Desperately seeking...

Tue Jun 21 05:17:06 PDT 2005

Tansformation ? Sounds great -- but what do you mean?

Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD  20854
USA
301-365-2093
207-763-3261 (summer)
website www.openspaceworld.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Claudia Haack 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 5:58 PM
  Subject: Re: Desperately seeking...

  Well, in that case you have just witnessed a complete transformation.  What Fan?

  Claudia
  Triune Milagro - Madison
  608.288.8315

  On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:01:11 -0400 Harrison Owen <hhowen at comcast.net> writes:
    Not to worry! it will work perfect!! Go with the two concentric circles -- fanning out the rest-- and it will "seem" like a circle. Above everything else, don't appologize, explain, justify,  -- mortify . Just do it. Would choose this space ? NO! -- will it work? Definitely. Just make it a circle in your mind.

    Harrison

    Harrison Owen
    7808 River Falls Dr.
    Potomac, MD  20854
    USA
    301-365-2093
    207-763-3261 (summer)
    website www.openspaceworld.com

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Claudia Haack 
      To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
      Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 2:59 PM
      Subject: Re: Desperately seeking...

      Thanks, Lisa for your encouragement to work with what "has been given".  

      Claudia

      On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 10:32:55 -0700 Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net> writes:
        Claudia - 

        You wrote about your upcoming OS with 300 people in a fan-shaped room:

        Has anybody ever had a similar situation?  What are your thoughts?  The space appears to be so awkward and unaccommodating for open space, with stairs and railings, and limited opportunity to actually create something that resembles circles.  Maybe I just worry too much about the space and the right people will come (and stay?!) and make a circle?  Maybe it is really important to have circles and "fan-shaped" just isn't going to work? 

        I'm guessing you tried and tried to get it in another space but this is the one you have been given.

        I seem to remember .Brian Bainbridge, was it?  who spoke of a great OS in a room with theatre seating (chairs attached to the floor) and a little tiny flat space up front for an agenda wall?  And.Bernd Weber, was it?  who spoke of a great OS in a room filled with one incredibly large table and people seated all around it and not much additional room?  

        And I myself had an experience with a room that was actually not a meeting room but an exhibit hallway, l-o-n-g and narrow.  And when I put chairs in sort of an arc facing a wall (with many 'concentric' rows out to the sides) the fire marshals came in and said that all my chairs had to be locked together.

        In each of these cases, the Open Space went beautifully.  I am sure in all our cases we 'fought' like crazy to get a better room, but these were the rooms we were given.  And so I'm sure that in each of our cases we thought very carefully about the design, and adjusted in the most creative ways, and carried intention and vision, and imagined and indicated a circle even when there may not have been one (it helps to put the signs all around the room and to indicate them as you explain principles and law to further the circle feeling even in a long space, I have found).   

        And in each of these cases, people got themselves to the location that was created for them to write and announce their topics, they got to wherever the agenda wall was set up to post their topics, and they held their discussions all around the room - amazingly, clustering up in little circles even in locked-down chairs - it's a natural way to converse, in circles.

        So I say just do all the things you know to do, think of the best way possible to use the space you have, and then enjoy all that Open Space.

        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 

        -----Original Message-----
        From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Claudia Haack
        Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 8:46 AM
        To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
        Subject: Desperately seeking...

        Desperately seeking.

        ..a solution to a space issue. 

        Here is the situation:

        We are planning a one day Open Space event for about 300 people.  

        To imagine the setting - imagine classical ballroom, very large oval, with a terrace going around the edge.  Then divide the room in thirds, keeping a central almost square area and two fan-shaped edge rooms.  One of which is ours (with a total capacity of  750 people theatre style) with these challenges:

        §         It is shaped like a fan.

        §         The "outer" rim of approximately 44 feed across is about 2  feet higher than the "inner" fan.

        §         The "outer" rim is separated  from the lower space by a metal and glass railing. 

        §         While the inner space has a very high ceiling, the outer/upper space does not. 

        If an open space of at least 35 to 40 feet is created on the lower part (the only part where you could create an open space) only about 2 concentric circles can be created accommodating about 120 people.  The remainder of the rows would be only half-circles or half-ovals, following the shape of the terrace. 

        Has anybody ever had a similar situation?  What are your thoughts?  The space appears to be so awkward and unaccommodating for open space, with stairs and railings, and limited opportunity to actually create something that resembles circles.  Maybe I just worry too much about the space and the right people will come (and stay?!) and make a circle?  Maybe it is really important to have circles and "fan-shaped" just isn't going to work? 

        Thanks for any suggestions. 

        Claudia

        Triune Milagro - Madison

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