participant organized Open Space-training

[Jo Toepfer]

Dear colleagues.

last Sunday, March 14, fifty nine people gathered for what we think is the
first Open Space-training that was conceived, planned and put together by
the participants themselves.
To get this project under way they created "sosost" (selbstorganisiertes
open space-training)  ....  it is reported to be a conscious open
space-organization.
It began with all of them gathered in the planning group mode on Sunday
afternoon where they decided on the theme of this first os "Tu' was -
Bewirke VerДnderungen mit open space" (translates roughly into "Get on the
move - Create change with open space") and chose a sponsor from among
themselves for the first os.
Sunday evening they set up the open space for the following morning
including such things as creating circles of chairs, huge poster with the
theme,  bulletin board......
All of Monday was spent in open space on the theme mentioned above...it was
the typical atmosphere of high learning and high play which continued late
into the night  with discussion at the bar, dancing, visit to the sauna.
Some of the issues (25 in all):
-How do I convince my  boss to try open space?
-How do we develop a successful open space organization?
-What are the spirit, the vision and  attitudes of, in and behind open space?
-Open space in eastern European context (there are several participants
with roots and/or projects in Russian, Rumania, Poland, Bulgaria, etc.)
-Checklist on the financial requirements of an open space-event
-Is open space possible in organizations where conflict is rampant
-
-
Tuesday  morning : Reading the book of proceedings that the team had
produced overnight followed by action planning with 16 action steps, some
of them to be worked on in the following days and others in the near
future, such as:
-Planning an open space in Rumania on the topic "Future of personnel
development in Rumania" with the first planning session tomorrow night
-How to work with wikis, 2 workshops of an hour each tomorrow and the day
after tomorrow
-Less planning (with a definite no on any dates!)
-Percept language, video (the Weir tapes) and exercises tonight
-Laugh-Therapy, first session tonite
-Planning an open space on the topic of "Competition among public transport
authorities" within a year, first meeting in April in Berlin
-Science and open space, preplanning session tonight, os - planning group
in April
-
-
After talking stick ceremony at noon they delved into the second open space
with the title "Open space on open space - what we experienced, remembered
and are still puzzled about"  ....  the book of proceedings will be ready
tomorrow morning.
Some of the topics they are working on right now:
-Follow up meetings, how?
-Opening remarks ... lets have a look at them...the language
-Espacio abierto
-Facilitators exchange experiences
-Chaos Theory and open space
-Butterflies meet to design cover for book of proceedings
-Conflicts in open  space
-
-
Wednesday and Thursday will be spent on planning and facilitating open
space on the topic "I, open space facilitator" with all the planning,
setting up and facilitation done by the participants. There will also be
action planning designed and executed by the participants.
Those last two elements will be followed each by elaborate feedback from
the whole group for the selected facilitation and action planning teams.
On Friday there will be time to take a close look at the facilitation-open
space-journey participants are embarking on.
Parallel to the formal programme of the 3 os-events there are spaces set up
for remembering:
an os cinema, an os library, an os museum, an os audio room, a computer
cabinet with access to the Internet and posters for questions and answers
(which the community is using to plan their various activities outside of
the formal training).
Just after evening news every day and before dinner the entire system meets
in 10 "Travelgroups" of 5 or 6 people to reflect and also to write an email
every day to the german oslist and to give a summary of the day (on Sunday
nite we had the group with this task present a marvellous open space song.
Monday nite there was a cartoon depicting the events of the day...lets see
what other surprises are in store).
The two of us as trainers (Jo Toepfer, Michael M Pannwitz) are supported by
a great team of assistants (Juliane Ade,
Serpil Karahan and Maggie Peine).
The training site is located about 25 miles southeast of Berlin right smack
a lake (cold!) with a really outstanding catering setup, technical
facilities and a multipurpose hall which accommodates the circle and all
the breakout spaces beautifully.
Greetings from a grand training event
jo and mmp

PS: in case any of you are in the vicinity, there is an open meeting on
Wednesday evening (tomorrow), drop by. For directions go to www.blossin.de

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