Opening space in the big end of town

[Alan Stewart]

Hi there

Here is an item about taking Open Space/Cafe conversational processes into the boardroom of an international company in the context of a KM (Knowledge Management - a lovely oxymoron?) Leaders Forum.

See http://www.bl.com.au/km/kmlf.htm

(There is an exquisite freudian typo in the notice - which may have been corrected by the time you see this. If you _can_ see the fun of it, well and good. If you can not, no worries! Whatever happens .... contributes to the story line).

You may find this item of interest from diverse perspectives. Among these are that:

. Here is an opportunity to take OST/Cafe conversational processes into a domain that has probably not had much exposure to them, yet. 

. A boardroom of a major consultancy company is to be transformed for a few hours into a cafe. When I requested a Cafe layout for the event the convenor 
noted 'You do appreciate that small tables are difficult to find in a corporate setting.'  I responded 'Maybe this is part of the problem!' 

. I find a Cafe (Open Space a la carte) format appropriate in some circumstances. For sitting at small tables - maximum of 6 people, eyeball to eyeball - and with attractive decor to contribute to the ambience quickly leads to an intimacy and an inclusiveness among total strangers. And having paper table cloths on which to record gives people plenty of scope to be creative. 
 
One person (a senior manager) recently spent almost the whole of a 3 hour Passion Cafe drawing; she did not seem able to stop! Birgitt has recently contributed wonderfully imaginative ideas for setting up the conditions for this kind of recording to happen and to capture the outcomes with digitat camera. 
A feature of Cafe processes is that they are designed specifically to address, and stay with, _questions_.(www.theworldcafe.com). Seemingly physical arrangement, such as small tables, as well as OST principles and L2F, can contribute to the deep structure underpinning such a gathering. 

I will add that, when facilitating a Cafe in a venue in which it is logistically feasible, we start in a circle. I _always_ invite people to put the tables aside and come into a closing circle. 

Good to converse, warmly

Alan 









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