A strange open space...

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Glory--

I facilitated one Open Space with two sponsors.  The leader of one group was
very involved in the planning, the leader of the other sent a very competent
staff member.  We asked each of them to speak in the opening.  The day
before, the second leader announced that she was bringing an overhead
presentation.  The first leader and I persuaded her to speak in the circle,
with her back-up statistical material available as handouts.

For her presentation, she went over every page of the handouts in
excruciating detail.  The OS colleague who had arranged corporate meeting
space for us was gritting his teeth.  The first leader spent about three
minutes giving the same information in the form of a very personal and moving
story, I explained how Open Space worked and we were off and running for a
very successful meeting.

The leader who quoted all the statistics came to me on the lunch hour and
said she was going home to pack for a trip to Chicago, saying, "If I had
known that there was no real program, I would not have come."  Everybody else
stayed all day, the lively conversations went on through all sessions, lunch
break and after the closing.  The result was that the agencies were able to
begin three new programs of support to their clients, using volunteer
resources in the community.

In reflection, it was naive for me not to insist that the leader of the
second organization be present for at least one of the planning meetings.
But I was pleased by the outcomes.

The difference between this presentation and the one you wrote of is that in
your case, the presenter had a set of outcomes already in mind.  This
presentation was awkward, but it provided people with background information
only, not conclusions.  I think this is a critical difference!

Thanks for sharing--I appreciate a chance to ponder on other people's
experience.

Joelle

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