Open Space/Knowledge Caf é/Foye r Forum for System Implementations

[Jack Martin Leith]

Hello Cleo.

(You must get that a lot ... as I do with "Hi Jack"!)

An interesting and challenging project.

<Does anyone have any ideas on how to engage people on the progress,
milestones and benefits of the system in an open space/ knowledge café kind
of style?>

Well, this may sound overly philosophical, but everyone involved in the
planning, design and organisation of this gathering needs to recognise
that you cannot engage people. You can no more engage someone than you can
dance them. Engaging (verb) a "with" activity, not a "to" one. As you're
posting to this list you almost certainly see things this way, but it's
very likely that some of your colleagues will be coming from the "to"
perspective.

If you need a conceptual tool to explain this to your colleagues, you'll
find one here: www.jackmartinleith.com/?page_id=139. Conventional
conferences are about telling and selling (telling + benefits). Open Space
is about co-creation. It's a shift from buy-in to join-in. No messages, no
doing things to people, or for people!

More about engaging "with" here: www.jackmartinleith.com/?p=1041. I can send
you the slides if you're interested in seeing them.

If the organising group is ready to engage "with", then Open Space could
well be the best tool for the job.

There's absolutely no need to "keep people energised" - that's "to"
thinking. In Open Space, people will keep themselves energised. This I can
promise. There's absolutely no question about it.

As for the large number of participants - 1,000 - Open Space works just fine
with this number. Michael Pannwitz, keeper of the Open Space World Map and a
regular contributor to this list, has opened space for more than 2,000
participants. There are a few things you'll need to have in place, like a
lot of wallspace for the marketplace (or sign-up session) - probably twice
as much as you think you'll need. And the places to meet (you'll need a lot
of them) need to be flexible. I've been involved in an Open Space for 1,000
people and I can give you more tips should you decide to go down this path.
Michael too, most likely.

Something else for you and your colleagues to think about is what happens
after the Open Space or World Cafe gathering. Have mechanisms in place for
keeping things moving forwards towards completion. And think about getting
people to register for the gathering online, so that they already have a
user name and password for whatever online tool(s) you're using
post-gathering. Registering online means that people are already engaging
with the topic. They can create a brief profile, add their thoughts to a
discussion forum, see who else is going to be participating, and thinking
about who they want to meet there.

I hope this is useful. Happy to say more if this would be helpful. And I'm
sure you'll be getting more comments and suggestions from other quarters!

Very best wishes,

Jack

Jack Martin Leith
Creative activist
Bristol, United Kingdom
Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
Skype: jackmartinleith
email: jack at jackmartinleith.com
www.jackmartinleith.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackmartinleith

2008/10/11 Cleo Mseka <cleomseka at gmail.com>

> Hi there, im looking to organise a foyer forum extended to a
> 1000people. It will be centred on an enterprise content managmnt
> system implementation in the public sector. Does anyone have any ideas
> on how to engage people on the progress, milestones and benefits of
> the system in an open space/ knowledge café kind of style?  Some ways
> to keep people energised. Thanks
>
> On 10/10/08, Raffi Aftandelian <raffi at bk.ru> wrote:
> > dear fellow oslistniks,
> >
> > continuing the conversation on Open Speis and so-called Free (might they
> > have dropped the "k" in the last word?) Markets and OS and Survival
> Skills,
> > i think one of the answers to the question is Goggle's Project 10 to the
> > 100th (http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html)
> >
> > I might not like how they phrased things, but if you have an Idea that
> > Matters, this might be worth participating in.
> >
> > I'm submitting something and welcome all support.
> >
> > wormly,
> > wroffi
> >
> > *
> > *
> > ==========================================================
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> >
>
>
> --
> Cleo Mseka
> cleomseka at gmail.com
> +27 72 266 1098
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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