story board

[Chris Corrigan]

My experience is that the time you described is the worst time for a
space invader to try and control the process because at that point it is
moving into full fledged chaos.  So that is one point in your favour.
However, I think you handled the situation well by asking her to post a
topic.  If pressed I would clarify with her that what she was saying
makes sense, and it's useful to invite people who are interested to do
it with her.

As I was saying this stuff, I think I would stand close to her and allow
the chaos in the room to develop it's own momentum.  It would be
important not to let her comanndeer the troops.

That might be another way to have handled it, but it would have had the
same result, so basically was there anything wrong with how you handled
it?

It would be interesting to know if the woman forgot her concern once the
discussions started or whether or not she held onto that stake and let
it bother her as much as it did you!

My suspicion, and it's only a hunch, is that she probably figured out
how things worked and got busy rather than dwelling too much.

It's a fine line between leaving people to their own devices and
abandonning them.  But that's what holding the space is about.  And you
obviously held the space and let it remain open so that the group could
get down to it.

Now, I would like to invite YOU to start a discussion at
http://www.tmn.com/new on stories of handling space invaders.  I have a
few as do others....

Chris

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

http://www.geocities.com/chris_corrigan

108-1035 Pacific Street
Vancouver BC
V6E 4G7

Phone: 604.683.3080
Fax: 604.683.3036
corcom at interchange.ubc.ca

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu
Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

===========================================================
OSLIST at EGROUPS.COM
To subscribe,
1.  Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist
2.  Sign up -- provide an email address,
    and choose a login ID and password
3.  Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions

To unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at egroups.com:
1.  Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist
2.  Sign in and Proceed

>From  Sun Oct  1 09:32:10 2000
Message-Id: <SUN.1.OCT.2000.093210.0400.>
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 09:32:10 -0400
Reply-To: lpasoc at inforamp.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Larry Peterson <lpasoc at inforamp.net>
Subject: Re: story board
In-Reply-To: <s9d5df74.057 at gwmail1.placer.ca.gov>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

When I have had a space invader try to get the whole group to listen to
something at the beginning (or at evening or morning news), I am quite
insistent that they put it up as a topic.  They whole group may end up
coming to that discussion, but the principles and law still work.  I usually
say,  "the way this meeting approach works is that you put it up as a
topic".  I have had groups that meet as a whole for a couple of sessions.
It may be a sign that they do all need certain information or perspective
before feeling free to move beyond.  I try to negotiate anything that is
more than 5 minutes as a topic.

It may also be a sign that some upfront context setting would have been
helpful, before Opening Space.  May be.  Or just may be someone who is
scared shitless at not having control.

Larry

Larry Peterson
Associates in Transformation
41 Appleton Ave., Toronto, ON,
Canada, M6E 3A4
Tel:/Fax: 416-653-4829

lpasoc at inforamp.net
http://www.inforamp.net/~lpasoc

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu
Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

===========================================================
OSLIST at EGROUPS.COM
To subscribe,
1.  Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist
2.  Sign up -- provide an email address,
    and choose a login ID and password
3.  Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions

To unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at egroups.com:
1.  Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist
2.  Sign in and Proceed