Saturna Open Space-a report

Tue Mar 6 13:37:53 PST 2007

Hi all,

It was wonderful to be with Beverley and watch her elegantly open space with
the folks on Saturna Island. I could feel my heart beat when I read her
account of the day. 

It takes courage to step up in a small community and suggest that a
conversation begin. Beverley sure is one courageous person. The space was
perfect, everyone intent on participating, practicing the law of 2 feet and
connecting in as many ways as they could. 

The most delightful news I heard was after lunch when someone came and said
that the café was a buzz with talk among those who did not attend about what
was happening across the road! A little side circle of “unofficial” open
space happened by itself! I hope it piques their curiosity and “they” will
come to the next one.

I think open space in small communities is a hard thing to do and yet it is
so powerful and empowering and stimulating. 

I’ll hold space with you anytime Beverley!

Best,

Nancy

PS Harrison, Beverley is right – it happens just like you wrote in the book!
And thanks too to Chris for his support and mentoring of us island space
holders.

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: 06 March 2007 10:57
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Saturna Open Space—a report

Beverley...

Nice...good to see the crew together again, and lovely to hear of this Open
Space.  I think you have a great story on your hands about opening space in
small communities and I would encourage you to write the whole thing up,
from the inspiration through the invitation to the event and what comes
next. 

Cheers,

Chris

On 3/6/07, Beverley Neff <bev at cariboolinks.com> wrote:

Hello everyone,

As I sit on my porch this gentle, misty-grey, morning, listening to the
new sounds of birds returning to this island after the winter away, I
am full of such gratitude for the abundance and generosity of life. I 
am particularly grateful for this OS community. Your guidance and
wisdom has enabled me to open space in my own little conflicted and
beautiful community, and watch the people take the process to their
hearts and run with it. 

Fifty participants showed up for a day and a half to explore the theme
of Living together on Saturna Island: Issues and Opportunities. The
participants were a rich mix of full-timers, newcomers and part-timers 
and it was a wonderful surprise to see equal numbers of men and women.
For the first time in Saturna's history, our Coast Salish neighbours
were acknowledged to be an important part of this community and
specifically invited to participate. The Tsawout First Nation accepted 
and sent a member of their council and two elders, who were warmly
received. Our circle opened with a greeting, song and blessing by elder
Harry Underwood.

Although most people were completely new to OS, in less than an hour 
they had posted 18 topics, which were explored in three breakout times.
At the end of the day, people left smiling and excited about the work
they had done together.

The next morning 40 people returned at 9:00 AM to read their book of 
proceedings and move into action planning. To my surprise, after
presenting the books to each other, they all returned to their seats in
the big circle and sat there reading for 20 minutes, in complete
silence and concentration. At exactly the right time, our First Nations 
neighbours dropped in to say heartfelt goodbyes and thankyous as they
left to the catch the ferry home and suddenly we were all being
gathered together for a group photo!

Then I reopened the space for Action Planning: Next Steps. (Thank you 
again for your help with this new-to-me part of OS!) Ten invitations to
action went up on the wall, combined to nine working sessions. At the
request of the group and with the help of Val Embree (an OS facilitator 
herself, who was there as a participant) they quickly revised the
suggested plan of one breakout time of 60 minutes and changed it to two
sessions of 45 minutes each.

In the closing circle everyone was grateful for OST, which resulted in 
new and deeper connections with each other and the optimism, energy and
enthusiasm to work together to bring their action plans to fruition.
They were delighted with the process!

Being both sponsor and facilitator of the first real open space event 
in my own small community was very challenging (to say the least!) and
equally rewarding. I'll try to share some of that experience in a
future posting here.

Although my two feet are well practiced in following my heart (I am one 
of those who mostly 'live in open space') this was just my fourth time
opening space and the first time facilitating/sponsoring an OS with all
the components:  newsroom, book of proceedings and action planning.
Thanks to my co-sponsor Judith Rees-Thomas and the small but incredibly
competent support team who handled the logistics, it all went off
smoothly and simply. Harrison, I just did what your book said to do --
what a gift you have given us all! And Chris C., you'll be glad to know 
that our friends Nancy McPhee and Sandra Kriese held space with me.

Many thanks to everyone. It feels like a door has opened here

Beverley Neff
Saturna Island BC Canada

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-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

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

Harvest Moon Consultants
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