SV: Results

Mon Apr 16 15:07:15 PDT 2001

Hi Laura.
I have followed the story of your OST conference. Congratulations to what
you achived together. I think you showed great courage all the way! Thanks
for sharing it with me!
Espero que escuchar más que tus experiencias con OST en Costa Rica!
Greetings Thomas Herrmann, Kungsbacka, Sweden.
-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För Laura Gamboa
Herrera
Skickat: den 16 april 2001 18:29
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ämne: Results

My dear friends from the open space world, so I have to tell you that my
training with "be prepare to be surprise" was intense. I guess that after
this
little conference that I had, I got my PHD on this matter (just a joke!)
And now I would love to share some of my stories:

1-  It was supposed and organized to be a three days conference and the last
week I had to change it to a one day event.

2-  I was expecting the minimum 10 participants and only 5 showed up

3-  I planned that all the introduction will be around 1 hour or 1 and a
half....and suddenly I gave all the explanation in 15 minutes.....as I was
realizing that the participants were so dissaponted that they were not that
much.

4-  During this introduction I told them to close their eyes and started to
think about why they attend to the conference, and I can tell you that this
helped me a lot to calm down the negative feelings (that actually I was able
to
feel them, eventhough they were not talking).

5- So when they started to post their topics on the wall.........I felt such
a
relief, cause at least there was one topic at each session..........so as
there
were two topics on the first one, I told them to subscribe.......and
suddenly
the group decided not to divided, so they said that it was very related and
they work the whole session on it.....which, of course it just surprised
me........but this is about what open space is all about, right?

6-  Little by little the group started to be a group and not only
individuals.....of course they were a little bit lost about the thing that
they
were in charge of everything..........but thanks God, all the logistics
(materials, coffee, food, computers, etc. were just perfect).......so it was
up
to them.

7-  In the afternoon, they just decided that the topic in the morning was
very
related..........so instead of another topic, they continued working on the
same one.........I can tell you at this point, I was wondering what should I
do....interrupt them or not. Anyway I thought that as it is their space, its
up
to them.  I guess that at this point you already know what happened on the
third session.........THE SAME.  And one of the participants were telling
me, I
hope that at the end we will have tangible results.(but in a very nice way,
and
actually she was one of the most proactive participants)

8- After the three sessions, I realized that they have just done a list of
the
problems in Costa Rica about the Sustainable Development (the topic was:
Sustainable Development: Union of Efforts).  So at the closing part, I
inspired
them to analize them and think about next steps and tasks to take in order
to
change this.....and I leave them alone for a while. When I came back, I
realized that they had just make a list of ideal scenarios, and ideal
situations....but not realistic ones. At this point, I got in......and I
thought it was not bad, as I was not only a facilitator, but also the
responsible to follow the next steps (cause this event was the first step to
open an office in Costa Rica). So I explained them that it all depended on
us.
That we should write down specific tasks that when we cross the door of the
room, everybody will now what to do after the meeting.........I CAN TELL YOU
THAT THEY REALLY LIKED IT.

9- To be short (eventhough I was already long...ha,ha,ha) the closing part
was
the best one..........the energy was up to the skies, and everybody was just
one.............I loved it.

Hope this story help you or at least make you laugh ;O)

Greetings,

Laura

Laura Gamboa Herrera
Phone:  (506) 226-3184
Fax: 001-603-761-7394
P.O. Box 57-1011
San José, Costa Rica

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