Elevator Speeches?

Florian Fischer florianfischer at ff-wey.com
Thu Jun 1 15:26:55 PDT 2000


Jeff Aitken schrieb:

>
> But still I find the need for an Elevator Speech. What can I say which will
> intrigue that potential client of Open Space who has my attention for
> twenty seconds as we stand in line at the market, the sporting event, the
> reception?

an elevator normally is a closed place
hurrying in motion
if i would try to open that place in motion
it will stop at the sudden.

i'm trying not to put more into the space of a moment
than the moment is asking me. it's a hard job.

well, i´ve got the experience
that my enthusiasm about open!space
is taking any opportunity to come in words to the people who i meet.
but as well i've got the experience meanwhile
that listening serves more to the spirit of open!space
than speaking about and explaning, what it is.

let me tell you just that situation, jeff is asking for:
standing in line.

last sunday evening, i've been together with michael (pannwitz)
at  a lecture of the famous russian poet jewgeni jewtuschenko.
it was great. he did it together with his german editor and an interpretor
as a performance over two hours (time and space). he evocated some
of his poems in such a touching manner
which let my tears flow and which i'll never forget.
afterwords a lot of people wanted to get signed their books, and fotos
as well to get some words from him. so did I.
I wanted to get his signature under a special sentence in his
recently published book , which I brought with me, where he is saying:
"we are with historical guilt about every single person
who had been lost from our land. we have to put that guilt
in common upon our own shoulders. nearly we did learn to get back our dead
ones.
now we have to learn, to get back the living ones...."
on that sentence I wanted to speak about open!space,
I wanted to invite him to our OSonOS, I wanted to let him know,
that michael will go the next day to moscou.
stupid boy, that I am, waiting in the line, blind in enthusiasm.
when it was my turn, nearly at the end of the line
(thinking to get perhaps a little more time,
forgetting that more time means more tireness for him)
I get his signature and began to explain ......
"my friend", he said, " in this moment its my job to sign books,
so I'm not able to listen to new information,  do you have something printed
on that matter ?"
well, I had prepared in copy harrison's text: "opening space for civil
conversation"
and peggy's text inviting us to the OSonOS in berlin. that I gave to him,
without any more chance
to speak about that.
time and space for his job, not for my ideas, in that case.
that's my recent experience about communicating open!space standing in line.

florian



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