Reporting back...Open Space for a track within a Conference

[Peggy Holman]

Well, 2 weeks ago, I opened the space for 1.5 days for a conference track on "Building a Pattern Language of Living Communication" during a conference of Computer Professionals for Social Repsonsibility.

The short version is that, as always, it worked.  The subject wasn't a draw for most conference participants but for those who came, they were happily and fully involved.  The longer version is that I wouldn't call it a particularly satisfying experience because I knew how much more it could have been.

For the participants, most of whom had never experienced Open Space, they found the freedom to pursue their passions liberating.  The sponsor was pleased that the conversations he hoped for actually took place.

My own experience was that the energy was quite dispersed.  Because the food was in the room, people came in and out of the space without engaging in the OS.  The sponsor of the OS was also a conference organizer so was in and out handling those responsibilities.  He told me how much he missed just staying in the OS and saw that a dedicated conference could yield much more. 

Would I do this again?  I'd consider it if the topic were one with passionate support from its sponsor and the physical space lent itself to it. 


The good news is that the combining of the ends of the OS and the conference as one closing circle worked just great.  That part was totally seamless.



All that said, the real learning of this Open Space for me was around a completely different aspect.  On the morning of the second day, we'd just started morning announcements.  I'd introduced the talking stick as our way of moderating what needed to be said by anyone.  We were about 10 minutes into the gathering when a participant -- John -- got up quietly and moved to a couch on the other side of the room.  Next, another person followed who interrupted us asking if there was an M.D. in the room as John was having a heart attack.  The circle stopped, many of us got up to see how John was doing.  Fortunately, we were able to get care to him quickly and he was eventually taken to a hospital.  He is doing fine.

Back to the circle, after a few minutes, people decided we should continue.  Mind you, in the other part of the room, medics were working on stabilizing John.  The person with the talking stick began speaking, making a connection between what we'd just experienced with John and the pattern language work.  It was powerful meaning making.  And then, he just kept talking.  And talking.  And talking.  I finally quietly walked across the room, took the stick and thanked him.  There was a look of relief in his eyes.  I asked if there was anything else that needed saying before we got on with the sessions posted for the day.  A young man took the stick and said that he didn't really feel we knew each other very well and thought we should take a few minutes, introduce ourselves, say something about the languages we spoke (because, as pointed out by the recent thread on the role language plays on defining how we experience the world, it matters) and what we do.  I think for the first time in the 8 years I've been opening spaces, I intervened.  I suggested that this would be a good topic to post but that to ask everyone to do this would not be appropriate, that it would be holding the group hostage.  Some discussion ensued, and Max, the man who had been stuck talking, supported the idea of introductions.  Eventually it was posted as a session (which got very little attendance).

I spoke quite a bit to the two involved in this after the morning circle ended.  Max spoke pointedly about who's to say who has the right to determine what holding the group hostage means?  Wasn't my naming the suggestion as inappropriate as much a form of holding hostage?  After all, I was defining what the larger group would or wouldn't do together.  So, I continue to reflect on the appropriateness of my stepping in as I did.

As we continued to talk, Max said he had almost not come to the conference because his dearest friend had just had a heart attack.  His meaning-making and getting stuck talking were no doubt his form of emotionally acting out.  I suspect the young man who wanted to hear from each person was also seeking a heart connection in the midst of dealing with the heart attack that had just occurred.  Even my own intervening was some form of protecting the heart. 

With very rare exceptions, I always start OSs these days with some sort of invitation to either silently reflect or talk to the person in the next seat about what makes the topic meaningful to them (e.g., "reflect silently on a story that really made a difference" during the jouralism that matters OS; or inviting each person to tell a story about when they fell in love with flying during an aviation OS).  In other words, I always start with inviting a heart connection with the topic and/or the others in the room.  I didn't do that this time.  I wonder if that played into what happened that morning.

So, there you have it.  I went into the conference thinking I'd learn about one aspect of OS and was I surprised as I was presented with an entirely different one from which to learn!

Peggy






_______________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425.746.6274
www.opencirclecompany.com
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