I'd love to hear other stories of great endings....
Jim Clark
jimbo at wfc.com.tw
Sun Jun 11 19:29:37 PDT 2000
The first time I "Opened Space" we had two "endings."
The first was in the room, and the second was at the restaurant that night.
We were staying at the Ritz Carlton in Maui, and had one last night
together after the program ended.
The "first" closing touched me deeply. I had been preparing for this
meeting for a couple of months (including a quick trip to Toronto to have
an intimate little Training with Birgitt and two others). I had just been
put in charge of running meetings within our company, and this was the
"biggest" meeting I had done, with the CEO, President and others from the
five different countries we do business in. In some ways, I had wagered my
future on Open Space working (much because of the postings I had read on
this list serve) and had never really been through an OS event. The group
had started with much conflict and tension, and the faces that greeted me
on the first day were skeptical, and weary...weather torn comes to mind,
though they all work in doors. The final day there was a lightness to the
group, and in particular to a couple of the people that had impressed me as
"complainers" at first. The CEO had been diagnosed with Cancer about a
year and a half prior to this meeting and is following a Macrobiotic diet
to reduce the cancer rather than have surgery. As our closing circle
merged to a small standing circle of people holding and supporting
eachother (we don't use words like "group hug" in our company) the CEO
said, "I have grown to realize that every day I have on this earth is a
gift, and today seeing you all working together in harmony has made today
one of the greatest of my life."
Then the "second" closing happened that night. We had the entire
restaurant to ourselves, and ended up staying past closing (the Ritz just
put a guy in the corner to watch us and make sure we didn't break anything,
and closed the place down).
We ended up making a circle, randomly grabbed two other people's hand, and
made a human pretzel. The goal was to "un-pretzel" ourselves without
letting go. After about 15 minutes that staff from the Ritz came over and
started to give us suggestions. In the end we had to "cheat" a couple of
times and ended up in a circle of hand holding, giggling, smirking adults.
As we left, we thought, "Should we give this guy a tip?" Instead, we sang
the "Thank You Song" from our children's product. It litterally brought a
tear to the guy's eye.
Now when I do programs with people that work in our children's division, we
often close with the Thank You song, with them inserting people's names as
they look at their eyes...
For those that are interested, here are the lyrics::::
"T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U
Are the letters that spell Thank You
T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U
Spell the magic word that I sing to you
Thank you mother (replaced with someone's name from the group)
Thank you father
Thank you mother
Thank you very much.
Thank you mother
Thank you father
Thank you mother
Thank you very much."
With respect from Afar,
Jimbo
>From Mon Jun 12 14:26:14 2000
Message-Id: <MON.12.JUN.2000.142614.1000.>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 14:26:14 +1000
Reply-To: julianne at bit.net.au
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Julianne Bell <julianne at bit.net.au>
Subject: Can this work??
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01BFD47A.2AC33CC0"
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To my fellow Open Spacers
Having just facilitated my first Open Space Conference last Saturday, it
seems the whole world (at least Brisbane!) wants to learn more about OS! (of
course, I think my awareness might have a LITTLE bit to do with this!!).
Anyway, I have a client who is so impressed with what I've told him about OS
he wants to apply it to a second event that will follow on from a 2-hour
seminar he had already scheduled this coming weekend. He has agreed to run
the follow up event for a whole day, and wants me to "promote" it this
weekend at the seminar.
But now I'm wondering if it will work... this is the scenario...
This fellow is a lawyer (but a very OPEN one!). He specialises in corporate
law and this weekend's 2 hour seminar will be a "talkfest"... ie. he will be
giving information to the audience on the for's and against's on setting up
trusts vs companies. It appears that this subject is extremely popular as
we have only just sent out invitations and have received at least a 50%
acceptance rate to date! However, he would like to open the floor up and
this is where I mentioned Open Space might be more useful... but there is a
very large technical element.
This is how I see it happening. We use the OS frame but there are "experts"
invited along (lawyers, accountants). When the issues are put up, it will
be up the "experts" to determine which group they join and share their
expertise. The outcomes won't be so much action plans or what to do next,
but a more enlightened group of delegates who are getting answers to their
specific questions. The client and I are to meet this week to determine the
theme of the event.
Can this work? Has anyone done anything similar and might have some
pointers they can share with me? The alternative is to not even think about
OS and just run the day as a series of workshops??
Any feedback would be most appreciated...
Kind regards
Julianne Bell
Julianne Bell
Exceptional Events
Ph: (07) 3891 0742
Fax: (07) 3891 6244
Mobile: 0419 645 514
Email: julianne at bit.net.au
Exceptional events... dynamic spaces in which people connect and communicate
openly.
------=_NextPart_000_0000_01BFD47A.2AC33CC0
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charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN class=3D520573002-12062000>To =
my fellow=20
Open Spacers</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000>Having just=20
facilitated my first Open Space Conference last Saturday, it seems the =
whole=20
world (at least Brisbane!) wants to learn more about OS! (of course, I =
think my=20
awareness might have a LITTLE bit to do with this!!). =
Anyway, I have=20
a client who is so impressed with what I've told him about OS he wants =
to apply=20
it to a second event that will follow on from a 2-hour seminar he had =
already=20
scheduled this coming weekend. He has agreed to run the follow up =
event=20
for a whole day, and wants me to "promote" it this weekend at the=20
seminar.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN class=3D520573002-12062000>But =
now I'm=20
wondering if it will work... this is the scenario...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000>This fellow is=20
a lawyer (but a very OPEN one!). He specialises in corporate law =
and this=20
weekend's 2 hour seminar will be a "talkfest"... ie. he will be giving=20
information to the audience on the for's and against's on setting up =
trusts vs=20
companies. It appears that this subject is extremely popular as we =
have=20
only just sent out invitations and have received at least a 50% =
acceptance rate=20
to date! However, he would like to open the floor up and =
this is=20
where I mentioned Open Space might be more useful... but there is a very =
large=20
technical element.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000>This is how I=20
see it happening. We use the OS frame but there are "experts" =
invited=20
along (lawyers, accountants). When the issues are put up, it will =
be up=20
the "experts" to determine which group they join and share their=20
expertise. The outcomes won't be so much action plans or what to =
do next,=20
but a more enlightened group of delegates who are getting answers to =
their=20
specific questions. The client and I are to meet this week to =
determine=20
the theme of the event.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000><FONT=20
face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN class=3D520573002-12062000>Can this =
work? Has=20
anyone done anything similar and might have some pointers they can share =
with=20
me? The alternative is to not even think about OS and just run the =
day as=20
a series of workshops??</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN class=3D520573002-12062000>Any =
feedback=20
would be most appreciated...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000>Kind=20
regards</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN =
class=3D520573002-12062000>Julianne=20
Bell</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN class=3D520573002-12062000>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Julianne =
Bell</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Exceptional =
Events</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Ph: (07) 3891=20
0742</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Fax: (07) 3891 =
6244</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Mobile: 0419 =
645=20
514</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style">Email: <A=20
href=3D"mailto:julianne at bit.net.au">julianne at bit.net.au</A> =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800080 face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><EM>Exceptional =
events...=20
dynamic spaces in which people connect and communicate =
openly.</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3D"Goudy Old Style"><SPAN=20
class=3D520573002-12062000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
------=_NextPart_000_0000_01BFD47A.2AC33CC0--
>From Mon Jun 12 15:16:08 2000
Message-Id: <MON.12.JUN.2000.151608.1000.>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 15:16:08 +1000
Reply-To: julianne at bit.net.au
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Julianne Bell <julianne at bit.net.au>
Subject: Re: I'd love to hear other stories of great endings....
In-Reply-To: <OF8DE60BE5.99024517-ON482568FC.000940A9 at wfc.com.tw>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U Jimbo!
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Jim
Clark
Sent: Monday, 12 June 2000 12:30 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: I'd love to hear other stories of great endings....
The first time I "Opened Space" we had two "endings."
The first was in the room, and the second was at the restaurant that night.
We were staying at the Ritz Carlton in Maui, and had one last night
together after the program ended.
The "first" closing touched me deeply. I had been preparing for this
meeting for a couple of months (including a quick trip to Toronto to have
an intimate little Training with Birgitt and two others). I had just been
put in charge of running meetings within our company, and this was the
"biggest" meeting I had done, with the CEO, President and others from the
five different countries we do business in. In some ways, I had wagered my
future on Open Space working (much because of the postings I had read on
this list serve) and had never really been through an OS event. The group
had started with much conflict and tension, and the faces that greeted me
on the first day were skeptical, and weary...weather torn comes to mind,
though they all work in doors. The final day there was a lightness to the
group, and in particular to a couple of the people that had impressed me as
"complainers" at first. The CEO had been diagnosed with Cancer about a
year and a half prior to this meeting and is following a Macrobiotic diet
to reduce the cancer rather than have surgery. As our closing circle
merged to a small standing circle of people holding and supporting
eachother (we don't use words like "group hug" in our company) the CEO
said, "I have grown to realize that every day I have on this earth is a
gift, and today seeing you all working together in harmony has made today
one of the greatest of my life."
Then the "second" closing happened that night. We had the entire
restaurant to ourselves, and ended up staying past closing (the Ritz just
put a guy in the corner to watch us and make sure we didn't break anything,
and closed the place down).
We ended up making a circle, randomly grabbed two other people's hand, and
made a human pretzel. The goal was to "un-pretzel" ourselves without
letting go. After about 15 minutes that staff from the Ritz came over and
started to give us suggestions. In the end we had to "cheat" a couple of
times and ended up in a circle of hand holding, giggling, smirking adults.
As we left, we thought, "Should we give this guy a tip?" Instead, we sang
the "Thank You Song" from our children's product. It litterally brought a
tear to the guy's eye.
Now when I do programs with people that work in our children's division, we
often close with the Thank You song, with them inserting people's names as
they look at their eyes...
For those that are interested, here are the lyrics::::
"T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U
Are the letters that spell Thank You
T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U
Spell the magic word that I sing to you
Thank you mother (replaced with someone's name from the group)
Thank you father
Thank you mother
Thank you very much.
Thank you mother
Thank you father
Thank you mother
Thank you very much."
With respect from Afar,
Jimbo
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