Question re: size

[Lisa Heft]

Hello, all -

(Ellen's message is below)

Ellen, I recommend just making as many aisles as you can in the
concentric circles of chairs so each individual seated feels s/he can
get up and walk right into the center with relative ease should they
feel so inspired.  Think access (rather than worrying about depth). 

I recommend *against* setting up in a way that expects people to stand.
There are people in any group with disabilities (including fatigue
issues), whether obvious or invisible, and everyone deserves a seat.
And to me, the circle (or as close as one can get to it, concentric or
otherwise) is key.  And yes, as Michael P says, try to get as much space
as you can for the open space in the middle.  Of course many of us have
had less-than-perfect situations, and it always works, with the best
possible design within the circumstances and the truest clearest
intention.

Plus: I support you in doing Open Space 'by the book' - as is your
intuition and style - I think you are right not to 'drive the sessions'
as someone else may have in the past.  My concern is that the event be
about the participants and not about the facilitator.  Sounds like you
will be a great support to these participants in holding space for them
to identify their own needs and issues.  

They are so lucky to have you, Ellen...

Lisa

___________________________
L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
+01 510 548-8449
lisaheft at openingspace.net
www.openingspace.net 
 

> From: "Ellen Gottesdiener" <ellen at ebgconsulting.com>
> Date: July 18, 2005 5:05:38 PM PDT
> To: "Diana Larsen" <dlarsen at futureworksconsulting.com>
> Subject: FW: question re: size
>  
> Hello all:
> Maybe you can help me with..well, an issue of size!
>  
> I am facilitating an Open Space Marketplace in about a week which is 
> going to be integrated into a traditional conference schedule (meaning

> there are scheduled classes and short tutorials). FYI, it is Agile 
> 2005 (www.agile2005.com and our info on Open Space is on this page: 
> http://www.agile2005.com/track/openspace/cfp ).
>  
> This will be the third year we are integrating OST into a traditional 
> conference in this manner. As in prior years, we will have conveners 
> schedule their sessions as they wish over 3 (of the 4) days of the 
> conference. Some time slots will be concurrent with existing classes 
> or short tutorials, and some will be in time slots that don’t compete 
> with other sessions.  
>  
> While this is not the usual way to do Open Space, it worked pretty 
> well, especially the first year when we had most people attend the 
> Market Place and used chairs in concentric circles. (Last year’s 
> facilitator used a different physical setup that wasn’t so inviting 
> and was more forceful in his facilitation style – he drove the 
> sessions, rather then let the group freely determine topics).
>  
> I plan to facilitate the Marketplace like the first year, but now my 
> problem is now is: SIZE.
>  
> The conference has grown from 200 the first year to over 300 or so 
> last year; I just learned they expect to have 600 to 650 attendees! I 
> have a ballroom for the Marketplace, which we had originally planned 
> to set up in concentric circles with 350 chairs (with aisles).
>  
> The question is: how to do the physical set up of the room?
>  
> The ballroom *might* (we are checking) accommodate 500 chairs in 
> concentric circles which I imagine would be rather deep (e.g. 4, 5 or 
> 6 circles deep). Would this be un-inviting? (We’d have aisles, but 
> would be feel reluctant to come forward with so deep of layout?). Is 
> it important to provide as many chairs as possible and also retain the

> circle/mandala shape?
>  
> Alternatively, we could set up the 350 chairs and ask additional 
> attendees to stand. (We will probably get more than 350 for the 
> Marketplace..there is no other scheduled activities during this time 
> slot and it follows the Opening Session and Keynote). However, the 
> experience with having people stand for over 30 minutes is that people

> complain – such was the experience of my friend and colleague, Diana 
> Larsen (who contributes to this list).
>  
> Suggestions or recommendations??
>  
> Many thanks,
> ~~ ellen  

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