OS with people coming late

[Doris Gottlieb]

Dear List

I wanted to share an experience with you all first of all because it was
really great and felt like an affirming experience for me to continue to
keep working with open space and second because when I was organizing it I
asked the list for help and got great help, so I wanted to let you know what
happened.

I just did a very short (micro) open space here in the Netherlands within
the context of a larger conference. We had 1,5 hours planned (2x with
different groups). As is normal in my experience with these sorts of
conferences the planned time schedule was way too optimistic and people
didn't arrive to my 'workshop' until about 15 minutes after the appointed
time (and then they wanted to have coffee before starting.)  I decided to
wait to open until the majority of people were there (about 2/3's). So this
meant that we had about 1 hour for the entire event.

The people who participated fed back to me that they were -- even in this
extremely short time -- able to talk deeply with one another about subjects
that really mattered to them. They also said it felt like a freeing
experience, which felt to me good enough for the time we had. I know I can't
provide an entire OST event like a 3 day event in this time-frame, so what I
went for was to give the quality of the space and to let that be sufficient.
I was amazed that 6 topics were posted among 20 people in 2 break-out time
slots.  The other thing that was nice to hear is that people wanted more --
so maybe next time they will be able to do more or plan a longer event...

The way I arranged it was:
I waited until there was a critical mass of people (about 2/3's) in the
room. When people came late they then caught on quickly and could ask for
help if needed (the latecomers seemed quite easily able to integrate).
The other thing I did in the breakout sessions was to indicate that we had 2
timeslots of approximately 25 minutes but not to indicate the exact times
(because then I was getting stressed about the timing with late start).

Instead I told them that I would ring the bell when we reached the 1/2 way
point. When I did this I reminded them that this was not an invitation to
stop what they were doing, but rather an indication of clock time passing. I
invited them to remember the principles and the law of 2 feet and to work
with them, as they wanted.  This worked out well, actually, in one group
three people stayed speaking on 1 subject the entire time, others
circulated, and others continued for a time and then went on to the second
break-out sessions.

The other thing I did with them for the end time was to explain from the
beginning that we were doing this session in Open Space within the
Boundaries and Context of this larger meeting and that this meant that
unfortunately there were some time restraints (like we had to finish as
close to time as possible so they could go to other events). It was helpful
to make this clear, and people could laugh at it and work with the paradox
of bounded and unbounded time.


Personally it was the first time I had done such a short OS event and I was
really nervous about it, but it worked really well and I'm really happy to
have the chance to share the experience here and hopefully to be of some
help to you for the event you have planned. It also gave me inspiration to
continue finding opportunities to work with Open Space

Thanks again
Doris

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] Namens Christine Koehler
Verzonden: woensdag 1 juni 2005 21:25
Aan: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Onderwerp: OS with people coming late

Hi all,

Next Monday I am going to facilitate a short OS event . This meeting is
usually monthly, facilitated by someone who provides information and
answer questions on a specific topic. It lasts 2 hours. We don't know in
advance who is coming . As there seem to be more than 20 people,  the
round-robin format within a short time frame  is becoming difficult, so
I offered to do it as an Open Space.  The meeting must finish at 3.30
(we have to clean the room).
I have  one concern with the opening circle , let me explain you why :
the meeting is supposed to begin at 1.30pm. But usually most people
arrive late, every few minutes someone new comes in. (for those who are
not familiar with France, arriving 15mn late is the norm,-ie it is not
considered as late).  And here as people are mothers with babies, I
expect people still arriving at 2.15, maybe more. If I wait until
everybody is here, the risk is that we begin only at 2.30, so we would
have only a very short taste of open space. If I open the circle around
1.30, most people will miss it and won't get how it works...
I don't know what to do. What do you suggest ?

Christine Koehler
Paris, France

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist