A Taiwan Story from Toronto

[Larry Peterson]

I've had a recent experience of the wonderful open space community and the
synchronicity of our growing understanding of opening space. I recently
received an e-mail from the leadership of a new non-profit organization in
Toronto. They wanted to learn how to use open space in their own
organization and to open the space for other non-profits in their community.
They said they were young adults who had read the user's guide and were keen
to learn more.

When I met with them I discovered that they were Taiwanese young
professionals and students. A board member had experienced an OST with Gail
and Lawrence in Taipei and brought back the Mandarin version of the User's
Guide. The leadership team had no awareness of my connection to Taiwan over
the years. This added to the fun. The leadership team worked with me to
develop a good theme and an approach to learning how to better open space.

We met during last two Sundays in April. Our venue was a bar that was barely
converted into a meeting space in a mall focused on the Chinese community in
the North East part of Metro Toronto. They were a great group of 22 people.
Their own open space focused on the future of their new non-profit and they
loved it and developed some ideas for future board decision.  It was clear
in the closing of the workshop, that some were ready to test the waters and
open a space in settings from family holiday planning to another non-profit.
All could see the value of the perspective and approach. 

For me, this is a good example of an emergent wave of self-organization that
I was able to ride with others. It also shows the impact of the vital open
space community in Taiwan which many will get to experience at the Worldwide
OSONOS in October.

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