convergence (again)

Chris Corrigan chris at chriscorrigan.com
Fri Oct 11 14:56:49 PDT 2002


Hiya Julie:

What a thrill to hear about OST up your way!

Anyway, for basic prioritizing at the end of a short meeting, I have
done the following:

1.      Ask people to record their sessions on flipchart paper
2.      Post a news gallery
3.      Reconvene people in a circle
4.      Tell them they are amazing, look at all this stuff, can you
believe         it?  etc. etc.
5.      Point elegantly to a pile of sticky dots in the middle of the
circle.
6.      Invite people to get up, grab some dots, go read the news wall
and     place a dot on the posters they think represent the most
pressing/important/intricate/helpful (your choice) ideas.

In my experience, if people know they are going to be doing this up
front, and the invitation for the whole day is pitched as one that helps
determine priorities, then this little exercise runs pretty smoothly.

Chris


---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com


>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Julie
>  Smith
>  Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 2:34 PM
>  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>  Subject: convergence (again)
>
>  I need some help designing a convergence plan for an OST next week.
So
>  far, the OST's I've done haven't required this, so I'm treading into
>  (for me) new territory.
>
>  Here's the scoop:  Our three local mayors are holding a Youth Forum
from
>  8:30 - 1:30 next Friday.  Their goal is to learn what community
issues
>  are most important to youth and to weave those concerns into the
>  community's comprehensive plan.  The planning committee loves the
idea
>  of OST, and they want to end up with a clear list of priorities at
the
>  end of the day.
>
>  Just as I was getting ready to pose this question here, I read Lisa's
>  message, which includes this:
>
>  >>>And on a more event design note, shorter OSs are perfectly
fabulous,
>  I've found.  Thanks to dear Jeff Aitken for first stretching my mind
on
>  this.  I think it's important to know that if the goal is networking,
>  needs assessment, raising issues, spotting trends, airing concerns,
>  noticing what works, getting a snapshot, sharing passion, and so many
>  other things that come from emergence of thoughts, issues and
intuition,
>  the swirling of ideas and bubbling up of topics is amazing, even in
>  short timeframes.
>
>  But my experience is that if you want to then stuff people back into
the
>  shape of linear thinking to get to a 'therefore' (or a vote, or
action
>  items) you want to give them more time.  And when passion is high
which
>  might include pain or grieving (either overt or hidden issues), I
find
>  that people need first to tell the story (as many times as they need
to)
>  and to have others witness it...before they can move on to solution
>  thoughts.<<<
>
>  So...... looking for help figuring this out.  The core issue for the
>  mayors is to learn how our community could become a place more young
>  people would want to live in into their adulthood.  They would like
the
>  event to end with a prioritizing of the top 10 concerns youth have
about
>  our community.
>
>  I haven't done a prioritizing/voting kind of convergence before.
Given
>  our short time frame, will it work?  If so, how do I facilitate it?
How
>  much time will it take?  (I don't think Michael's re-opening the
space
>  idea works here, except there IS talk about continuing this group if
>  there's a desire to do so (and I expect there will be)..... and on
some
>  level it doesn't feel right to simply take input and send them on
their
>  way...... it seems like the participants should have an opportunity
to
>  express what they want to do with what they've created, regardless of
>  what the mayors or anyone else wants to do with it......)
>
>  OST is taking off like a wildfire here.  Our local community is home
to
>  about 80,000 people.  I know of 1 - 3 OST events happening here every
>  week, many of them with youth.  I assume there are others I don't
know
>  about.  A substantial percentage of our population is quickly gaining
>  exposure to (and loving) the OST process.  Every time an OST event
takes
>  place, new events spring up from people who want to use it somewhere
>  else.  The Youth Forum is a particularly important event because many
>  people will be watching both the process and the outcome.  There will
be
>  many opportunities for OST to spread even further, especially if we
can
>  identify an appropriate convergence process.  Any help thinking this
>  through will be appreciated.
>
>  As I got ready to press the send button a new thought occurred to
>  me..... we've seen OST work for events and beginning to see how it
can
>  become part of organizations...... how about an entire COMMUNITY that
>  embraces the concept...... ahhhhhh, sweet dreams.....
>
>  Julie
>
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