2108 -- Remember the Number

[Gabriela Ender]

Thanks a lot , Harrison and Erich! 

Although I believe so deep in the power of OST, and I know, that it always works ...  that topic brought special questions to me:

-> What kind of criteria do we need to "holding space for OST quality"? 

-> What are our common or personal evidences for "good quality" and for "it worked"?

-> What basic requisites must exist, in order to combine an OST with another, bigger event?

Certainly, ... it depends on ..., but I would very much appreciate if we could reflect some experiences and pretensions (additionaly to our well known OST principles). That would be very helpful for me. 

Background of my present questions is, that I would not have had the courage to facilitate such big OST. My inner believe system would have stoped me to do this job - because I would have had the big fear to "damage the reputation of OST" in any kind.  It is good to share with you my personal presumptions and feelings regarding this, and to learn from you and others! I am very open for a inner reframing ;-)

Best wishes
Gabriela

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harrison Owen 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 2:03 PM
  Subject: Re: 2108 -- Remember the Number


  At 09:37 AM 5/7/2003 +0200, Gabriela wrote:

    For me, OST with 10 people is always so very different as with 30. And OST with 90 participants is also so different as with 150. And an one-day is so different to a two, or three-day OST. And it is so different, if you have your "own" Open Space or if it is combined with another event.

  I certainly agree that time makes a difference (1/2 day, 1 day 2 days) but only (in my experience) in the depth of conversation. Given more time, people generally do go deeper -- and that is a real plus. However, at the level of process, I fail to see any significant difference. It all "works" just like usual. Even the time it takes to get started is almost identical regardless of size. For a group of 25 I always expect 1 and 1/2 hours from start to "Going to Work." And the same is true for groups of 250, 500, 1000. With 2108, guess what ? 1 and 1/2 hours.


     What do you think, is there also a special difference between 1000 and 2000?

  None that I could see -- except more bodies and more space.


     What I know is, that your OST was an one-day-event at the end of a very big 4-days-conference. With your new experiences of today - what have you learned about that imbedded setting?

  An "embedded" (shades of Iraq!) Open Space is always a problem, and one that I would choose to avoid if possible. And a 4 day conference is (for me) definitely too long. The fatigue level really starts to rise. Having said all that I really can't imagine an Open Space with greater spirit and flow than we experienced. That did surprise me. I think part of it was, people had spent 3 days sitting in rows in  darkened rooms, listening to speeches. Suddenly breaking into Open Space was not unlike kids getting out of school.

  ho








  Harrison Owen
  7808 River Falls Drive
  Potomac, MD 20854 USA
  phone 301-365-2093
  Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
  Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
  Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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