WOSonOS -and- future years and locations [long]

Mon Aug 25 13:52:16 PDT 2008

Thanks for this letter, Michael Herman.  You have expressed much of what I
think.

AND . . . I have one specific response, below.

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 2:10 AM, Michael Herman
<michael at michaelherman.com>wrote:

> 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 have always chafed at the exclusivity of the world os conference calls.
It has never felt like an open thing and as a group purporting to be about
OS, the closed nature feels wrong to me.

>
>
> 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 believe all are free to do the things you suggest.

>
> 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
>>
>> lisaheft at openingspace.net
>>
>> www.openingspace.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
>
> http://www.michaelherman.com
> http://www.ronanparktrail.com
> http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
> http://www.openspaceworld.org
>
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