academic conferences?

[Zelle Nelson]

Hi Ted,

We've done two different modifications/additions to Open Space to 
provide opportunities to those who wish to present information 
(primarily one-way communication) at an Open Space meeting or conference 
(which thrives in two-way or multiple person communication).

One is invite one-way communication in conjunction with regular Open 
Space topics and provide designated topic postings labeled as one-way 
communication sessions or idea presentation topics or storytelling 
topics. These topics are posted like any other Open Space topic, but we 
used a different shaped Post-it note (it looked like a flower) to 
indicate to the marketplace that topics with the special post-it 
indicated one-way communication. People who needed special equipment to 
give their presentation made arrangements before the meeting to have the 
necessary equipment available. We also set aside a specific breakout 
room to accommodate any equipment needs. What happened during most of 
the one-way communication topics, was that the speaker would talk for 
half the session and then open the topic up for discussion that 
continued on like most Open Space topics do. Another phenomenon was that 
when speakers did not allow for discussion, most people used there two 
feet and left after it was clear that there would be no discussion 
forthcoming.

Another way we set things up was an Open Space for a corporate client in 
which Open Space was used to hold their semi-annual meeting which 
traditionally included an outside supplier providing content for review. 
Prior to the group experiencing Open Space, the supplier would give 
Power Point presentations - most including over 100 slides of data.

The Open Space was a two day event with the first day dedicated to 
interacting with the supplier. The second day was to focus on team 
interaction and communication. Our clients and the suppliers were free 
to post any topic during any session just as in regular OS. We asked the 
3 suppliers attending the meeting each to post their topic (planned as a 
one-way communication session) multiple times during the Open Space. We 
arranged the multiple sessions on the same topic to ensure that each 
member of our client's team would have an opportunity to listen to the 
crucial information provided by the suppliers, while still having the 
freedom of the Law of Two Feet.

The day before the Open Space began we learned that one of the suppliers 
scheduled to attend the meeting could not make it. He did however 
arrange a time to call into our meeting, go over his Power Point slides 
by phone, with our client contact taking care of advancing each slide as 
the supplier finished what he wanted to say. The only time the supplier 
could call in was after we were to open the space.

So on the day, we didn't really know what would happen. We opened the 
space as usual, had time for one session and then took a break from Open 
Space so that the whole 40 person client team, along with the supplier's 
two colleagues could experience the 100+ slide Power Point presentation. 
The supplier began his presentation and slowly people began to leave the 
room. The law of two feet had been introduced and people used it. The 
suppliers always gave copies of their presentations to our client's team 
members, so sitting through the actual presentation was not as valuable 
as informal conversations, using the time to check voicemail and email, 
or just taking a break. By the time the presentation was over there were 
about 10 people still in the room. As always the supplier encouraged 
questions throughout, and again asked for questions at the end. There 
were a few along the way and one or two questions at the end.

We then moved back into OS sessions. After seeing what had happened to 
their colleague, the two suppliers who were on site did something they 
had not ever done with the limited time they had in front of their 
client. They sat down and talked with them, answered questions and 
really got to know for the first time who their clients really were. The 
same happened for our client's team members. One of the suppliers 
extended his trip to stay for the second day to experience more Open Space.

At the end of most every Open Space we ask in the closing circle, "What 
worked? What didn't? and How could we improve for next time?"

Most everyone rated the meeting a 10 out of 10 and those that didn't 
rated it a 9 out of 10 because of the power point presentation they had 
sat through. Both our client and the suppliers remarked at how much they 
had gained from sitting down and really talking. One woman on our 
client's team said, "I wouldn't do half the job I do without the data 
you (the suppliers) provide in your Power Point deck. It's like a Bible 
for me. But, the depth of information and the level of questions I could 
ask being in Open Space made the data so much more valuable. I really 
got a chance to ask the questions I wanted to ask, and I felt like I 
wasn't taking up other's time. It was fantastic!"

The two ways we created to allow for one-way communication to be present 
during Open Space really worked well.

Hope this helps.

with grace and love,

Zelle

************
Zelle Nelson
Engaging the Soul at Work/Know Place Like Home/State of Grace Document

www.stateofgracedocument.com

zelle at maureenandzelle.com

office - 001.828.693.0802
mobile - 001.847.951.7030

Isle of Skye
2021 Greenville Hwy
Flat Rock, NC 28731
USA


Ted Ernst wrote:

> So I've posted a bit about my travels in the WikiVan to WikiSym.  
> Don't remember if I talked about my plan to be in open space at a 
> non-open space conference.  We've now finished a day and a half and 
> I've realized that there's a function to conferences that I wasn't 
> aware of, the academic conference with juried paper presentations.  In 
> this case the wiki community can be definied as including both 
> academics and non-academics (free software developers, corportate 
> developers, community organizer administrators, etc).  I find open 
> space to be fantastic for collaboratoion, wihch is what wiki is so 
> good at, so open space would seem to be a great fit.  Pure open space 
> doesn't give you that scheduled paper talk from a selectifly chosen 
> paper.  And this is seen as important for academic careers (I think).  
> Anyone had any experience with this type of 
> situation/mixture/requirements of academics?
>
> I had a great conversation today with the chair of the program 
> committee.  I didn't seek him out but have been very open with my 
> thoughts on the conference wiki and he came to see me.  I found him 
> extremely supportive of the idea of opening more space.  The Birds of 
> a Feather times (evenings) are really open space by another name, and 
> this evening people are going like gangbusters, hours after the 
> official program ended.  Very cool.  Anyway, he's very open to working 
> out a way that non-corporate, non-academics can get a much reduced 
> rate (this conf is $450 for me!) and he's open to having more open 
> space, in some fashion at least.  Would be great to pass on some 
> stories to him from this list (or point me to the archives or website 
> if stuff is already there).
>
> Thanks!
> peace,
> ted
>
> -- 
> Humanize the Earth!  http://tedernst.com * * 
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