conference/speaker OS Stories/Summaries

Mon Feb 5 15:28:13 PST 2007

somehow i missed the earlier collecting, even as you'd ping'd me about the
alaska story, zelle.  here are some more to add to the list, if you like.
an interesting variety of hybrid designs.  i'll paste the lot of them into a
resources page at openspaceworld.org, or you can do that directly for
yourself, if you remember how.  then we can link it to other pages and
announce it in the weblog.  thanks, m

---

*In Racine, Wisconsin, 35 young people* (ages 12-20) gathered for one
4-hour, afterschool conference in Open Space. As a result of that meeting
they initiated a youth art newsletter, a downtown, lakefront skateboarding
park, and the largest YMCA Earth Service Corps chapter in the country. They
called themselves 'Youth Action,' used OST at all their meetings, and
eventually ended up introducing OST to young leaders from all over the
USA. They presented in a standard sort of 45-minute timeslot, but
people got so
excited and interested in Open Space that conference organizers cleared a
half-day chunk of the multi-day conference so the Racine students could Open
Space for everyone.  The conversations on Diversity were so energetic that
they darned near swamped the rest of the day's schedule.

*The Agile Software Alliance and Extreme Programming Universe* ran one third
of their annual, 300-person, international conference in Open Space.  The
first morning was full of keynote speeches.  A ten-minute pre-Opening
announcement was made just before lunch and the full Opening ran parallel to
other, scheduled workshops right after lunch.  Open Space continued in
parallel to peer-reviewed paper presentations and 'birds-of-a-feather'
interest group meetings, for two more days. A number of people attending
this conference learned enough from watching the process to go out and
facilitate their own meetings in Open Space, including follow-ups to this
first one.  We gathered participant comments here:
http://www.michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?AgileXpParticipantComments

Corporate Conference... A leading oilfield and information services firm
hosted an internal global leaders conference called InterChange. Within that
traditional conference featuring powerpoint presentations by 40 of their
most senior executives, they used Open Space for a 6-hour strategy forum,
broken into four different working sessions, sprinkled throughout the
five-day program, for 120 managers from all around the world.  They
published 50-page proceedings online internally and delivered a printed
report for all participants to discuss directly with their Chairman and CEO,
in the closing session of the conference.
*Annual Conference and Association Business Meeting * *Wisconsin Medical
Group Management Association* began with one day of pre-registration,
committee meetings, and welcoming reception.  The main day of the conference
was a one-day Open Space, for association members, exhibitors and others to
address most important issues facing the association, its member
organizations, and professional individuals facing massive transformation in
the healthcare industry. One hunderd participants designed a 20-session
confernence agenda, self-organized to address the issues raised, and
produced 30 pages of written proceedings.  The exhibitor display booths,
usually relegated to a distant room, lined three walls of the main ballroom
meeting space with the fourth one reserved for the Open Space agenda
postings.  **The second day of the conference featured traditional, planned
workshop topics in 45-minute timeslots.  A less-than-exciting annual
association business meeting happened over lunch in the middle of Open
Space, which only heightened appreciation for the Openess of the rest of
that day.  *One clinic administrator met with three different consultants in
one session, to work on a new building plan. They accomplished together in
two hours what they all agreed was the equivalent of $30,000 and several
months of consulting work.  *--Sheila Isakson and Michael Herman

On 2/5/07, Zelle Nelson <zelle at knowplacelikehome.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I've compiled and created stories of Open Space used in conjunction with
> conferences
> and speakers. Below is what I've compiled:
>
> In Asheville, NC, a loose community that was coming together around the
> 2004 election and a desire for change gathered to hear a speech by Col.
> Robert Bowman. Out of a 3-hour, 70-person Open Space following the speech
> the Kindness Campaign - www.thekindnesscampaign.org was created and has
> been sustained to the present.
> - Maureen McCarthy and Zelle Nelson
>
> Over the course of 2 ½ days in Denver 230 of the most innovative planners,
> developers, tool providers, civic leaders, artists and others from over 30
> states and 3 countries were brought together to share learning, build
> networks and seed innovation in place. 3 keynotes inspired and provoked
> while a day of programmed sessions saw presentations and discussion
> facilitated by 60 leaders in the field. The second half of the conference
> was held in Open Space where lines stretched out the hall as participants
> proposed session topics, collaboratively built an agenda, and moderated over
> 60 intensive, small-group discussions, the results of which were captured as
> a living transcript using an online wiki.
> - Chris Corrigan
>
> 200 highly-motivated professional financial planners joined for 4 days (2
> days of presentations and training), 1 1/2 days in Open Space for their
> annual conference to discuss best practices in their own businesses. These
> professionals connected so deeply that in the closing circle on the last day
> there was not a single dry eye as they shared their experiences. The impact
> and flow of information accessed at this conference was unprecedented in the
> 15 year history of this particular conference.
> - Maureen McCarthy and Zelle Nelson
>
> The school district of Fairbanks, Alaska (covering an area the size of the
> entire state of Connecticut) held a 2-day, 250-person conference on
> 'Becoming a Peacemaker.' Half the participants were students in the middle
> and high schools (ages 13-18) and all participants had some experience with
> mediation and conflict resolution. The kids did exceptionally well in Open
> Space and one high school student led a series of four breakout sessions to
> create an entire suicide prevention program that for the middle school
> students. The statewide suicide prevention hotline was up and running within
> weeks of the conference.
> - Michael Herman
>
> In Kiev in October with 90 people from over 20 countries in Europe. It was
> at a 7 day conference, the first 4 days we setting the goals, looking at
> reality, and community building. The next 2 days were open space, and the
> final day was action planning continuing in an OST style.
> - Bhavesh Patel
>
> 35 youth from the City of Vancouver gathered on a Friday, to meet one
> another, build community and reflect on their experience in a 2-month
> process designed to learn about, discuss and report violations of the UN
> Convention on the Rights of the Child. 55 people, including two Members of
> the Provincial Legislative Assembly and other representatives of government
> and organizations, gathered with the youth Saturday morning to view their
> performance piece that expressed a summary of what the project had learned
> and participate in a short and intense Open Space. Topics raised included
> what to do to help youth live independently and in safe conditions, stopping
> police harassment of Aboriginal and Latino youth by working with the police,
> and educating youth and adults on rights. To have provincial politicians
> sitting in the room with street youth, working together to move forward the
> learnings from the project was a powerful experience.
> - Chris Corrigan
>
> After three OST events with a group focused on Legal Education for
> Aboriginal Families in Vancouver, Canada with 45, 45, and 32 attending; with
> 11, 15, and 13 topics being discussed), there has been a shift in awareness
> because of the process. The community has discovered it's resources, has
> realized that it has itself to look to for the future. It has shared deep
> experiences. This little community has begun to lay down a foundation for
> itself. It has become something.
> - Chris Corrigan
>
> For 4 days 80 drilling and technology engineers from bp (British
> Petroleum) representing 15 different countries joined together to share best
> practices and to focus on the future of their company and industry. The
> schedule included various presentations followed by Open Space, for the
> first 3 days and ended on the 4th day with 9 different teams heading up 12
> different initiatives to be carried out in the coming year.
> - Maureen McCarthy and Zelle Nelson
>
> In 2000, 300 business leaders from around the world were gathered together
> by Fast Company Magazine and met for 3 days of inspiring speeches and Open
> Space focused on building a community of professionals. Countless
> partnerships, connections and projects were launched and supported by this
> amazing conference.
> - Maureen McCarthy and Zelle Nelson
>
> Many thanks to everyone who contributed their wonderful stories!
>
> with grace and love,
>
> *Zelle*
>
> Zelle Nelson
> Know Place Like Home/Engaging the Soul at Work/State of Grace Document
>
> www.knowplacelikehome.com
> www.engagingthesoulatwork.com
> www.stateofgracedocument.com
>
> *zelle at knowplacelikehome.com*
>
> work/home: (001) 828.693.0802
> mobile: (001) 847.951.7030
>
> Isle of Skye
> 2021 Greenville Hwy
> Flat Rock, NC 28731
> USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * * ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

-- 

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Ave #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA

phone: 312-280-7838
email: michael at michaelherman.com
skype: globalchicago

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.openspaceworld.org
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20070205/2be51fc5/attachment-0016.htm>