Thoughts on a Town Crier

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Tue Jan 15 05:46:33 PST 2008


Koos -- Reading the same material (and enjoying it all!) I did not see so
much a difference in opinion as a difference in style and context. Having
been treated to the opening of space by Michael P. on multiple occasions, I
am very familiar with the famous "arrow." It is not something I would do, if
only because it requires an additional quantum of work which I find
distasteful. But it is the work (my work) that bothers me, and not the
arrow. Just too lazy :-)

But in practice the arrow is "just there" -- people may pay attention to it
or not, in the same way they may or may not pay attention to a clock on the
wall. I have never seen Michael or his crew "announce" the arrow, or do
anything other than move it when that seemed appropriate.

I must also say that when Michael opens space it is REALLY open. In fact
there have been times when it seemed to me that it was almost too open, and
I found myself thinking, "Michael, Let's move this!" But inevitably, Michael
would sit (stand) there and very good things happened -- when they were
ready. The critical thing for me was not what Michael DID but what he
was/is: Very solid, very present, and very much out of the way. I think the
beard helps.

Maybe we should ascribe all of this to the very Germanic fascination with
numbers and procedure? Michael keeps records of his multiple Open Spaces
which I find wonderful and exhausting. Every so often he asks me to go to
the World Map (also wonderful) and fill in the data concerning my own
experiences. I have tried many times, and always fail -- Reason? I just
don't remember. Yes I remember some of the big ones, after all I need
stories for my books! But the exact numbers disappear in the fog.

There was one time, however, that I got Michael. That was when we did the OS
for the German Psychiatrists. When it was all over, Michael was wondering
how many people there actually were -- in order to fill out his data sheet,
I guess. With out pausing I said 2108, and he seemed satisfied. And the
truth of the matter was -- I didn't have a clue, but it seemed like a nice
number, and I knew there were a hell of a lot of people. Difference in style
and context -- for sure!

Harrison







Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html


-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Koos de
Heer
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:02 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Thoughts on a Town Crier

Dear friends,

Interesting to see that out of the original 
message by Peggy, two different discussions 
develop. On the one hand, it is great to see that 
different viewpoints can coexist peacefully next 
to each other - very much like Open Space. On the 
other hand I find it a little disturbing that 
these two discussions seem to look the other way 
where it comes to fundamental differences. A few questions come to mind.

I am wondering about this German arrow above the 
agenda wall. I tend to think that it is an 
example of keeping time and organizing the 
conference for the participants where they would 
be better off organizing it for themselves. I 
never have an arrow like that and I have never 
missed it. I want to quote a little bit of the beautiful mail that Tree
wrote:
>mostly, I guess I think of  open space 
>facilitators as cultural capacity shamans. The 
>human race urgently needs to learn how to trust 
>that all is well and to trust our inner 
>inklings/guidance and the best way for the human 
>race to develop these skills is to spend time in 
>openly-acknowledged open space.  If someone 
>comes to an OS event and 'all' they get out of 
>the event is that moment when they noticed an 
>inner click that said to them 'it is time to 
>move to another session', well, that is an 
>amazing thing, that is the whole point, that is 
>evolution unfolding.  If someone calls the time, 
>we are depriving participants from knowing for 
>their own self what time it is, where they 
>should be, what they should be doing. What an 
>awesome gift to give someone. I will never 
>forget the first moment I got that click when I 
>was in an OS event and I perceived within myself 
>that I was in the wrong room and hey I could 
>follow that inkling until I stood in the place 
>just right. That is os facilitation, if you ask me.
It seems to me that the arrow that Michael 
Pannwitz describes stands in the way of people 
finding their own way. I know that Tree has also 
written that there is no right or wrong, and I 
agree. But still I find it interesting what 
people's thoughts are on these differences. What do you think Michael?

I am also wondering what Elena and Marina think 
about this, having read the posts of Tova and 
Tree. Is it really true that people in certain 
parts of the world need timekeeping and people in 
other parts of the world don't? I tend not to 
think so, but I have never been there so maybe I am wrong.

With love from rainy Utrecht,

Koos

At 09:40 15-1-2008, Michael M Pannwitz wrote:
>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
>>>>>>
>>>>>>* * 
>>>>>>========================================================== 
>>>>>>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
>>>>>>subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
>>>>>>oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu: 
>>>>>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and 
>>>>>>OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist--
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>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
>>>>>
>>>>>*
>>>>>*
>>>>>==========================================================
>>>>>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>>>>>------------------------------
>>>>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>>>>>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>>>>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>>>>
>>>>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>>>>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>>>>
>>>>*
>>>>*
>>>>==========================================================
>>>>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>>>>------------------------------
>>>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>>>>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>>>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>>>
>>>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>>>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>>>
>>>*
>>>*
>>>==========================================================
>>>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>>>------------------------------
>>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>>>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>>
>>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>>*
>>*
>>==========================================================
>>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>>------------------------------
>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>--
>
>
>
>
>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
>
>*
>*
>==========================================================
>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>------------------------------
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist



More information about the OSList mailing list