Theme brainstorm

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Laurel,
I always start the training with an open space in which people
experience themselves in the role of participants. In a couple of
instances there was time to discover the theme of the open space on
the evening of the day before DAY 1. Even though that did not seem to
influence the "flavor" of the os it did give the participants a
chance to experience a process of arriving at a theme jointly.
This is a "complete" os including documentation "convergence" and
action planning over 1,5 days. And it starts immediately at the very
beginning of the training after an only 5 Minute overview of the
total training design.
The next phase is an open space reflecting on their experiences, open
space on open space.
The next phase is an open space with the theme "I as an open space
facilitator" which participants design from A through Z, facilitate,
et.
So it is 3 open space events in a row spread over 3,5 days, ideally
4,5 days. In other words, participants spend more than 90% of the
time in open space. No lectures, no inputs.
Usually, there are 40 to 50 participants and it works beautifully.
To satisfy the participants desire for information, etc, we set up an
open space-library, an open space-cinema and an open space-nuts and
bolts room and an open space-handbook room (there is loads of
material for everyone to organize their own handbook).
During the entire training there are posters "questions" and
"answers" which are dealt with in a 1,5 hour session towards the end
of the training (most of the questions will have found answers in the
course of the training).
There is a little write up on this design (developed over 5 years in
10 trainings) on my website in English:
Report on an open space-Training in Moscow, here is the link
www.michaelmpannwitz.de/o_trainings_1.htm

Some 400 colleagues have gone through these trainings and loads of
them are out there facilitating open spaces.
All the best with your training
Greetings from Berlin
michael


On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 14:02:31 -0700, Doersam, Laurel wrote:

>I'm trying something new in my next OST training.  The training will begin
>with an open space event centred around work-life balance with the theme,
>"Making a life while making a living".  My intention is to put this out to
>the business community as a professional/personal development day.  That
>way, we'll hopefully attract a group of people who are deeply invested in
>the subject.  The OST training will start off with one day in Open Space as
>participants in this broader event.  Then the next two days will be devoted
>to the training as designed by Harrison and colleagues.  I'll let y'all know
>how it goes.  And I'd love to hear if someone else has already tried this -
>did it work well to give folks the flavour of a "real" Open space event?
>
>Laurel.
>
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Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1
12209 Berlin, Germany
FON +49 - 30-772 8000     FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464
www.michaelMpannwitz.de

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