Key Personalities

Ted Ernst ted at chicagohumanist.org
Fri Jun 30 21:48:22 PDT 2006


In the Unconferencing crowd, registration is done on a wiki so this
on-going list of attendees is available for all to see all the time.
And getting some of those "invited-type" people on that list early can
certainly make a difference.  Would those people consider being
co-convenors?  For RecentChangesCamp last February, we had Ward
Cunningham (the father of wiki) on our co-convenor list from day 1,
not just as a star, but as a person.  He wasn't actually able to help
us do much to prepare, but I have no doubt that just his name being
there gave an early signal to all that this was a serious endeavour.

And, what Zelle says is also true.  WikiSym started last fall as an
academic conference to start making wiki into a "real" academic field
with published/presented papers.  We did Recent Changes Camp in part
to show a cannonical version of an open space conference so the
organizers of WikiSym could see how much open space they could add.
The 2nd WikiSym is in August and we have about 2.5 days worth of open
space within and next to the traditional 3 day academic format.  We'll
see how that works. :-)

On 6/30/06, Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com> wrote:
> I want to put in a vote of support for what Tree has written here.  I
> attended both The Practice of Peace an another confernece on Whidbey, The
> Evolutionary Salon, largely due to some of the folks who were invited to
> attend.  I knew in Open Space I could find time to connect with those I
> really wanted to meet and share ideas with many others besides.  Certainly
> that was a draw.  And the teams for both events published the names of all
> those who were registering as that unfolded, which was great, as there were
> "names" that meant more to me than some of the "stars."
>
> Doing that builds the relationships and the social networking that supports
> a great conference and more importantly sustains relationships afterwards.
>
> Chris
>
>
> On 6/29/06, Tree Fitzpatrick <therese.fitzpatrick at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Diana.
> >
> > In November, 2003, a group of open spacers in Seattle convened a "Practice
> of Peace".  We seeded the field with what we termed 'invited guests'.  Each
> of the invited guests was someone using OST in a conflict resolution
> setting.  Since we had invited them, we paid for their travel expenses and
> all of them agreed to come without further compensation.  In our invitation,
> we listed the invited guests with brief bios for them.
> >
> > It was clear to the organizers (including me) that seeding the field with
> invited guests had a tremendous, very positive and very powerful impact on
> the field we created at the event.  Having those invited guests conveyed to
> all who read out invitation that our intention, which was 'to embrace chaos,
> conflict and confusion', was serious. It is clear to me that the power we
> unleashed by seeding the field with experts was very, very important to the
> success of the event.  The event itself was stunningly powerful.
> >
> > I realized, after doing this event, that it is perfectly easy to have
> 'traditional' conferences using open space.  Imagine an annual convention
> for an industry.  It is traditional to seed the field with keynotes, who
> have to set their topics a year or more in advance of the event.
> Oftentimes, the invited speakers have moved on in their work but they still
> have to show up and talk about the topic as printed in the agenda for the
> conference.  Instead of creating keynotes and breakouts, with pre-determined
> topics, it is so simple to invite a bunch of leading thinkers related to the
> theme of your event and simply unleash them into open space with everyone
> else.
> >
> > Now some folks still need to be listed as a speaker, as a workshop leader.
>  Some folks like the traditional approach and some leaders don't like the
> unfamiliar energy of being an equal among peers.  These people will not
> agree to be your invited guests, I predict.
> >
> > But there are some folks who are leaders in their field who yearn to go to
> gatherings with colleagues, with like-minds, as peers.  These people will
> accept your invitation to be an invited guest.
> >
> > Some people are famous and they get used to being cushioned from the
> masses at a conference.  If someone has written a well-known book, they
> might like being treated as special, they might crave the keynote slot.  But
> I think that even some of these people will enjoy being a peer among peers.
> >
> > Keep in mind that all of your invited guests, Diana, will be fully free to
> hold sessions, make speeches, lead workshops within the open space.  They
> will also be free to be a butterfly and hang out.  Or do whatever they want.
>  This can be very attractive to the invited guests.
> >
> > If you google 'practice of peace', Diana, and look at the website, I think
> you can find the invitation we used. I have referenced it on this list in
> the past but I mention it again for you since you asked about invited guests
> today.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Love rays,
> > Tree Fitzpatrick * *
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> --
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Consultation - Facilitation
> Open Space Technology
>
> Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
> Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> Open Space Resources:  http://tinyurl.com/r94tj * *
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