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

Sun Feb 12 00:20:26 PST 2006

hello thomas,

i have always used just the one floppy disk.  lately, i have been
using a single memory stick.  i'm surprised by your comment about
cost, as the only one i have is a 128MB version that was given out as
a freebie to all attendees at a conference event i facilitated.  i've
no idea what it actually cost, but some sponsor bought 100+ of the for
us.

anyway, in the computer room/space, i set up however many computers
are needed or available, put a template on each one, on the desktop. 
then i open the template on each one and save it as one.doc, two.doc,
three.doc... for as many machines as i have.

when folks come in, they take the lowest number (occasionally we get a
bit out of order, but we use all the numbers soon enough, anyway). 
when they are done typing their report, they click save and it's
automatically replacing the original copy i saved to the desktop, when
i opened and save-as'd the template file.

once saved, i copy the finished file to the floppy or memory stick
that otherwise never leaves my shirt pocket.  then i open the template
file and save as the next number in the list... number.doc.  i keep a
sheet posted on the wall for folks to put their issue and name next to
each number and use that same listing to track which numbers i've
used, which numbers have been copied to floppy/stick, and which ones
pasted into the aggregated document.

i usually have one person helping me, but normally i have ultimate
responsibility for making sure all the docs are copied and moved into
the one document.  i don't ever try to finish the document before they
leave, except in 1.5 and 2.5-day programs, where the finishing can
happen at the end of the day and the distribution not happen til the
next morning.

as i paste reports into the aggregated document, i use the table of
contents and page numbering functions in ms-word.  i also add a cover
page, the invitation document, and a customized version of some
boilerplate language that says this many people came, this many topics
went up, this many days, all typed in heat of learning by
particiapnts, not a finished document, but a working draft and
invitation to get involved and keep the work going.

for examples of finished docs, see my website at
http://www.michaelherman.com/openspacetechnology and scroll down to
where there are links to 'collected proceedings' and collected
invitations, about halfway down teh page.  i thnk that one of those
samples also shows how i packaged up all the voting results as well,
plus some newspaper stories on the conference event.

hope this helps.  michael

On 2/10/06, Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:
> 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
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--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Ave #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
Phone: 312-280-7838
michael at michaelherman.com

skype: globalchicago

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.openspaceworld.org

Executive Facilitation ...getting
the most important things done in
the easiest possible ways.

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