Short Report of Gratitude

[Don Ferretti]

This is an unsolicited report from the field. Yesterday morning I gave one of those Open Space “demonstrations” where you want people to experience OS not just talk about it. 

The person who asked me to do it convenes a monthly “facilitator caf*” where they have guests give presentations on a topic related to facilitation. The group meets once a month in the morning for one hour and 15 minutes. 

So the task was to provide a demonstration of OS in one hour and 15 minutes that would do justice to Open Space. 

There were 25 people there. The theme was - Facilitation: What are your challenges, questions, answers?

We used the circle of course. We broke the time available into a 10-minute introduction, which included the four principles, one law (butterflies, bumble bees, etc.) and a description of the process (posting topics, grabbing a post-it with place and time).

After about 4 seconds of hesitation, the group posted 12 different topics.
Once all the topics were posted we allowed 15 minutes for people to sign up. Then the sessions began.

We hade two 20 minutes break out sessions with 6 meeting spaces. 
We held a closing circle during the last 10 minutes. We used something handy for a Talking Stick.  

Afterwards those who wanted more information stuck around for a conversation about the details, which is where we talked about working with sponsors to develop a meaningful theme, the newsroom, and some other technical details. I shared Harrison's book - "Expanding Our Now"

I think it always best to actually open space when doing a demonstration. Even just this little bit of Open Space had a dramatic effect – the comments in the closing circle were about how they had rich conversations, where diversity was an asset – not something to me managed, and how fun it was to follow the four principles and one law.  And these comments came from a bunch of professional Facilitators who work in the private and public sector!

Truthfully, I do not think I ever would have attempted a 1 hour and 15 minute OS “demonstration” had it not been for all of the sharing on this list. I am indebted to all of my fellow OS practitioners.

Thank you – Don Ferretti


http://placer.networkofcare.org
www.placer.ca.gov/cfc
First 5 - Placer CFC
Don Ferretti - Director
530.886.1824
530.886.1810 (fax)

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