGIONAL CONTACTS:
We're looking for a few good people who will be our eyes and ears in
different parts of the world, helping to assure that this newsletter is
truly
the voice of worldwide Open Space. Job description? Keep us posted on events
in your region. When colleagues tell you about a great OS they're working
on,
encourage them to write the story and submit it.

TRANSLATION:
If you are willing and able to do an occasional translation, let me know.

We'd like to hear your thoughts and ideas about this online
newsletter-to-be.

For the first issue, please email all materials for the newsletter to
jleshelton at aol.com, marking "OSI Online Newsletter" on the subject line.

Joelle Lyons Everett
Phone/FAX  360-426-8517
email  jleshelton at aol.com