The Theme

[Michael M Pannwitz]

If you follow the admonition "never work harder than you have to"
(Practice of Peace) letting go of the idea of having a theme for the
WOSonOS might come easier...Open Space on Open Space rocks enough for me
and all the OSonOS that I have been too have rocked or whatever
regardless of the theme or no theme.
Its different, however, if the business issue differs from "Open Space
on Open Space". Then it is the task of the sponsor and a planning group
(best a crossection of the whole system that is to be invited)to create
the theme. I have seen some great, inspiring themes emerge out of
sessions like that.
However, looking back, it seems to me that the act of finding a theme
(getting the act together) is much more significant for the Planning
Group and its task of writing an invitation for their event and all the
other stuff they do
than the theme itself.
Greetings from Berlin to Toronto
mmp



Deborah Hartmann wrote:
> Bhavesh wrote
>>
>> ... I felt the theme wasn't particularly powerful or meaningful. It 
>> may be better to have no theme, or to use this time more for sharing 
>> and exploring between OS facilitators.
>>
> I've been thinking a lot on this - the BarCamp community tends also to 
> have weak themes, and yet their events definitely rock.
> 
> Are there two kinds of events? (or more?) I mean:
> a) to solve a given problem / explore a particular issue
> b) simply to build a community
> 
> Themes can feel contrived for the second kind of event. However, I 
> strongly believe that the theme is a key to "whoever comes is the right 
> people". So... how is a theme selected/constructed when there seems to 
> be no one common issue?
> 
> Ex: RoCoCoCamp had a very weak theme... the organizers had a really hard 
> time coming up with one, and then it wasn't clearly articulated or even 
> consistently used in event invitations. But the event clearly had a big 
> impact, to read the blogs and news that came after.
> 
> Anyone else thinking about this? What have you done in similar situations?
> 
> Thanks
> deb
> 
> Deborah Hartmann
> Agile Process Coach
> deborah DOT hartmann DOT net
> 
> "Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the 
> principle." -- Bruce Lee
> 
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