Ideas Workshop virtuele, online communities, Open Space

[Lisa Heft]

Hello, fabulous Rob -

 

You asked:

Do you think it is actually necessary to be in one physical room to do an
open space.

 

In my experience it is good whenever possible to meet in-person first - to
give people a 'body sense' of each other - then if necessary to continue
work in virtual/on-line settings.  Of course that is not always possible.


However, I have experienced the most delightful OpenSpace-Online tool of
Gabriela's, and I have heard very positive feedback from people for whom
that was the very first time in anything Open Space.  They still had a sense
of connection and knowledge-sharing in a deeper way than other meetings they
had previously experienced.

 

Here, I think, is the secret - and I believe we talked about this on this
list some years ago when discussing physical sites that made the set-up of
the room challenging.


If you cannot set up an actual, physical circle - imply the circle.
Indicate it.  Show it graphically in some way.  

 

In a physical space: set up your principles and law signs in the round, and
indicate them either by *your* walking around or your indicating them as you
speak of each in turn and gesture towards it.

In a virtual space: OpenSpace-Online shows participants the circle in
several wonderful ways - via graphics and choice of words.

 

I have experienced virtual facilitators pre-sending a sheet for participants
to download with a graphic of who is 'at the table' (shown in a circle,
ideally with photos but definitely with names and geographic locations).

I have also experienced (in our own 'beta testing' of OpenSpace-Online) how
when you mention even casually where you are / what the weather is like /
what you are eating - it brings peoples bodies into the experience. This
happened once when some of us started talking in the 'cafe' section of our
OpenSpace-Online meeting ("During this break as we all hang out in the
'cafe', I am having a glass of wine." "It is freezing and after midnight
here in Toronto - I am having a hot cocoa." "Wow.  Here it is 110 degrees F
- the sun is shining and outside, the dogs are barking.  I am having a cool
mango drink.").  That kind of talk really, to me, both deepened connection
and helped bring our bodies into the experience in more ways than reading
and writing text.

 

I suppose if I were to set up a video conferencing Open Space meeting
between a few sites, I would set up each of their rooms with the principles
and guidelines posters in the round, I would remove any tables from the
room, and I would seat them in a half-circle facing the camera (other
members) - again - to *imply* the circle.  If I could, I would set up
multiple screens around the room they each sit in - so they could see each
group 'in the round' and feel like they are sitting in the circle together.

 

Online experiences are often quite text-based - which makes it harder for
those who absorb data kinesthetically, graphically or relationally
(interpersonally/working with others).  So to me, anything that can enhance
those other modalities can better include those other kinds of people.

 

My two cents / rubles / pieces of fruit...

 

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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