Thoughts on a Town Crier

Michael M Pannwitz mmpanne at boscop.org
Tue Jan 15 00:40:22 PST 2008 

Dear Elena,
if I have a say in it and usually I do all os-related stuff (planning 
meeting, event, next meeting, etc.) start with a break. The official 
beginning time is lets say 9 then the time from 9 to 9:15 or even 9:30 
is a break for people to mull around, have a cup of coffee, go to the 
bathroom, chat...all the interesting and important things people are 
accustomed to do to approach the state of "whenever it starts is the 
right time" (in German it is:Es fängt an, wenn die Zeit reif ist).
Of course, beginning with a break, and it actually being part of the 
schedule, gives notice to everyone that there is something different 
here and that open space emerged out of reflections (the guy with the 
hat)on the energy, creativity, fun, great company etc. experienced in 
breaks.
Have a great day and take a break
mmp

Elena Marchuk wrote:
> Hi Michael,
> thank you for the letter and especially for the reminding me about 
> adhesive tape rolled together .... which I saw, when Marina used it, but 
> ususlly did not use myself. My thoughts went only to magnets as a 
> possible way out (need to work more on my brains - to train them  :)
> 
> and thank you for the picture, I like it. and arrow ... and especially I 
> like a new item in the agenda - pause, which is from 8:30 to 9:00. I 
> will never dream of such an item in an agenda! Do you mean coffee-break 
> by that?
> 
> it is also interesting, how different people organize their 'seeing 
> materials'
> I really enjoyed that!
> 
> thank you very much
> warm hugs from cold Siberia
> Elena
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael M Pannwitz" 
> <mmpanne at boscop.org>
> To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 12:51 PM
> Subject: Re: Thoughts on a Town Crier
> 
> 
>> Dear Elena,
>> oh, this arrow is very hightech, of course.
>> It is made of 160g red heavy paper, cut with a scissor.
>> It is attached to the schedule either with a pin in case the surface 
>> permits that or with a short piece of adhesive tape rolled together 
>> and stuck to the backside (a chewing gum might do the trick, 
>> too)...the point is, it needs to be movable.
>> Constructing this time arrow is one of the tasks in setting up an open 
>> space as described in the set of task cards...usually team members get 
>> into a fight over who gets to do that task. The word "now" (in German 
>> "jetzt", which by the way is a wonderful old word containing both the 
>> roots for "now" and "eternity", a real open space word)is written on 
>> both sides of the arrow so that the arrow can point either to the 
>> right or to the left. As I said, hi tech.
>> In the following link you see the time arrow being used in a 
>> German/Russian open space with both languages shown on the time arrow
>>> http://www.boscop.org/page/show/100
>>
>> Have fun
>> mmp
>>
>> Elena Marchuk wrote:
>>> Hi Michael, thank you for the idea,
>>> I love it and will think, how to do it on my  time/place schedule
>>> and wonder, what do you mean by cardboard arrow?
>>> is it magnetic?
>>> as usually I have just space near the blackboard, which I use to be 
>>> free for posters, and it is just for one flip-chart paper and no 
>>> space for a sort of one-arrow watch, which I thought first of... so 
>>> it could be an arrow just over the words : session1, session 2 - 
>>> which would need a big arrow....sorry, and happy, I have fun with 
>>> thinking about this
>>> take care
>>> and best wishes in a Happy New Year, today in Russia is an OLD 
>>> (ortodox) Happy New Year, so we have 2 of them and very happy to 
>>> celibrate everything twice (our Christas was on January, 7:)
>>> elena marchuk
>>> novosibirsk
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael M Pannwitz" 
>>> <mmpanne at boscop.org>
>>> To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>>> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 1:14 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Thoughts on a Town Crier
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dear Peggy,
>>>> I have never seen anybody in these parts do what Jon does.
>>>> That might have different reasons such as the many training events 
>>>> and local OSonOS people have participated in...
>>>> What is done here a lot and I always do it, is to have a detailed 
>>>> schedule posted on a large flipchart complete with a time arrow (a 
>>>> little red cardboard arrow with the word "now" written on it). When 
>>>> introducing the schedule to the group I also point out the function 
>>>> of the arrow...me or another team member and often participants 
>>>> themselves move the arrow as the event progresses. My line is: In 
>>>> case you lose track of time or wonder what is next just walk up to 
>>>> the schedule and have a look at the arrow.
>>>> Of course, sometimes people come up to me and ask about beginning 
>>>> times, my response is to just point to the schedule...I would hate 
>>>> to add a town crier to my repertoire seems it would be one more 
>>>> thing to do and one chance for selforganisation and selfmanagement 
>>>> taken away.
>>>> Here is a few links to show examples of schedules with the time arrow
>>>>> http://www.boscop.org/page/show/102
>>>>> http://www.boscop.org/page/show/99
>>>>> http://www.boscop.org/page/show/100
>>>>> http://www.boscop.org/page/show/101
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Have a great day in Seattle!
>>>> Greetings from Berlin
>>>> mmp
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Peggy Holman wrote:
>>>>> Has anyone noticed more milling about before people move into
>>>>> sessions over the last few years?  I'd been noticing enough of a
>>>>> trend this way that I always intend to explicitly tell people that
>>>>> there won't be anyone telling them when to move, that it is up to
>>>>> them to follow their own rhythms and interests.  I haven't quite
>>>>> internalized this yet, so I usually forget.  Anyway, I think I may
>>>>> have figured out what is going on.
>>>>>
>>>>> I just did an OS for a friend for a group of about 50.  He uses OS a
>>>>> lot but wanted to be able to really participate in this one.   He
>>>>> told me that he was a little surprised when the first round of
>>>>> breakout sessions was starting that I didn't tell people it was time
>>>>> to get started.  He came to me when the first round after lunch were
>>>>> scheduled to start and asked me wasn't I going to ring a bell and let
>>>>> people know?  I basically told him that I never did that.  The
>>>>> participants were adults and could figure it out for themselves.  He
>>>>> was floored and a little upset.  He said he always lets people know.
>>>>> And then it dawned on me:  there are more and more people who have
>>>>> experienced OS.  Perhaps there are many practitioners doing what Jon
>>>>> does - telling people when it is time to start the next session.  I
>>>>> realized that since most of these folks came at Jon's invitation,
>>>>> they were probably enculturated to responding to a bell.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I took what seemed a middle ground to me and rang a bell, saying,
>>>>> "It's 1:30 and all's well."  I figured a town crier was a minimalist
>>>>> thing to do -- providing information without attachment to how people
>>>>> used it.
>>>>>
>>>>> I then spoke more with Jon because I wanted to understand his
>>>>> perspective.  He said that to him, what is posted, like the session
>>>>> start times, are part of the commons and when he is holding the
>>>>> space, that is part of his contract with the group, to give them the
>>>>> information.  He doesn't care what they do once they hear it.  So, it
>>>>> strikes me that Town Crier is a good description of what he does.
>>>>>
>>>>> Given the trend I mentioned, I suspect Jon isn't the only one doing
>>>>> something like this.  I'd love to hear other thoughts on providing
>>>>> information that marks the passage of time.
>>>>>
>>>>> from sunny (for a change) 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
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
>>>> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
>>>> ++49-30-772 8000
>>>> www.boscop.org   www.michaelmpannwitz.de
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 472 resident 
>>>> Open Space Workers in 76 countries (working in a total of 132 
>>>> countries worldwide)
>>>> www.openspaceworldmap.org
>>>>
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-- 




Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
www.boscop.org   www.michaelmpannwitz.de


Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 472 resident Open 
Space Workers in 76 countries (working in a total of 132 countries 
worldwide)
www.openspaceworldmap.org

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