Open Space for small groups

Fri Aug 25 20:20:55 PDT 2006

Hi, all - as you may tell, I have been away for a bit traveling and
facilitating, and I am catching up with an ocean of emails, including
delicious little fishes in that ocean: many thoughtful messages on OSLIST.

In response to Justin's questions about holding a very small Open Space.

Fabuloso Jaime wrote:

I remember a posting on the OSLIST about an OS meeting with as few as 2
people!

 I am not sure if I could find this message for you, but no doubt that
someone else will. Just wait and see.

 Welcome to the OS community!

Marvelous Thomas wrote:

I don't think that's the record Jaime. I remember Lisa telling a story where
no-one showed up and she had an OS-meeting by herself!! Hard to beat!

And, of course, it worked out marvellously - well, you are marvellous dear
Lisa - sure missed you in Moscow! 

Warm regards

Thomas

Thomas, you and everyone at the Moscow conference were very much in my
thoughts!  I did write about a very small Open Space - only one person.below
I shall reprint the posting I sent to OSLIST about it back in May 2002.

Cheers,  Lisa

_______________________________ 

So there I was last week at the International Association of Facilitators
conference in Fort Worth, Texas.  It is a conference put on by all
volunteers (fellow facilitators) where facilitators present workshops to
each other ...

I only had a few people signed up in advance for my Open Space Technology
workshop (hey - whatever happens), and so when I got to Fort Worth I asked
the conference hosts if they might spread the word to and invite people from
the community, so that I could offer this service to people working in Fort
Worth.

Well, after thinking so very hard on how to put together a message and how
to get the word out over the holiday weekend, I suddenly realized that I
should let it all go and see what(ever) would happen.

So I set up the room and waited for the adventure.

I had invited a volunteer who was helping with the conference to come to my
workshop, as he had been working so hard he had not attended anything.

And so it turned out that Doug was the only participant in my Open Space.
(!)  Nobody else showed up.

So we went on an adventure together.

I asked him if he was interested in testing out two questions about OS: one,
with how few people can you do OS, and two, can you teach one-way
information (such as how to do OST) in a completely OS setting.  He was open
to it and so was I, so we just dived in together!

- - - - -

Our Open Space lasted from 8:30am until 3:00pm.

My preparation included handouts (checklists, planning, further reading,
samples), a collection of books of proceedings, and flyers about OSonOSinOZ
and other upcoming events.  The room was set up like a normal OS, with the
inclusion of a wall full of little signs organized into Role and Task (the
idea is to choose a role from one column and a task from another and put
them on like nametags, so in a group of people you would have a whole range
of circumstances and settings for using OS and you could role play talking
to clients about these situations).

Signage around the room included areas A, B, C and D.

I set up about six chairs in a circle (even though Doug and I only filled
two of them - our imaginary colleagues filled up the rest), and I opened the
space.  The theme was "What Can We Learn From One Another?"

Doug immediately lay down on the ground to write sign after sign with his
topics; I soon joined him to add some topics that I thought might play well
off of his topics along that same line.  We generated 17 topics:

His topics were all about what he wanted to know about OST (bear in mind he
had not read the book and had no previous knowledge of OST):

- 1st Time OS Experience

- Worst OS Experience

- Open Space versus Other Methods

- Use of Computers to Track Minutes

- Follow-up after Meeting

- Best Food for Open Spaces

- How Much Space Needed

- How Long Is Too Long?

- New Techniques

- Agenda Planning

- What's Changed About OST In The Last 5 Years?

My topics - I could probably have not written any topics at all.  Of course
I have never written topics when I was the facilitator, and Doug was doing
just fine.  But I thought it would help to play off of each other, because
of the issue of diversity.  So here's what I added.

- On Being an Independent

- What Do You Love About Texas?

- Where Are The Indians?

- Spirituality and Work

- What Do You Want To Be Remembered For?

- If You Could Try Anything, What Would You Try?

So now we had a wall full of items, complete with the time/space stickies.

So here's what we did next:

We took all the 9:30-10:15am topics and posted them on the wall near area A.
And we brought three chairs over there (one for each of us and one for a
virtual colleague).  Doug led the order of the session, picking out each
item from the wall as he felt drawn to it, and that is what led our
discussion.  We covered all those issues, and then it was time to go 'to our
next session'.  So we moved all the chairs over to area B, brought all those
topics over to post on that wall, and continued as such around the room
throughout the day.

"My whole group" decided to go to lunch together, and I was happy to take
'my whole group' out to lunch.  My whole group took 'bio breaks' together,
as well, whenever needed throughout the day.  By the end of the day, every
topic had been discussed, *plus* Doug had a complete education in Open Space
based on his own learning needs - a custom-designed master class on Open
Space.  Proof that you can give one-way information in Open Space and still
have it be learner-centered (a big surprise to me).

But wait - something even more wonderful happened...People came to visit!
Our workshop was near the bathroom - maybe that helped, plus we kept both
doors wide open.  (I was tempted to put up our "Session Full" sign on the
door....).  Two other workshops were meeting that day.

So first, Rob Stroober (hi, Rob!) from the Netherlands came by and sat in
our third chair in the circle.  He dropped in right when we were talking
about the Your First OS and also If You Could Try Anything...topics.  He
just fit right in and we learned from him regarding those topics.  Then he
had to leave to catch a plane.  Bye, Rob!

Later on Sherwood ___ came into the room.  He had experienced OS many years
ago with Harrison, and he walked right in on the topics of how OST has
changed over the years.  So he was able to share some thoughts on that
overview.  Then we left to rejoin his other workshop.  Bye, Sherwood!

David Johnson, a facilitator from Texas, shared his scariest facilitator
moment - ironically, when he had to dump a very carefully planned agenda and
suddenly respond to the group's need and found himself booking rooms for
self-organized discussions a la Open Space.  See you later, David!

And Laura Hsu from Taiwan (hi, Laura!) dropped in to share how she teaches
the method of OST, and we had a wonderful exchange of ideas and materials.
(Bye, Laura!)

So we had international cross-cultural input and surprises that happened
when new folks sat in our third chair!

- - - - -

To close, I passed my favorite special rock around our circle, now reformed
in the middle of the room, of six chairs.  Doug shared some thoughts, I sat
in another chair to share with him what sometimes people say in a closing
circle, and then I sat in my own chair to close.  In the center of the
circle were fabric, the rock, my Tibetan bells, my compass, flowers and some
food offerings.

It was a wonderful, magical experience, and it taught me much that I would
never have known in any other way.  Doug is off to lead his own Open Spaces,
and I thank him for his partnership in what was a delightful day full of
learning, laughter and exploration.

And PS: We still made enough noise for the two other workshop groups to hear
us through the walls!  I guess joy is sometimes loud....

Lisa

___________________________

L i s a   H e f t

Consultant, Facilitator, Educator

O p e n i n g  S p a c e

 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net

 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

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