OS for 780... would you help? Sure!

[Edward Ball]

Jaime,

Identifying training needs (during a conference for NGOs -- nonprofit
organizations is what we call them in Southern California) was the focus of
an "Introduction to OST" that I facilitated last May.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
19 participants met during the last two hours of the "Inland Empire Nonprofit
Conference" to focus on the theme "What are the critical training issues
facing my nonprofit in the next 289 days?"  This was a way to generate
training opportunities for the sponsor and to introduce Open Space Technology
to the participants.

Twenty-one issues were raised.  Voting (5 dots per participant) was done to
provide the sponsor with an indication of the training priorities for this
group.  The top vote getter was the one breakout session held.  During the
discussion (Training on PowerPoint Presentation Development) people:

1. Took responsibility and designed the training session;

2. Identified two folks who agreed to lead such a training session;

3. Used cell phones to identify a training location that was available on the
Saturday
    following the conference;

4. Used cell phones to recruit eight folks who would give up their Saturday
to be
    trained in developing PowerPoint presentations; and,

5. Badmouthed the sponsor for not providing this training opportunity during
the
    regular work week.

The issues sheets were given to the sponsor who has offered training sessions
for each of the session's top six vote getters.  Five of these training
sessions "sold out."  The September 12th training was canceled.

Sidebar notes:
1. The conference ended on Thursday and the PowerPoint training took place on
    Saturday of that week; and,

2. 11 people showed up for the training session on Saturday.

Based on my experience OST is a way to generate training issues and get
people to step forward to share their knowledge and train each other.

Jaime, you will be successful and with two days you will be surprised at the
cooperation that will surface during the session.  Like the sponsor, you
should be prepared to be surprised.

Edward C.

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