Ligthening Talks Overcoming the alienation of lectures

Sat Jan 5 17:29:25 PST 2008

I'm intrigued by Lightening Talks.  Over the last several years, I've 
convened a number of gatherings of loose-knit groups with pretty abstract 
topics.  I've learned that it is important to do something as part of the 
opening that helps frame the intention more clearly.  This sounds like a 
fun, bottom-up way to do that in which not one view prevails, but instead 
offers many alternatives around the organizing theme.

On a different subject, Kerry alluded to the need 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.

When I've been in situations where someone is going to lecture or even do a 
panel, I've found a simple way to shift the energies.  Before the speaker(s) 
do their thing, invite people to gather in groups of 2-5 and have a 10 
minute conversation on a question along the lines of:

What questions do you have, that if answered, would equip you to move into 
action?

Then take about 5 minutes just to listen to the questions they generate. 
There's no need to answer them, just let them permeate the room.

Now, when the lecture happens, there is a local context.  Additionally:

*  The audience is no longer passive - they are actively engaged and 
listening through the lens of their own questions.

*  The speakers are now in service to the people and the needs of their 
community.

*  The many networks of people who come into the same room because the 
speaker is present start to connect and deepen their ties with each other, 
leaving new relationships and seeds for action in the wake of the speaker.

If it is possible to keep the talk to 20 minutes, you can further shift 
things by inviting the audience to talk after the speech for 5 minutes in 
their small groups.  This sets the stage for a conversation between the 
speaker(s) and the group.  People can ask questions and express insights. 
While this may look like traditional Q&A, the small group conversations 
change the atmosphere, enabling other's experiences to become more visible, 
bringing the voice of indigenous leadership present.

It isn't Open Space, which is the ultimate liberation.  Still, it opens a 
little more space when there was none before.

from a damp Seattle,
Peggy

________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
(425) 746-6274

www.opencirclecompany.com

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, 
is to become
the fire".
  -- Drew Dellinger

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "kerry napuk" <k at napuk.demon.co.uk>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 10:13 AM
Subject: [OSLIST] Advice on running Open Space with 250-300 people

> 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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>From  Sun Jan  6 07:30:14 2008
Message-Id: <SUN.6.JAN.2008.073014.0500.>
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 07:30:14 -0500
Reply-To: kathleen at vitalclarity.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: "kathleen at vitalclarity.com" <kathleen at vitalclarity.com>
Subject: Re: Ligthening Talks Overcoming the alienation of lectures
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Thank you, Peggy! I love this idea - I have had an aversion to panels
because I find them so unhelpful mostly. This 
coud really make a difference.

Gracias,
kathleen

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Peggy Holman peggy at opencirclecompany.com
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 17:29:25 -0800
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Ligthening Talks Overcoming the alienation of lectures

I'm intrigued by Lightening Talks.  Over the last several years, I've 
convened a number of gatherings of loose-knit groups with pretty abstract 
topics.  I've learned that it is important to do something as part of the 
opening that helps frame the intention more clearly.  This sounds like a 
fun, bottom-up way to do that in which not one view prevails, but instead 
offers many alternatives around the organizing theme.

On a different subject, Kerry alluded to the need 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.

When I've been in situations where someone is going to lecture or even do a 
panel, I've found a simple way to shift the energies.  Before the
speaker(s) 
do their thing, invite people to gather in groups of 2-5 and have a 10 
minute conversation on a question along the lines of: