Huge OST

Patrick McAuley patrick.mcauley at sympatico.ca
Tue Oct 26 19:56:53 PDT 1999


Regarding Thomas Herrmann's huge OST opportunity, the following is for 2 000
rather than 80 000 people, but the intent seems similar -- defining the
future of a city.  The following is taken from a message I received over a
month ago.  There is a contact point at the end of the message that may be
useful in planning your 80 000 person events.

Patrick McAuley
Toronto, Canada
patrick.mcauley at sympatico.ca

>On November 20, Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington DC is hosting a
>citizens summit of up to 2,000 Washington DC citizens at the DC
>Convention Center to create a shared vision for the City.  In order to
>succeed, high quality facilitation of small group discussions during the
>day is needed; in addition, some facilitators will be needed to assist
>with the follow-through to the event.
>
>This is a major opportunity for our OD community to impact on one of our
>nation's major cities transform itself.  And while we are especially
>interested in having facilitators who are  DC citizens or work in DC,
>anyone who is committed to helping Washington DC is welcome.  Also,
>please feel free to pass this information along to any other
>facilitators or organizations of facilitators with which you are
>acquainted.
>
>The following is a newsletter description of the event and time
>requirements:
>
>"On November 20, citizens of the District of Columbia will be invited to
>participate in a day-long Citizen Summit as a part of Mayor Anthony
>Williams' Neighborhood Action initiative. The Summit will bring together
>citizens from every sector and neighborhood in our city to discuss how
>we can implement the common goals and priorities which we share for the
>District.
>
>In order to ensure that citizen deliberations are meaningful and
>informed, Neighborhood Action is recruiting volunteer facilitators to
>promote authentic dialogue at this important civic event. Facilitators
>will play a neutral role in the event, working to make sure that each
>citizen has a chance to be heard and that conversations focus on
>building consensus whenever possible.
>
>The time commitment for volunteer facilitators will be limited to
>working at the Summit (8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and participating in one
>brief training session prior to the Summit. Facilitators may choose
>between three one-and-a-half-hour training sessions, scheduled for
>November 10 at 5:30 p.m., November 13 at 10 a.m. and November 18 at 5
>p.m. Facilitators will also be invited to attend the initiative's
>celebratory kick-off on the evening of November 18, at which Mayor
>Williams will present his vision for the city.
>
>The mission of Neighborhood Action is to empower citizens to improve
>their communities by mobilizing and coordinating the resources of
>government, businesses, nonprofits, the faith community and citizens
>themselves. Please join us in launching this exciting initiative.
>
>For more information, or to volunteer, contact Joe Goldman at:
>
>202.727.2822
>jgoldman-eom at dcgov.org
>441 4th Street, NW, Suite 920 South
>Washington, D.C. 20001



Herrmann, Thomas wrote:

> Dear friends.
> I have a friend who obviously is making progress in talking the leading
> politicians of a city nearby into arranging a (or probably quite a few)
> Open Space meetings. The thought is to invite the whole city of 80 000 to
> have a dialoge concerning the future of the city!! Has anybody bumpt into
> this kind of crazy ideas? Any suggestions?? I read some about the events
> arranged in Canada and I'll have a look at OSI Canada later on.
> Greetings Thomas
>
> Thomas Herrmann
> Pensévägen 4
> 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
>
> Tfn (+46) 0300-713 89 (home)
>      (+46) 031-775 13 38 (work)



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