2108 -- Remember the Number

Wed May 7 14:13:44 PDT 2003

Dear Chris, dear Birgitt, and dear Lisa!

Thanks a lot for your reply! I agree with all your comments 100%. You are right, we can´t controll quality .. we can´t controll the reputation ... different people think different about OST ... but we can do our best for good preparations and good facilitations (and good follow-ups). I still think, that the circumstances about this 2108 people, embedded setting, and 1-day frame, are very special. What I tried to express was, that I admire the courage of Harrison and Michael very much, because I believe, that I would have had too much concerns regarding the setting - not the number of people. Our conversation of today helped me to think about all that again ... and to reframe!

Thanks again, dear colleagues!
Gabriela

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chris Corrigan 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 6:56 PM
  Subject: Re: 2108 -- Remember the Number

  I think the basic answer to your questions Gabriela, for me any way is: good preparation, good preparation and good preparation.

  The better prepared we are, the easier it is to hold space, because we have no regrets about anything, and we (the facilitators) are able to relax into that pure form of being with the group that we call "holding space."  In times when I haven't been able hold space like I have wanted to, it was due to the fact that there were thoughts eating away at my peace of mind.  In almost every case, better preparation on my part, or the part of the sponsors and me, would have taken care of that.

  It works well when people are really clear on what is being done and when the four conditions are present: passion, diversity, urgency, complexity.  It "just works" when these four are present in less deep quantities.  (Note to Wilberians: depth not span.8 can have greater depth than 1000).

  And in terms of lessons learned for embedding Open Space in another conference format, the first one would be, as Harrison and Michael did, to do it last.  As for the more subtle realms, I can point you to a paper I did as a report on using Open Space as a track for an international conference last year.  You can download the PDF at http://www.chriscorrigan.com/ifoam/ifoamreport.pdf.  The paper includes a report on what happened at the conference and recommendations for using OST in the future.

  Cheers,

  Chris

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

  (604) 947-9236

  -----Original Message-----
  From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Gabriela Ender
  Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 6:07 AM
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
  Subject: Re: 2108 -- Remember the Number

  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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