Help! -- The Circle
Chris Corrigan
chris.corrigan at gmail.com
Wed Apr 1 16:35:43 PDT 2009
Well, you'll find no more passionate defender of the circle than me. And my
tenacity seems to have paid off, and it looks like the tables are going
which is a huge relief. The argument that tipped it I think was about the
quality of the experience and the results, and although I am perfectly
willing to be creative and excited about working with constraints, I simply
said that I could guarantee nothing if we chose to do it this way.
On a few occaisions I have had to work without a circle or a central
marketplace, and - yes, I was careful about what we called it (or more
precisely DIDN'T call it) - the results were terrible. Terrible in that it
was stifling to move, to post a topic and people ended up being much more
passive about the whole process, waiting for something to happen. You can
only rest on your elbows in that archetypal "obersvation" position if you
have something to lean on.
At any rate, the business case seems to be carrying the day, and the circle,
as you say, speaks for itself.
Meegwetch,
Chris
On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 6:56 AM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
> I started to call this one – In Defense of the Circle – but then it
> became clear to me that the circle needs no defense. It just is. I guess
> that sounds a little weird, but my point is that circles, and being in
> circles is the natural way to go. A notable First Nation Elder (name
> forgotten by this elder J) said somewhere, “Nothing useful ever happened
> in a square.” So to be sure we can operate in almost any geometric
> configuration with or without physical obstacles in our way. But the core
> question is – why on earth would you want to? To me this is not about “pure
> Open Space,” “pure ritual” – it is about pure common sense.
>
>
>
> Or put somewhat differently, Chris. Presumably your client is spending a
> lot of money and time to bring 500 people together, who in turn are going to
> spend more money and time. Under these circumstances, why would you want to
> give them anything less than the best opportunity to maximize their
> investment? As for the opening speaker Michael may have the clue -- “bail
> on him!”. I think I would be a little kinder -- Give him/her the exquisite
> opportunity to speak to his/her brothers and sisters in the most natural and
> powerful environment – in a circle with nothing in the way between him/her
> and everybody else. Could make him/her a little nervous – then again he/she
> might rise to the occasion. And wouldn’t that be a wonderful surprise!
>
>
>
> Good Night Chris!! J
>
>
>
>
>
> 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<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Michael
> Herman
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:43 PM
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: [OSLIST] RE : [OSLIST] Help!
>
>
>
> okay, so now you want us to start posting on all the reasons for them to
> bail on the opening speaker? <grin> m
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
>
> http://www.michaelherman.com
> http://www.ronanparktrail.com
> http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
> http://www.openspaceworld.org
>
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 10:26 PM, Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
> wrote:
>
> This just continues to give hope and inspiration.
>
> The irony here is that the client IS familiar with Open Space and wants
> Open Space type outcomes, just the kind that are expected froma conference
> of 500 people spending three sessions in Open Space. We're harvesting
> proceedings using laptops and a news room and uploading them to a webiste.
> Nothing unusual there. And many of the participants will know what to do as
> well, so that helps.
>
> For me the circle is an entirely practical piece...it's about first of all
> creating enough space to logistically make an open space meeting work.
> Second, it's about the centre and the rim and that physical and metaphysical
> structure, and third it is about the invitation on how to work together.
> Some of the ideas for creating a metaphysical circle here are pretty cool,
> and we will have lots of youth at this gathering and perhaps we can press
> them into service.
>
> The good news is that this flood of creative responses has given me the
> energy and optimism I need to continue to engage the client constructively
> and we had a good call today to talk about removing the tables. It's not a
> reticence to have a circle in this case...it's a purely logistical
> consideration in terms of a few other things that are happening around the
> Open Space - meals and an opening speaker.
>
> So that's where we stand tonight.
>
> Many thanks for the continued generosity.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 6:50 PM, douglas germann <
> 76066.515 at compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> Chris--
>
> What do these 500+ folks love to do? Can you take what they love and
> turn that into an offer for how to make the space work?
>
> You could create a circle without the table barriers by having people
> turn their chairs around to face people at the tables behind them--when
> they turn around, voila! No tables!
>
> What Larry said about getting people away from the tables conjured up a
> picture for me--like a dance party--an ever-growing "snake" line of
> people threading their way amongst the tables, dropping off people to
> individual circles.... If it does not work as is, this picture might
> suggest something fun to someone on the list....
>
> ...Like maybe helium balloons with the topics attached and snaking
> around the tables to gather participants....
>
> :- Doug.
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 2009-03-31 at 13:43 -0700, Chris Corrigan wrote:
> > This is what I need guys...thanks for the wisdom, and keep it coming.
> >
> > You're never too old to be stumped, and never to experienced to ask
> > for help!
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Esther Matte <ematte at excellence.ca>
> > wrote:
> > I’ve had a soft/fabric covered and we used both pins and blue
> > 3M tape. I thought the tape wouldn’t hold, but it did!
> > Throughout the whole day too!
> >
> >
> >
> > I’ve also had a stage, and used it as the newsroom. Worked
> > wonderfully – nice overview of the room, good feeling of a
> > “whole”.
> >
> >
> >
> > The tables are definitely a downer… but I would say trust the
> > process. Instead of walking the circle, walk the tables. Take
> > more time maybe and make sure you do a lot of eye contact.
> >
> >
> >
> > And if you do this with the tables, let us know the results
> > and the feeling of it.
> >
> >
> >
> > If anything else comes to mind, I’ll send another message.
> > Good luck and have fun too!
> >
> >
> >
> > Esther Matte
> >
> > Discover - Engage - Accomplish
> >
> > New York: 212.755.0551
> >
> > Montreal: 450.583.5849
> >
> > www.excellence.ca
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Message d'origine-----
> > De : OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] De la part
> > de Chris Corrigan
> > Envoyé : 31 mars 2009 15:38
> > À : OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > Objet : [OSLIST] Help!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I've been at this a long time now, but I've run up against a
> > situation like this. I'm stumped and looking for help.
> >
> > I;ll be opening space for a gethering of 500+ people. The
> > client is completely unwilling to set the room in a circle.
> > Instead, we will have 96 tables with 6 chairs at each table
> > packed into a spacious but full ball room facing a stage. The
> > walls of this room are incredible...they appear to be actually
> > stuffed with cotton and covered in fabric. There is little
> > hope of putting anything on the walls.
> >
> > On the plus side we will have lots of AV, so there is a goodly
> > amount of technology available to play with for agenda setting
> > and huge screen projection.
> >
> > I'm worried on a number of levels as you can imagine, but at
> > the moment I'm trying to put that all aside and figure out, in
> > this worst case scenario, what is the best thing we could do
> > to Open Space? Anyone been faced with similar constraints?
> > Help me out here...
> >
> > All tips and support I get on this, I'll roll up into a little
> > document on "what to do when nothing is what you need it to
> > be" and we can share it out.
> >
> > OSLIST group mind...activate!
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > --
> > CHRIS CORRIGAN
> > Facilitation - Training - Process Design
> > Open Space Technology
> >
> > Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
> > Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> >
> > Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
> > http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
> >
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> >
> > --
> > CHRIS CORRIGAN
> > Facilitation - Training - Process Design
> > Open Space Technology
> >
> > Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
> > Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> >
> > Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
> > http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
>
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>
> --
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Facilitation - Training - Process Design
> Open Space Technology
>
> Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
> Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
>
> Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
> http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
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--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology
Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
*
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