USB-sticks and computer station during OST + some more..

Sun Feb 12 15:44:47 PST 2006

Michelle -- great observations -- but one difference! I would never
"network" the computers -- or at least never network them to a PRINTER. Old
curmudgeon for sure, but if the participants can get a printed copy on their
own, there is no (or certainly less) reason to go through what I have called
(badly I am sure) "Mission Control" Obviously "control" is a nasty word in
Open Space, but if you are trying to make sure that all reports are entered
and that they are part of the final document, a little (subtle) control is
very helpful. One way of doing all that is the make it impossible
(technically) to get a printed report without having to check in with the
News Room Folks. Nobody ever objects -- at least I have never had an
objection -- AND I am pretty damn sure I have everything for the Final
Report.

Harrison 

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michelle
Cooper
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 5:47 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: USB-sticks and computer station during OST + some more..

HI Thomas
At my most recent one-day OST we had 80 people creat 22 reports. We used the
USB sticks. We did as you said: one USB stick for collating all reports and
taking them to the printer station. Each person saved to the desktop of the
local computer and then the person responsible for reports captured them. We
kept a list of which reports were on what computer (numbered the computers
and kept track of who owned which computer number). The list proved
invaluable because when the report of proceedings was being collagted, one
topic report was missing. We were able to track it down quite easily and
only had a short panic. We did have a hard copy though, which was the fall
back position. I always make a second copy of the printed copies for myself
in case of disaster.

Like you I have found that having the participants enter the reports on
computer lends itself to reports that are much clearer and easy to follow. I
often find people will take notes on flip chart paper and work as a team to
consolidate it. While for some they don't like to miss any time (which measn
the lunch breaks are very busy and the end of the last session can be very
busy). I often have people comment how much they like to see the product of
their discussion all typed up and posted so quickly...and in the multi day,
to take away reports with them is an exciting bonus. In a number of cases,
people go back to their home offices and get started on the actions in the
report the next day!!

The optimal computer station is when all computers are networked to the
printer. When this is not the case, I "protect" the computer connected to
the printer and use it only for printing reports. HOwever, usually this
computer/printer is in the "newsroom" area and if the computer monitor is
busy helping someone else, someone will start their report. It is
challenging near the end of the day when trying to generate reports for
posting.....and it usually ends up being the person who wants to write a
thesis.

Michelle
Michelle Cooper RN, MScN
President
Integral Visions Consulting Inc.
200 Crestview Avenue
Ancaster, ON L9G 1E2
(905)648-1220

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Thomas
Herrmann
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 5:41 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: USB-sticks and computer station during OST + some more..

Dear friends
I just had a 2-day OS-meeting where we used a computer station. Lately I´ve
used flip-charts for quite some time. Before that I used floppys - according
to "the book" (Harrisons User´s guide) and it worked great.

Using USB-sticks, I think, is a bit more tricky to people than it was to use
floppys (and now most computers can´t take floppy discs). There are so many
different spaces to save onto nowadays. And USB-sticks are also quite
expensive if one would have one for each report as when using floppys.

So I think the best way (although it is "one more thing to do") is to have
only one USB memory which the person responsible for the computer station
has (I don´t ever take full charge of this while facilitating!).

We asked the person writing the report to save it onto the desctop, calling
for the person in charge of the computer station who checks that it is
really saved there. Then saves it onto the USB memory stick and taks it to
the administrators computer for the printout... It really takes some work to
make 100% sure no report will be lost! And as said I will never do this
again as a facilitator - learning from experience some years ago when I got
stuck just before closing - not good.

Do you have any experiences to share regarding this? How do you organize the
computer station nowadays?

Another couple of things.
1. I noticed again that the computer station is quite a creative space which
sparks lots of creativity and activity. We had it in the hallway which was
between the main room and the breakouts.
2. The reports are more worked through which sometimes is quite important.
This organization got lots and lots of important ideas and thoughts
documented. Flip charts are nice with colours and sometimes drawings but not
always easy to understand and not as worked through.

What do you guys think about this?

A little more sharing about this OS-meeting. This organization is nationwide
in Sweden, 120 from the regional and national offices were gathered for two
days. We had a full day of sessions and a little more than half day for
convergence and actionplanning. 30 reports and 8 actionplans. And lots of
energy and learning. I used re-opening which becomes more and more natural
for me. Thanks for this contribution to OST, Chris and Michael.
Cheers
Thomas

Thomas Herrmann         Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
Open Space Consulting   Fax   +46 (0)300-713 89
Pensévägen 4
434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Email: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
www.openspaceconsulting.com
----------------------------------------------------
Vill du skapa en välmående och effektiv organisation
och ta tillvara hela dess potential?

Open Space Consulting erbjuder dig:
* Lärtillfällen kring hälsa och balans i organisationer
* Analyser av organisatorisk hälsa och balans
* Handledning av effektiva och kreativa möten och konferenser
* Utbildning av mötes- och processhandledare
* Coaching för organisationer i förändring
----------------------------------------------------
Vårt antivirusskydd scannar alla utgående mail. Infekterade mail stoppas
automatiskt.

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist