FW: The challenge of "luminaries"

Chris Corrigan chris at chriscorrigan.com
Sun Aug 19 23:00:51 PDT 2007


It seems strange to go to an Open Space conference and then complain about
the format.  I try to help the sponsors to make the invitations clear about
what people can expect from the format; it seems to work especially well
when sponsors undertsand the process themselves and are able to add some
bits about what could come of such a novel idea.  Good invitations also
remind people to prepare for the format: come with your questions and
curiosity and prepare to listen and learn from unexpected places...that sort
of thing.

I have no doubt Peggy that you and Stephen prepared a great invitation and,
as you say, the event is something of a known quantity by now.  So that
makes it even stranger when someone tells me at the end that they spent a
whole day not enjoying themselves.  I'm not even sure what I can do with
feedback like that.other than shrug and accept the fact that some people
will have miserable days regardless of what we can do for them.

The flip side of course is that I have experienced many luminaries who just
thrive in Open Space.  These include Cabinet ministers and other
politicians, noted speakers and authors and others who usually find
themselves at the podium rather than in the audience.  My favourite was
Lyman Orton, the founder of the Orton Foundation.  I was working with his
foundation last year on an Open Space.  He wanted to say a few remarks at
the beginning of the action planning day, and being the founder, the
organizer was pretty insistent that I give him time.  I did so and was glad
for it.  He was so jazzed on Open Space that he basically opened the action
day such that all I had to was walk into the circle and invite folks to get
down to it.   His invitation to action was stirring and he concluded his
remarks by writing a session topic himself and putting it on the wall.  Not
much I can do with that kind of feedback either, except get out of the way.

Cheers,

Chris

On 8/19/07, Peggy Holman <peggy at opencirclecompany.com> wrote:
>
>  Thanks everyone for your thoughts.  I do think the personal touch, from
> someone, matters.  That's what I took from Ralph and Deborah's stories.
>
> BTW, there was a facebook for the event.  The roster is here:
> http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Jtm-dc-roster; participants got
> bios and pictures in advance.  I've been doing that with quite a few events
> and it does a great job of giving people a heads up on who is in the room.
>
> appreciatively,
> Peggy
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:08 AM
> *Subject:* [OSLIST] FW: The challenge of "luminaries"
>
>  Deborah – I think your idea of a "facebook" sent out in advance is a
> great one. And it would avoid doing a "round the circle" at the beginning,
> which I personally find less than useful for two reasons. First it delays
> the actual start when people go to work – and this is the most important
> consideration for me. Secondly, all those names and needs/wants/desires
> badly confuses this old mind. After the first two or three I just hit
> "overload."  For our up coming OSONOS by the Sea I sent out a full
> participant list and invited people to add whatever information/requests
> they might want. Some people chose to remain a mystery (great!) and others
> wrote a whole bunch. How much of this actually gets read I don't know, but a
> number of folks said it was useful and fun. Since email addresses were also
> included, the party started early, which was wonderful.
>
>
>
> I am a little less enthusiastic about special guided tours done by the
> facilitator – though it is certainly a nice idea. I find one of the great
> things about an Open Space is the speed with which new comers are included –
> some of this just happens on its own, and in other cases participants will
> notice a stranger looking a little lost and take them under their wing. I
> really like that as it serves to build and bond the community. If the lost
> guest is "important" having some "just plain folk" do the job can be
> wonderful. And who knows a useful connection could be made. At most I (as
> the facilitator) might suggest to one of the "older" participants that "so
> and so" looks a little lost – maybe you could take them on a tour – sort of
> thing. That way I can hold the space and members of the community take
> active responsibility for the inclusion. Win/Win – I think.
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Deborah
> Hartmann
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 19, 2007 10:34 AM
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: The challenge of "luminaries"
>
>
>
> Hello Kerry:
>
> > address their presence during the introduction
>
> I hesitate to address the presence of particular people during the
> introduction. I see it as a "democratizing circle" and as such, I strive to
> communicate the message that we are all equals, and so we are equally
> responsible for our experience of the event. No matter whether we specify
> that "luminaries" are equal to everyone else, we's negate this by simply
> naming them and not everyone else!
>
> Here's an idea: Something that emerged at RoCoCo was a round of "needs and
> offers", though it happened too late, in the opinion of many. We went around
> the circle stating what we needed (ideas, collaborators, hardware, software)
> and our offers (some offered skills, resources, collaborative sites, and
> others answered just-stated needs, ex: "I have an old computer like that,
> let's talk"). This would allow luminaries to introduce themselves, equally
> with others, allow them (if they choose) to align themselves as members of
> this OST event's "people". I think attendance at this activity would need to
> be voluntary, as it takes some time and perhaps people would rather network
> informally. This would have been useful to us, as we had decided not to call
> out any particular participants in the opening.
>
> I'm not sure where this fits... we thought that if we'd done this at the
> start, people would have had an idea of who was there and how they could
> help them. Ex: If I'd know people from the citizen journalism movement were
> present, I would have posted a session: how is Citizen Journalism changing
> the face of news? But as it was, I only discovered their presence
> afterwards.
>
> Ideas: Perhaps, do it as part of a social the prior evening, before we
> open the space? Another idea was a "needs and offers" wiki page or wall -
> the problem being that using the wall for this removes the human face from
> the transaction. We could encourage people to do this at registration, so we
> could browse the list of who's coming and their needs/offers (sometimes this
> happens with BarCamps). Hey, could a facebook group be used for this?!! This
> activity would have been particularly useful for our type of OST - it was
> not so much a "themed" event as a "community gathering" event - a particular
> flavour of OST I'm seeing a lot in the Tech community now. "The right
> people" are the ones who want to be part of the community, in general - and
> it's often a big surprise what interests and skills they bring! It's as if a
> "community gathering" OST is simply a coalescence at a particular time/place
> of a continual OST event which is the community itself.
>
> deb
>
> kerry napuk wrote:
>
> Hi Peggy
>
> When faced with "luminaries," experts, speakers et al, maybe it would help
> to address their presence during the introduction.  A facilitator could note
> their valued participation and opportunity to be on equal terms with an
> audience, experiencing the need to discuss and exchange views rather than be
> lectured at.
>
> It might even be fun!
>
> Cheers
>
> Kerry
> Edinburgh
> www.openfutures.com
>
> *
> *
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>
> --
>
>
>
> Deborah Hartmann
>
> Agile Process Coach
>
> deborah.hartmann.net
>
> mobile: 416 996 4337
>
>
>
> "Learn the principle,
>
> abide by the principle, and
>
> dissolve the principle."
>
> -- Bruce Lee
>
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-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com

*
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