Advice on running Open Space with 250-300 people

[Deborah Hartmann]

Hi Kerry.

 > Linking several lightning talks together, no matter how brief,
 > fails to overcome the inevitable alienation of conventional lectures
 > by "experts,"

If the list of 3-minute lightning talks is created on-the-spot by the 
people themselves, is this still a problem, in your opinion? In other 
words, everyone is free to talk, everyone is an expert in their own subject.

kerry napuk wrote:
> Hi
>
> One way to bridge the urge of mixing talking heads and Open Space is 
> to ask the sponsor to open by painting the landscape for the event,  
> highlighting the need to gather and address the theme by raising 
> issues involving passion and responsibility.  Of course, as 
> facilitators we only ask that the sponsor limit their "painting" to a 
> maximum of five (5) minutes, because people have come to discuss their 
> issues not hear another "message from the top."
>
> Linking several lightning talks together, no matter how brief, fails 
> to overcome the inevitable alienation of conventional lectures by 
> "experts,"  leading to people tuning out because they have limited 
> attention spans and would be challenged to find each subject of equal 
> interest.    It would be far better if each "lightning talker" became 
> a convenor and raised their issue for a group of interested people to 
> discuss.
>
> A fundamental dynamic of Open Space is to allow people to chose where 
> they want to work,  attracted by the issue and invitation for direct 
> participation.  This self selection process to find common interest, 
> regardless of viewpoint, gives the focus and possibility of 
> co-creation woefully missing if you are lucky enough to accidently 
> bump into someone during a coffee break and wished the conversation 
> could have gone deeper and included more people.
>
> Cheers
>
> Kerry Napuk
> Edinburgh
> www.openfutures.com
>
> *


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