About being prepared to be surprised

[Elena A. Marchuk]

Hi all!

Do you want my stories?
In Russia...

I don't want to frighten you,

but all meetings we provide NEVER went  smoothly

and I have to say VERY good words to Johns Hopkins University/Institute for
Policy Studies, where we were trained as the trainers for NGOs and a 2-year
program after when we HAD to provide 4 days of trainings every month around
our huge territory of Siberia.

We learned how to work in all conditions and tried to make our work smoth
without this and that...

yes, we can say that better conditions would be better, but when it is
conserning people who are meeting - their bright eys show us, that our work
was not in vein (sorry for spelling if wrong)

Of couse, the better way and the ONLY proposed way for OS is a circle,
but if no place and we have OS on the 3-rd day of Future Search Conference?
Well we worked with raws of chairs and people went to the corridor or other
small places to work on the projects.
they worked nicely.

but what a pleasure, if you can see people face in face...

and what to do if NOTHING is prepared and half an hour left?

well, to prepare all you need and do it quick.

especially when you need 3 time lines from 3 flipchart paper and better to
be connected on the back side - to move it to the other wall and then a
wall-paper of 8 of them to be glued with the scotch on the back side which
should be put then on the wall somehow - we had such an experience in Nijniy
Novgorod, where we came by invitation of our collegues who went through the
same training in Future Search in Berlin and thought - they know what to
do...- nothing was prepared.... They knew all the conditions for success!
Well what we should do? Turn our backs?

and it was a great meating. we were told that there were siting all 3 days
the professors (the topic was "Business-education in 2010"), who never stay
more then an hour on any conference...

and the arrival of  PRESIDENT PUTIN to Novosibirsk, when all the roads were
closed waiting for him to go through and all people staying for hours
waiting to go home - and I have to go the way back (I have all the handouts
and my collegue wait for me as she was so busy with organizational things -
meeting and looking for people and trainers arriving and go...- she really
need a partner to make FSC with her! a shoulder!) - well I learned many
roads with the help of my son - through the vilages around - and believe
me - that is not the roads you have in US and Canada and Europe...
even the main ones, not talking about the roads through the vilages.

Why I'm doing it?

Don't know.
Passion to give my knowledge to people?

Or just craziness?

People, when we (Marina and me) retell our stories - always ask us, WHY we
are doing it, but also envy, though I don't like this word, saying WHAT AN
INTERESTING LIFE !

yes, that's true! no way of being boring, sometimes very tired, but happy!

I think our community of facilitators is SOMETHING we should be proud of?

am I right?

BEST WISHES to all of you
and GOOD LUCK

Elena Marchuk
NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

----- Original Message -----
From: kerry napuk <k at napuk.demon.co.uk>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 11:07 PM
Subject: Re: About being prepared to be surprised


> Hi there
>
> Thomas's "be prepared" story reminds me that no-thing ever goes
> smoothly.  I went to one event and found no circle, no break out
> spaces, no-thing.  Participants walked in and watched us set-up
> around them in real time, like it was part of the performance.  Once
> we were ready, the process kicked in and everything went thundering
> towards the usual good outcome.  Oh, the event attracted reporters
> from three newspapers and a TV crew.  But the people refused to let
> the TV crew into the Community Room and the sponsors had to "create"
> a breakout session for filming.
>
> So, we get to every space at least one hour before the start to have
> enough time to deal with the surprises.
>
> Cheers
>
> Kerry Napuk
> Open Futures Ltd.
> Edinburgh
> Scotland
>
> www.openfutures.com
>
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