WOSonOS -and- future years and locations [long]

Mon Aug 25 06:27:59 PDT 2008

I find myself smiling a bit as I read these words from Michael H. For the
first several OSONOS's, which I hosted, total planning time for the
gathering itself was essentially zero, being limited to finding a date. We
usually ran over a weekend, so we would gather on Friday night for some
beer, wine, and smoozing. Come Saturday morning it was (you guessed it) sit
in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a market place and Go for it!
Sunday afternoon brought the usual hugs, and that was it. Logistically I
spent perhaps an hour with the hotel folks securing the space (block of
rooms and the meeting area). Then there was OSONOS-by-the-Sea which was
pretty much the same thing, perhaps less in terms of hard work on my part.
The only real difference was the exorbitant conference  fee of $25 - most of
which we didn't need and donated to the Access Queen fund.  So there is a
way to do a lot with a little.

Having said all that - the times have changed. We are now very much of a
global community and that is just wonderful. And the time and effort offered
by our host teams is fantastic - Lisa and Co. being the latest iteration of
a fine tradition. God love them all!! But for myself, the thought of working
on something like OSONOS for two years is exhausting. Just the thought. . .
Wheew. . .

Harrison

Harrison Owen

189 Beaucaire Ave

Camden, ME 04843

207-763-3261 (Summer)

301-365-2093 (Winter)

Website www.openspaceworld.com 

Personal Website www.ho-image.com 

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From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael
Herman
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 5:10 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: WOSonOS -and- future years and locations [long]

thanks for opening this conversation, lisa. 

to me, the most important thing about osonos is that it is our chance to
practice what we preach, open to and in the world.  in recent years, it
seems to me that we have strayed from our core practice in two important
ways:  scarcity and design.  perhaps these are two sides of the same coin.

over the last some years, we've come to take a year to plan something that
is supposed to be about not planning and designing in advance.  we've
convinced ourselves that we must have only one "world" osonos.  we make a
big deal out of that *one* but tend, at the same time, to ignore the 7 or 8
years running that haiti has hosted an osonos and a raft of stammiches, for
instance.  

i do not understand how the os community imposing the structure of a single
'world' osonos per year, with all the queueing and jockeying that goes on
around the eye of that needle, is any different from leaders we work with
(or don't get to work with) holding tight to the notion that there can be
only one speaker at a time, one powerpoint presenter per hour of annual
meeting, one round after another in a big group, with regular breaks to
recover and adjust the setup for the next speaker.

what would a truly open space approach to osonos look like?  

i think it would be a bulletin board, where anyone could announce a
gathering, an osonos, where the theme would be "open space".  i'll refrain
from making the plan and theme even as complicated as "the practice of open
space".  like any breakout session, the host would choose a time and a
place.  when folks arrived in their corner of the world, they would step
into the circle of few or many friends and colleagues.  they would tell
something of their story, how they came to post this invitation.  and they
would invite everyone present to say something of why they'd come.  these
everyone sayings would, of course, begin as topics announced and posted.  in
some years we might have many osonos events, some years few, but in no years
would we have a single, most important, "world" osonos.  they would all be
important.  encouraged.  announced.  documented.  photographed.  access
queened.  connected.  simultaneous.  messy.  local.  global.  open.  spaces.

there would be no concern for who would go to india or australia or camden
or whatever.  the right people would find their way.  and when people needed
help getting to some osonos far away, they could ask for it.  you and anyone
else could help run the side bulletin board that was its own little open
space on getting to an open space on open space.  how does a two-year lead
time fit with whenever it starts and whoever comes is right?

yes, i might not see you and peggy and brian and michael and larry and chris
at *the* world open space.  the usual suspects would not be able to support,
encourage, or whatever the "growth of open space" in one particular region.
we couldn't talk about "bringing open space" to this "underserved" place or
another, as we sometime have in the past.  but as far as i can tell, just
about the whole world is underserved.  we could all be going to many places,
trusting that we are all in the same place, with many breakouts scattered
world around.  and all the side conversations could be about "which one are
you going to?" instead of "which one is ready or right or will be supported
and held up as *the one* that everyone should go to this year, the only one
that will be called 'world'.

and then maybe the world os conference call would be opened to anyone who
was in the moment of making a whole world invitation to gather in their
corner of earth, to talk about open space.  why should there be only two
people allowed from each country or each "institute" on such calls.  would
we ever suggest such a system in one of the events we facilitate?  

i'll be very interested to hear what others are thinking on this.  perhaps
i'm too much the purist, or not much of a planner, but my favorite osonos
gatherings have been the really really simple ones, mostly before we started
lining up and and taking turns.  what we be lost if we made more space for
more open spaces on open space each year?  what would an open space on
osonos look like?  how would it function on an ongoing, worldwide, anyone
can come, anyone can host, no planning required basis?  that's what i'm
really wondering now.

i'll go back to my painting and carpentry now, but will be listening in
between, looking forward to what the rest of everybody else might have to
say.

thanks, again, lisa.  

michael

On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 8:34 PM, Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net>
wrote:

Hello, dear colleagues -

Get yourself a cup of tea (or other beverage of your choice) as this is a
long message...

First, thank you for your patience as we work to complete the WOSonOS 2008
Book of Proceedings for distribution.

We are just waiting for a few more individuals who had wanted to send in
their completed session notes in post-event for inclusion in the Book.

So: as soon as those come in (very soon I promise) we will first send the
Book to all the WOSonOS 2008 participants, and then let you know here on the
OSLIST where it will be posted for your own reading enjoyment.

And next, a little thing I have been thinking about.  

I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

And here is a bit of background.

At the WOSonOS last month, there were two invitations made for the WOSonOS
to come to someplace welcoming in the world, for 2009 and for 2010. 

You may remember that June 18th message from the June 'OS Groups or
Institutes Call' that was ** posted on OSLIST.  This call is an
every-few-months gathering of one or two representatives from each Open
Space Institute or Group - about 15 countries are represented.  I also
attend those calls as Access Queen, because I communicate with and support
each year's Host Team and Askers as needed, no matter where in the world the
WOSonOS may be.  In the notes from that meeting, you probably read that
Taiwan was interested in inviting for 2009 and bringing a nice contingent to
the WOSonOS, Berlin was interested in 2010, and also if you look in earlier
calls notes, Hungary, France and Estonia were also thinking of inviting for
a future year - perhaps 2010 or another year they felt ready to do so.  You
may also have read in those notes that at the Kiev conference (2007) there
was a discussion about having these conferences' locations and dates
announced two years ahead - as it is very hard for both the Host Teams and
some of the travelers to plan for these things with less than one years'
advance notice.   

(Our Host Team worked for over one year on this WOSonOS, for example.  Other
Host Teams may need even more time because there is not a large OS community
yet locally and the majority of people who come to these WOSonOSs seem to
come over land - so this is just my observation but a strong local OS
community seems so essential for supporting an event like this.  Plus I
think it is incredibly useful for prospective hosts to attend a few WOSonOSs
if possible to see how it is the same and yet different from a client OS, to
experience some of the traditions, and make their own design and decisions
based on some of that observation and experience. Again - just my opinion,
but to me, this seems incredibly useful.)

And there was also conversation and support for moving the conference back
and forth across the world - over this land, over that ocean, over someplace
else next - so that some people would miss coming for some years but others
would be able to come - because of the sharing and moving across the world
of this lovely event.

My Host Team was interested in designing something thoughtful, supportive
and useful for both the invitation process and - as appropriate - any
deliberation process, should there have been more than one inviting team for
2009 and 2010.  Typically, these invitations get made live at the WOSonOS -
by the inviting Host Team or a representative (Brian B of Australia and I
once invited the world to India for the 2004 WOSonOS to represent that
year's host, Janet Pinto; Thomas Herrmann and Eva P Svensson of Sweden
offered my third year's invitation at Kiev last year to represent me - and
you can see what happened!).  Some of us on the Host Team had ideas for
designing a discussion / consensus / decision process and we wanted to know
who was offering an invitation so we could welcome them, create time in our
event schedule for them, and support all inviters through this invitation
and decision process with thoughtful process design.  I asked all the
conference registrants, too, if anyone was thinking of inviting, just so we
would know and design the time and approach to support each potential
hosting group or individual.

(I had also talked to a few folks who had expressed an earlier interest -
and so had some of my colleagues such as Gerard, Karen Davis and others- and
it seemed as if those others who had been interested felt it would be better
to make their own invitation in another year - though the Hungary inviters
asked that the Berlin event be held close to the 2010 OD Summit if possible,
for potential attendance at both events).

As it turns out, at this invitation portion of the WOSonOS there was only
one inviting team for 2009 (Taiwan, their second year of invitation) and one
team for 2010 (Berlin).  So there was no need for any decision-making.
Although fabulous Gerard Muller stood up and reminded me to stop....and
breathe....and ask one more time if there was anyone else thinking of
inviting the WOSonOS to their country.  I bow to you, Gerard.  The silence
was nutritious.   

As it turns out, nobody else came forward. So we celebrated our next 2 years
of hosts (!!! 2009 Taiwan !!!  !!! 2010 Berlin !!!), and at the end of the
conference - as is our tradition - the 2008 (San Francisco) Host Team passed
the lovely WOSonOS talking stick to the 2009 (Taiwan) team.

So.  My thoughts for your discussion are...

As Access Queen, I often think of 'what will help different kinds of people
participate if they have a passion to do so'.  I do not get to all the
WOSonOSs in person, but I know it is very very powerful to receive an
invitation from a potential Host Team - in person - to get a sense for their
country, their culture, their personality.  And powerful to make decisions
in person - with whoever comes - with conversation, and listening,
in-person.  I am not sure how one would get such an amazing, experiential
sense of someone inviting - especially someone from another culture and
country - in written form only.  Especially if their home language is not in
English, as this list conversation usually is.

However sometimes I wonder if there would be a way to bring the invitations
to the larger OS community - including those of you who cannot come live to
the WOSonOS.

I am guessing there are some of you who feel 'it is just fine that whoever
comes to any given year's event in person collectively hears these
invitations and decides / agrees on the future year(s) locations.'  You are
fine with a diverse group of colleagues being there to hear and feel and
taste and sense what future potential hosts are offering.  You are like the
butterflies in the room.

I am guessing there are some of you who feel 'I would like to be included
too and I do not get to go to these live events.  I wish there was a way I
can be included'. 

Maybe some of you feel both of these things at once.

I do not have an answer - and I for one am one of those people who is fine
with whoever being there getting to make a decision.  That is how I have
experienced and enjoyed many Open Space-like organizations' or communities'
decision-making processes.   They use each others' energies and
participation in that fluid and trusting manner, and whoever is at a given
meeting gets to make the decisions, whether all are present at that meeting
or not.

However: I want to invite you to share your thoughts, dear colleagues. As I
am just one person.  And I feel like there is a conversation here that is
waiting to happen.

I look forward to hearing the conversation,

Lisa

** You can find the brief notes from that recent international call in our
own June archives (see below my signature for the web address for the OSLIST
archives), or take a look at the complete notes for each of those phone
meetings at http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/netwiki.cgi?WorldOSonOS  

___________________________

L i s a   H e f t

Consultant, Facilitator, Educator

O p e n i n g  S p a c e

 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net

 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

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Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

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http://www.ronanparktrail.com
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