Saturna Open Space —a report

[Chris Corrigan]

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
http://www.harvestmoonassociates.com

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