Timing for really large groups

Therese Fitzpatrick therese.fitzpatrick at gmail.com
Tue Jun 14 22:29:11 PDT 2005


Regarding the sketchy wireless situation for Christine's Girl Scout
event:    'We' bought a device that cost, I think, about $300+ for
Seattle Practice of Peace so we could have wireless.  Then we donated
the equipment to the site, which was one of the sponsors of the event.
 But you can probably rent equipment to make it wireless.  You might
be able to improve the wireless capacity of your space if tech
knowledgeable people interface with the facility.

Also, we sent out a request for people to lend their laptops for
notetaking and our tech guy got offers from 30+ people (and our total
conference had about 130).  Laptops are a bit like loaves and fishes
these days. . . and if you are wireless. . .

On 6/14/05, Peggy Holman <peggy at opencirclecompany.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Christine,
>
> I've put some thoughts below.
>
> Peggy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Christine Whitney Sanchez
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 2:23 PM
> Subject: [OSLIST] Timing for really large groups
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Apropos to the wonderful thread about the combination of OST with World Cafe
> or any other method, Claudia Haack and I, along with a dedicated design team
> and a multitude of volunteers, are preparing for the 2005 Girl Scout
> National Convention.
>
> On October 7, Claudia and I will open the space for up to 2,000 National
> Council Delegates around the topic of governance.  And for the other 10,000
> or so convention participants, "Strategy Cafes" will be open for business
> throughout the 3 day convention.  In this case, it's not so much a blend of
> the methods, but rather using two different methods for two different
> purposes.
>
> Regarding the Open Space, we are at the stage where we need to finalize some
> of the physical/logistics plans that will involve the convention center and
> we have a few questions about what you would do (or have done for those of
> you who have facilitated really large events).
>
> ~  With a group this size, is there anything you would do to expedite the
> marketplace?  There will be 3 session times available.  We open the space at
> 8:30.  The first breakout session begins at 10:15 or whenever it starts.
>
> Based on my experience in Bogota, people pace themselves.  They know there
> are lots of people wanting to announce.  We envisioned using about 4 aisles
> for people to wait in line to announce and four aisles to lead to the
> bulletin board.  In practice, because there were no chairs, aisles weren't
> necessary.  Might be for you.
>
> Also, making a wall for each time period made it easy to spread out the
> postings and made it clear what was happening at each time.
>
> ~  What is your guess for how long the marketplace will take?  Harrison, you
> just said - From a standing start -- just sitting in a circle -- to active
> engagement in something like 15-20 minutes. People rushing to the center of
> the circle to announce their issues, and everybody else listening hard and
> figuring out what additional issues need to be raised in order to meet their
> own needs. That burst of activity might last 30-40 minutes, followed by
> another 20 minutes of total ordered chaos in the Market place -- and it is
> off to work -- usually with sufficient time for a cup of coffee, restroom
> break, or phone call.  Did you, Michael Pannwitz and company find this
> timing to hold in the Germany 2,000 person event?
>
> In Bogota, it took about 40 minutes to announce about 320 sessions.  That's
> about 7.5 seconds per session.  Amazing but true.
>
> ~  We have the capability to hang one large screen on the same side of the
> room as the marketplace wall.   Do you see any value in projecting the
> session topics & times on this screen (as was done in Phx, Harrison)?
>
> ~ Because the physical distances in this convention center are so vast, it
> isn't feasible for most people to travel from the breakouts, back to the
> plenary room to input their reports.  So far, it looks like we have spotty
> wireless capabilities.  Any suggestions about how and where to place the
> computers?
>
> One possibility is to create multiple small clusters of computers?  Anothe
> possibility is to put them in the breakout rooms, but that's a lot of
> computers.
>
> Thanks in advance for your ideas!
>
>
>
>
> Christine Whitney Sanchez
> 480.759.0262
>
> 2717 E. Mountain Sky Avenue
>
> Phoenix, AZ  85048-8990
>
> Claudia Haack
> 608.209.6768
>
> 606 Orchard Drive
> Madison, WI  53711
>
> Triune Milagro, LTD
> VISIT OUR WEBSITE:  www.triunemilagro.com
>
> Invoking the wisdom and capacity of the human spirit! * *
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--
Warmly,
Therese Fitzpatrick, MSOD, JD

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