co-located open space events

[Gerard Muller]

Dear Ted,

Thanks for your question. The case where two dissimilar events were 
co-located,
the sponsor was a conference centre organisation using a series of Open 
Space events
in different content areas to find out what future trends there would 
be and how to cooperate
with different stakeholders within that particular area. There was a 
series of 8 or 10 events
and two of these happened to be on the same day.

In the second case, the two paralel sessions were related, and taking 
place within an international conference.
However my sponsor had hired me to do the one session, the other one 
had been organised separately.
Although the two issues were related, I felt that by combining them 
there was a risk of having a great session
which my sponsor would feel had not addressed their issue enough. By 
the way there was a interesting observation:
in the one group issues were posted all over the place, in the other, 
mainly consisting of economists, the agenda was
filled in like an excel spreadsheet, starting at the top left hand 
corner, and proceeding to the second discussion round
after the first seemed complete.

As it happened, talking to the collegues facilitating the other session 
we decided that there would be a likely
overlap and that during the course of the event we would discuss having 
a joint closing circle, which we did.

In the last case, the issue was - given the fact that part of the 
younger generation (according to some) lives unhealthily -
what could be done to change that. Discussing who to invite with the 
sponsor we easily made a list of stakeholders.
It became more difficult when I raised the point that actually these 
young people were the key stakeholder.
As my sponsor was concerned this would work, I proposed having two 
paralel events with a glass wall between
and a shared coffee etc. area. Also here we had a joint closing circle. 
Some of the main conclusions were that
(a) the other stakeholders had little or no idea of how young people 
look at healthy, (b) crossing the boundary had been
the most important experience

Greetings from Denmark




Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark
Phone: (+45) 21269621		Skype: openspace1
Mail: gm at openspace.dk



On Mar 10, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Ted Ernst wrote:

> Gerard,
>
> I'm very curious why you choose seperate circles in the times when the
> issues were related, and why you co-located dis-similer events in that
> instance.  Thanks much for sharing!
>
> peace,
> ted
>
> On 3/10/06, Gerard Muller <gm at openspace.dk> wrote:
>> Hello Ted,
>>
>> I have tried that three times.
>>
>> The first were two events where the two groups had little to do with
>> eachother,
>> two facilitators.
>>
>> The second was two paralel sessions (though the only two at that 
>> point)
>> in an international
>> conference. two facilitators, but ............. one closing circle.
>>
>> The last, last month, two sessions which I both facilitated, starting
>> the one half an hour before the other,
>> having a wall largely made of doors and glass, and ending with a joint
>> closing circle.
>> In this last case the two issues were related, but the solution which
>> emerged from my conversations with the sponsor was to have two paralel
>> sessions, but to have a joint closing.
>> In both openings I told the group there was another going on at the
>> other side of the wall, and
>> - that they were welcome to open the door and look at the other 
>> agenda;
>> - and join a discussion there, too.
>>
>> In the two events which were connected we had one set of computers, 
>> and
>> one coffee/tea/lunch area.
>>
>> Greetings from the snow,
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Gerard Muller
>> Open Space Institute Denmark
>> Phone: (+45) 21269621
>> mail: gm at openspace.dk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 9, 2006, at 7:45 AM, Ted Ernst wrote:
>>
>>> Traditional conferences somtimes co-locate because of their
>>> overlapping communities or for various other reasons.  Sometimes an 
>>> OS
>>> event is co-located with a traditional event, maybe calling them
>>> tracks or whatever.
>>>
>>> What about two OS events, co-located?  I've got a brainstorm cooking
>>> here, with the omidyar.net members conference in July and the first
>>> Chicago Planetwork conference.  Two facilitators.  Two opening
>>> circles.  Two agenda walls.  One hotel.
>>>
>>> The alternative, of course, is to try to craft a single invitation
>>> that serves both groups.  Maybe that's still possible.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Humanize the Earth!  http://tedernst.com
>>> Open more space!  http://www.openspaceworld.org
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>
> --
> Humanize the Earth!  http://tedernst.com
> Open more space!  http://www.openspaceworld.org
> Chicago event July 14-16: http://moreandmore.us/
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> google talk/jabber: tedernst at gmail.com
>
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