Saturna Open Space —a report

[Beverley Neff]

I'll give it a try, Chris... and Nancy, it was a delight to work and 
play with you!

Best regards,
--Beverley

On Mar 6, 2007, at 10:57 AM, Chris Corrigan wrote:

> 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:
>>
>> 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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