huge group with no tables?

[Lisa Heft]

Hello, fabulous Christine and others -

 

You wrote:

One of our biggest challenges is physical space.  In a previous posting, I
got wonderful feedback suggesting that we create more space by eliminating
tables.  Picture 1500+ circles of six.  Have any of you ever done a longish
meeting with small circles but no tables?  If so, what did people do with
all their stuff?  This group will be laden with artifacts they pick up in
the exhibit halls, notebooks, personal items, water, etc.

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas or experiences you can share

 

I often am facilitating for large conferences where eliminating tables can
be very useful.

Consider, though, that some people with certain disabilities / different
abilities need to sit at tables and would not be able to comfortably
participate without that.  So perhaps a survey question pre-conference
asking people about their special needs including needing a writing-leaning
surface may help.  Then you can look after those people / assign a volunteer
/ ask participants to all help them move a little 'tv tray' or other small
table surface wherever they need to be as they mix and match with other
participants in other areas of the room through the different large-scale
processes.

 

Other than that, four things come to mind.  

 

-          providing a backpack or, as mentioned, large 'tote' bag to each
conference participant

-          informing and agreeing with the hotel/conference center banquet
staff about the different times during the days when they can walk through
the audience and pick up cups, boxes from lunch, etc.

-          helping that site staff by going through the room periodically to
re- position the chairs (as without a table you want to create space that is
safe to navigate through and invites the circles)

-          placing on the floor in every chair circle either a hotel bussing
tray covered in a lovely cloth napkin(s) or just placing a few cloth napkins
on the ground in the center of each group - upon which you pre-set the
materials needed for each large-scale group process.  Gives a sense of
space, a place for the tools, a center for the circle, and if done well, a
lovely thing to look at.

 

(Trays can be pre-set another day - it takes a very long time to do this -
hours and hours - more if you are needing to create replacement trays for /
or shifting materials for [for example] Open Space and then for a next
afternoon or day World Cafe)

 

Amazing work you are doing, sister Christine,

 

Lisa

___________________________

L i s a   H e f t

Consultant, Facilitator, Educator

O p e n i n g  S p a c e

 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net

 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

 

 

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