Answer to Carla: OST "presentation"

Lisa Heft lisaheft at pacbell.net
Wed Dec 18 07:56:43 PST 2002


Hello Ms. Fabulous brilliant Carla --

(Carla, Janet Pinto, Allison Baensch and I were all housemates at
Allison and Jim's wonderful house in Healesville, Australia just before
the Open Space on Open Space last month.  And let us not forget the most
endearing four-footed wonderdog, Ms. Rosa!)

I have given a 1-hour 'presentation' on Open Space at conferences.  I
ask for a big room and chairs set up in a circle - all the same as if I
were doing an Open Space itself.  I have the signs all around the room,
markers and paper in the middle and so on, and for the agenda wall I
have the theme

                      Strategies for Moving Our Work Forward
Opportunities / Challenges             Creating / Sharing Resources

If I want to give them an idea of what it would be like for what they
are currently experiencing (in this case, I will pretend that I am
giving this presentation in a conference) I set up the agenda wall so
that it includes, say, 5 discussion area A-B-C's down the left side of
that wall and across the wall, session times like

Wednesday       Wednesday       Wednesday       Thursday        Thursday
10:00-11:00     11:00-12:00     1:00-2:00       10:00-11:00
11:00-12:00

Also on the wall are two more signs:

Lunch is available 11:30-1:30

And

Closing Circle 2:00-3:00 (or something like that)

(By the way, and thanks to inspiration from the most amazing BJ Peters,
I no longer use a time/space matrix on a big piece of paper with
Post-Its on it, but instead I make the whole agenda wall a grid so
people can place their topic signs directly onto the wall in the
time/space zone, eliminating a step to go pick something up on the
left-hand side and bring it over to post on the wall).

By the door I have an article I wrote describing Open Space (let me know
anyone if you would like me to send you a copy) and a sheet letting them
know when the next learning workshop is (in San Francisco and in other
places in the world) and other ways to find out more).  This they pick
up as they leave the presentation.

I start seated in the circle and tell them I will be giving them a
feeling for what it would be like to hold this conference in the method
of Open Space - if it's a big conference I ask them to think about what
it would feel like to walk into a room with a circle of 300 chairs (or
whatever).  Then I tell them I'm going to show them the process (I want
to give them the clarity that we are now segueing into enactment rather
than my describing something) and I stand up and 'open' the space.  As
always, I remind them to step out of their roles in their organizations
and think as people - what are they passionate about and what do they
feel is crucial for us to talk about before the conference/meeting
closes?

They write their topics and post them, and I give them lots of time for
this.  And then I finish with just exactly what I would tell any group
before they set off to do their discussions.  And I ask them to go to
the wall and sign their names on all the topics they would like to
attend if they could bumblebee around, then to sit back down and join me
in the circle.

Then I make a change in the dynamics and let them know I am now changing
back from the simulation to processing it.  And the first thing I ask
them is to look at the wall.  Would they be stimulated by going to such
a conference?  And aren't these much more diverse and exciting topics
than any of us could have developed in all our good intentions in
advance?  And so on.

Then we talk about it, I bring up who they might have invited and who
they could invite that would make it even better, they ask questions,
and as the session closes I welcome them to pick up the article and
information sheet by the door.

- - -

What I'm trying to do here is to give them a full-body understanding of
the process, how they would feel, what it would stimulate, and so on.
That's why the room is set up just like an OS, why I have them walk to
the wall and sign their names on the topic sheets, etc.  Works pretty
well in those short timeframes.

The End by Lisa Heft.

Warm greetings from rainy Berkeley, California USA, and Carla, I have
heard that the Ketchup Song is coming to the States...and now you are
going to have to explain that to the list...






L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, facilitator, educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
(+01) 510 548-8449
lisaheft at pacbell.net
www.openspaceworld.com

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