FW: The challenge of "luminaries"

Wed Aug 22 13:31:06 PDT 2007

Hi Tree,

Many thanks for your questions.

About luminaries:

Kaliya defined luminaries well earlier:
They are just more 'famous' then the other people there - they are normally keynoters, or at the very panalists regularly at a certain circuit of events.  They can also be 'internet famous' or just someone respected in their field. 

They are easy to spot because they are "known".  

To your other questions about whether something was lost because a few "big names" were unhappy.  Overall, I'd say the event was very successful, having done its work well.  My question is more one of whether there is an opportunity to bring some gifts present if people who are used to special treatment get what they need to come play.  Perhaps it is a variant on Kaliya's wisdom of meeting people where they are at culturally.  I start with the assumption that there were some gifts that could have come present and didn't.  What might those of us hosting or opening space do to invite those gifts forward?   

Interestingly, one of Stephen and my journalism partners expressed the thought that some of the unhappiness may be that there is a shift happening and the luminaries will have to figure out how to fit in or get left behind.  

appreciating the discussion,
Peggy

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tree Fitzpatrick 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:44 AM
  Subject: Re: [OSLIST] FW: The challenge of "luminaries"

  Hi Peggy.  Thanks for stimulating such a nice discussion.

  In your initial post, Peggy, you said that you were thinking that perhaps, in the future, you might talk to luminaries before hand.  I am curious:  did the luminary who said they were unhappy with the 'new-age' circle and the questions that seemed to be about nothing, well, did this luminary identify him/herself to you in advance as special, as a luminary who merited special attention?  How would you know who to give this special treatment to, in advance?. . . . 

  I am sitting with other questions.

  Is there some insights anyone can share related to what it might mean if someone sees a gathering of his/her peers, someone is attracted to an event because the topic and the reputation of the spaceholders has beckoned them and then these individuals don't quick click with the event?  Must an event please all the people all the time?  Must luminaries always be left happy? Does it say something about the success or failure of an event if one, two, several participants chose to not enter open space?  We can't please all of the people all of the time.  Should OS please all of the people all of the time?  Is there something about the adaptive energy of those who who up at a gathering of their professional peers, talking about the future of their profession, and these people aren't interested in being in open space, to listening with open space hearts and minds? Maybe there is a larger arc at play here, Peggy.  Maybe these luminaries are not in sync with some central energy underlying the invitation, the questions, the conversations?  Maybe the luminaries didn't fit in because they didn't fit in. 

  I know there is lots of wisdom in luminaries and sometimes I want to benefit from their wisdom even if I am frustrated that they approach their ego in old paradigm kind of ways. And sometimes, well, sometimes they didn't blend in because, well, they didn't blend in. 

  I have been redundant.

  I am wondering, Peggy, how you feel about the OS media event?  Do you feel something important was lost because your luminary felt disengaged?  I invite you to think carefully, both about the event and the field you and Stephen are leading in your inquiry around journalism.  Somehow, I find myself thinking, wishing-to-believe?, that the field was served just exactly right by the event, and part of the perfection was in what happened to that luminary. 

  Maybe it is too late and I am babbling and not saying anything?

  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 
      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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  Love rays,
  Tree Fitzpatrick

  http://thecultureoflove.blogspot.com/

  . . . the great and incalculable grace of love, which says, with Augustine, "I want you to be," without being able to give any particular reason for such supreme and unsurpassable affirmation.  -- Hannah Arendt 

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