Evaluating OpenSpace

[Michael Herman]

here is the link i shared with eric.   my key points in this page are
that evaluation should not imply that planners were responsible for
the quality of participants experience.  the opener gave that
responsibility for that to the ppts themselves at the opening.  and...
the evaluation should evaluate the work and performance of the ppts,
not the work of the planners.  done well, the eval should identify
issues resolved, issues in process and issues that should come up
next.  the latter of these things obviously then can feed into next
events.  in this way eval actually opens the space more, rather than
sealing it shut.  eval might also ask people to evaluate their own use
of hte space... did they use the law of two feet, did they convene...
etc... and would they do similar things back in the everyday routine. 
here is the link...
http://www.globalchicago.net/wiki/wiki.cgi?EvaluatingOpenSpace

michael




On 7/15/05, Eric Graig <egraig at att.net> wrote:
> Thanks, I will take a look at this.
> 
> Eric
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Gabriela
> Ender
> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 9:35 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Evaluating OpenSpace
> 
> Hi Eric,
> 
> one possible resource to enrich your Open Space evaluation process could be
> to invite all participants to an OpenSpace-Online real-time meeting, for
> example 4 or 8 weeks after your Open Space Technology Conference. At the end
> of such text-based online open space you (and each participant) would
> receive an extensive document about the meeting immediately at the press of
> a button. The book of proceedings provides the ideal foundation for further
> work and for evaluation, as it contains all comments, proceedings, and
> arrangements made during the meeting. It can be immediately used in either
> digital or printed form.
> 
> If you like this idea, you could organize the online follow-up for your
> client or you could help him/her to organize it. (Any individual can become
> a conference organizer by going to the openspace-online website and setting
> up a conference.) The process is simple to follow and takes a very short
> time. If you are interested in learning more about this online approach, you
> are warmly invited to download the OpenSpace-Online eBook (PDF):
> http://www.OpenSpace-Online.com/OpenSpace-Online_eBook_en.pdf
> 
> Best wishes,
> Gabriela
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Graig" <egraig at att.net>
> To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 3:21 PM
> Subject: Evaluating OpenSpace
> 
> 
> > I have been asked to draft a proposal for evaluating an OpenSpace to be
> held
> > in the fall.  The purpose of the event is to bubble up ideas that will
> > re-invigorate a cultural/identity/interest group community.  Michael
> Herman
> > was kind enough to point me towards some pages on his GlobalChicago site
> > which were great at getting my creative juices flowing but I was hoping to
> > find some actual evaluations to review.  I am an evaluation consultant by
> > trade and it became clear to me that the standard kind of post-conference
> or
> > post-training evaluation wouldn't serve much purpose for an Open Space.
> In
> > addition, since this OS is planned as a one time event, there is not much
> > point (from the organizers point of view), in asking too many process
> > improvement questions.
> >
> > Our budget will not allow much in the way of follow-up interviews so we
> are
> > fairly limited to asking survey type questions although both closed and
> > open-ended questions are possible.  Mostly I am interested in hearing
> about
> > what others have done and any thoughts or resources would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> > Eric Graig, Ph.D.
> > Managing Director
> > PolyMath Research, LLC
> > New York, NY
> >
> > v: 775 363 8593
> > f: 775 252 1268
> >
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> >
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