Pro bono work

Wed Aug 11 01:36:08 PDT 2004

Dear Phil,
thanks for your questions re pro bono and what we charge for
facilitation.
My own approach is similar to that of Lisa's.
There is one pitfall that I think is pretty well addressed using
Lisa's approach.
When I am really enamoured with a particular issue or organisation I
start getting involved along the line of "attached to content" (which
is a little different from "attached to outcome").
That kind of "attachment" can and has led to cutting corners or
agreeing quickly to compromises (you dont have markers, dont worry, I
have lots of those in my basement supply stash) or "working harder
than I have to", or working harder than the "client/customer/sponsor"
or not allowing the "system" to selforganise its ressources.
Being aware of that pitfall has opened amazing ressources in systems
to a degree that everyone was perplexed.
My most recent experience was the Self-Organized Open Space Training
(also been called the SOS-Training).
During the first Open Space on Open Space for practitioners living
and working in Berlin one issue was Training.
As it turned out, about a dozen people were intensely interested
getting trained (have a weeklong, regular Open Space Technology
Training).
As they were calculating the cost and were told by us that the
"standard" fee we ask for a weeklong training is 15.000 Euros (2
people) they quickly discovered that they could not afford the
resulting fee.
We then told them if they were to organize the training (invitation,
recruiting, space, equippment, material, catering, etc.) we would not
charge anything.
Well, in about 6 months they had gotten 59 participants, set up a
sliding fee structure (this is what we need minimum, 390 Euros, this
is what it would really cost, 890 Euros, you pay what you can afford,
if you cant afford the 390, talk to us and we will find a way...that
eventually evolved into a system of rainchecks on a miriad of
interesting service, like a weekend in someones appartment in his
hometown in the blackforest, editing of text, being a helper at an
event, etc.), found space, arranged the catering, got the equippment
and material, etc.
They eventually had an average far beyond the 390 per participant and
when we turned down their offer, created an Open Space Foundation
using their "profit" as a start.
Here are the benefits that we did not observe in other trainings we
had been associated in:
1. The Planning and Organizing Group of about 12 people had an
experience of an "InterActive Organization" that created not only
first class results but also community and follow up projects
2. The participants selforganized much more quickly (after a while
they pretty much ignored the "Trainers") and a number of  subgroups
organized themselves during the training for various projects in
which they are now collaborating
3. Jo and I as trainers had a great time with a group of participants
pretty different from those we had experienced in previous events:
VERY high Learning, VERY high fun (they installed a group that spend
half an hour at a time simply laughing: Hilarious) and we had to work
less, far less than in previous trainings
4. We learned a lot about how we would approach future trainings (I
suggested that a training scheduled for September be cancelled
because very little of what is described above was present)
5. An unusually large numer of people from backgrounds and into
things where money is an endemic problem got trained ... openeing up
all kinds of new venues.
......
This is just one of a number of "pro bono" events I have been
involved in.

Re the charge for facilitation...got to run but would like to keep
that string to continue.
greetings from Berlin
mmp

Michael M Pannwitz
boscop
Draisweg 1
12209 Berlin, Germany
FON +49 - 30-772 8000     FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464
www.michaelmpannwitz.de

123 Berliner open space-Veranstaltungen von 12 BegleiterInnen in 16 verschiedenen Bereichen:
www.openspace-landschaft.de

An der 153-köpfigen E-Gruppe "openspacedeutsch" interessiert? Enfach eine mail an mich.

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>From  Wed Aug 11 12:57:12 2004
Message-Id: <WED.11.AUG.2004.125712.0400.>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:57:12 -0400
Reply-To: john at theexperiment.info
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: john engle <englejohn at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: looking for Digital video of OS event
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed

hi zelle.

we've just finished "circles of change: a quiet revolution in haiti." its 20
minutes long in haitian creole with english subtitles. i don't know if this
interests you or not.

learn more at: http://circlesofchange.com

thanks,

john

http://JohnEngle.blogspot.com - Reflections about Haiti, life, and our work.
http://JohnEngle.info
http://TheExperiment.info

>From: Zelle Nelson <zelle at knowplacelikehome.com>
>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: looking for Digital video of OS event
>Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 18:12:11 -0400
>
>Hello,
>
>My wife, Maureen and I are putting together a digital story (mini-movie)
>about OS to help us better market Open Space.
>
>We're looking for digital video footage of OS in action.
>
>After the digital story is complete - it can be saved as a Quicktime
>file - we'd be happy to share the output.
>
>Let me know if anyone has any digital video footage they would be
>willing to share or if you're planning to video any upcoming OS event.
>Thanks.
>
>With Grace and Love,
>
>Zelle
>
>************
>Zelle Nelson
>Engaging the Soul at Work/Know Place Like Home/State of Grace Document
>
>www.stateofgracedocument.com
>
>zelle at maureenandzelle.com
>office - 828.693.0802
>mobile - 847.951.7030
>
>Ravenswood - Isle of Skye
>2021 Greenville Hwy
>Flat Rock, NC 28731
>
>--
>ÐÏ à¡± á
>
>
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