Do OST Demonstrations Work?

[ICA Taiwan]

Two questions were raised on the OSlistserve:
        1.  Doing a 1 hour OS demonstration
        2.  Having one 2-4 hour OST workshop option at a conference

Here are some of the responses.         Gail
************************************

>I would guess that many have tried and very few succeeded. Doing a
>"demonstration" OS is a loser mostly because there is usually little
>passion and responsibility -- the usual reaction is "Is that all
>their is?"  As for OS in the context of a larger meeting (one track
>sort of thing) -- I have tried it on several occasions -- none of
>them happily. When faced with the sort of situation (opportunity?)
>you describe, I will show a video (the USWEST video is great) and
>take questions. All prefaced with a little history (Been around for
>20 years, 50,000+ iterations, now 93 countries etc)
>
>
>
>Harrison
************************************
I used OST for the second day of a four-day annual conference. This
was years before I knew better. I am now
more skillful at negotiating with conference organizers.

The leaders of workshops scheduled for the third and fourth days all
posted their passions in the OST and
thus conducted their workshops on the second day, and many had to
cover the same material on the third and
fourth days.

The law of two feet is difficult to take back once it's in effect,
and conference organizers had to deal with unexpectedly
fluid behavior on the third and fourth days.  Many conference
participants simply went skiing on the second day. Butterflies
wearing parkas, or the law of two skis.

The best way to blend OST and non-OST is to have the OST at the end,
serving an important purpose in the overall
event, such as "what has not been talked about so far" or "taking
things deeper" or "where we go from here." In my opinion.

Jeff Aitken, California
**************************************

I don't have experience with your number 2. but I can say something
about number 1: OS as a taste for OS does not work. I tried it once
and found out that there needs to be at least a theme that the crowd
feels passionate about and is willing to take some responsibility
for. If those conditions are not met, all you have is an audience
with no players. Everybody is looking for something to happen and
nothing happens because everybody is just looking. And that means
there is not much to see and it is really boring.

Best of luck, Koos, Netherlands
***************************************
I recently used OST for the final day and a half of a six day
Students of Sustainability conference - http://sofs.org.au/. The
sponsors wanted to go straight to emergence/convergence as they would
have had four days of issue identification and discussion previously.
It worked particularly well to the relief of the sponsors.
Apparently last year they had attempted OST for the entire conference
and ended up with very few outcomes as.  The combination of
'traditional' conferencing followed by OST worked effectively and I
would use that format again in similar circumstances.

Regards, Mick, Australia
****************************************
I agree that doing an OS demonstration is challenging.  I did a
90-minute version once for a group of colleagues.  Had three
20-minute sessions squeezed in.  It was awful.  Everybody looked
bored.  Never again.

On the other hand, I did a 30-minute thing for a client once
involving the top 20 managers in an American airline company.  They
kept pressing me for an explanation, so during a break I hurriedly
made the posters and stuck them on the walls.  Then I reconvened
everyone in a circle and did the opening.  That's all.  No postings.
No actual open space.

They loved it.  A month later I was doing a one-day event for them to
explore their frequent-flier program, customers included.
Ralph Copleman
****************************************

Ralph -- I had a really different experience with 90 minutes.  I'm
guessing that it was because the topic was real (not just a demo).
It was the keynote for the Bowling Green MSOD Alumni conference.
They wanted the 150 or so participants to experience Open Space.
After my first thought of "impossible", I thought, "why not?"

It worked incredibly well!  I was amazed at the energy of the group
and that they really did move from topic to topic.  It was like
watching a speeded up video of an OS.  For the closing circle, I
invited people to reflect using a word or phrase.  This actually left
time in the closing for Q&A on OST.

Mind you, I did this for graduates of an Organizational Development
program who were as interested in the form as they were the content
of the gathering.  My take on it was that it would be impossible to
do any subject justice in 90 minutes.  Given that, rather than set
the expectation of even one quality conversation, use the time for
another purpose: to invite people to notice who else has passion for
the same topics as you.  20 minutes to open, three 15 minute
sessions, 20 minutes to close about does it.  In that time, people
will find out the range of subjects of interest and who else cares
about them.  They'll be able to touch in with the folks they meet
after the OS.  And another benefit is that it leaves participants
with a very different embodied experience of what OST is.
Peggy Holman, Seattle




--
Gail West, ICA
3F, No. 12, Lane 5, Tien Mou West Road
Taipei 111 Taiwan
Phone: (8862) 2871-3150,  Fax: (8862) 2871-2870

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