OST 1,5 day: Any suggestion? And Action Planning thoughts

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Michael Wood,
people announce their "projects" in Action Planning and then these (A3 
sheets)are posted around the room, encircling the circle, on pinwalls. 
As they are posted, the A4 template is pinned next to them.
If there are more than 7 or so projects, we turn half of the pinwalls 
around (this creates two action planning rounds, when there are 21 
prjects, then there are 3 rounds, about 20 to 25 minutes each)...this 
seems to support a more relaxed and at the same time more concentrated 
activity with folks wandering around with a cup of coffee, small groups 
everywhere discussing stuff.
When all is done, everyone is invited to have a final look at everything 
that has been worked and agreed upon around the projects. After that 
there is little to no interest to "hear" once more what all the Next 
Steps agreed upon are.
The A4 templates sort of get filled in more and more during the process 
and there seems to be a final "check" in the last round where all 
participate.
I do, however, say a few sentences about the impact of a specific, 
easily executed Next Step in systems (maybe I impress myself mostly with 
this stuff, but it works pretty well).
In the final analysis, all those things that people put down on A4 or in 
other formats or just in their calendars (during the final round people 
often have their calendars with them) are only the shadows of what they 
really are going to get into.
In Next Meetings I am regularly amazed about the vast number of things 
that nobody even said peep about at the event emerge...and regulary I 
run into people in the street telling me what they are into (the os 
event was 4 or 5 or more years ago)with a clear perception that all this 
started with the os event.
This has a humbling effect on me and has made me be much more relaxed 
than I used to be around Action Steps, less attached to outcome is very 
productive, it seems...
Greetings from Berlin

PS: Michael, you are invited to include yourself in the world map so 
that I can "see" you when writing to you...there are already a bunch of 
great faces among the 8 in the Australian part of the map
> http://www.openspaceworldmap.org/


Anglican Chaplain wrote:
> I too have found, in discussion with Sponsors, that red-dot
> prioritising of issues is less important than going straight to
> action planning. The Action plans become the 'operational priorities'
> in the sense that people act on things that are really important to
> them (the "responsibility" issue).
> 
> On the web link that Michael provided he described a 'pre-action
> planning' phase of some silent reflection time and some talking in
> pairs. I've done this too and found it works really well. My theory
> is that this is good psychology - introverts tend to find silence
> helpful and extraverts tend to find the conversation helpful in
> getting their ideas into order.
> 
> In relation to Action Planning paper work, I find that people in my
> part of Australia almost NEVER use the logical columns on my
> carefully designed Action Planning Sheets (What/who/when etc)!! Even
> when I've explained this, in advance, it's simply ignored. The words
> that a written on Action Planning Sheets often appear to me to be
> vague and non-specific. That's a complete mystery to me - has anyone
> else had this experience? I can only hope that they know, in
> themselves, what they want/need to do.
> 
> Something I experimented with a couple of weeks ago for the first
> time (for a group of 40) was to NOT provide A4 Action Planning
> templates, but rather to put some butcher's paper up on the wall and
> invite people to simply write up specific things that they intended
> to do, as individuals, as a consequence of the Open Space. And if
> they wanted/needed the help of other people, to use the microphone to
> announce this.
> 
> This resulted in people milling around the wall, watching what other
> people were writing - and to my surprise the actions were often far
> more clearly articulated than I've ever seen when using A4
> action-planning templates. Go figure!!?? Maybe the collective/public
> nature of that exercise is an invitation for people to really think
> carefully about what they are writing? It might also be that seeing
> one person's action statement written up, inspires other people to
> add their own.
> 
> 
> Michael Wood Western Australia
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST
> [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael M
> Pannwitz Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2009 4:09 AM To:
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU Subject: Re: OST 1,5 day: Any
> suggestion?
> 
> Dear Deborah, you had some great advice. Here is my idea for a
> design:
> 
> Day 1 16:00 Opening 17:15 Breakout session (they might do something
> other than "discuss") 18:30 Breakout session something to eat, have
> it available from 19:30 onwards for those that are very hungry or are
> already finished with their session 20:15 Evening News with
> invitation for more issues to be posted 20:45 End of the day
> 
> Day 2
> 
> 9:00 Morning announcements and one more opportunity to post issues 
> 9:30 Breakout session 10:45 Breakout session 12:00 Reading and
> augmenting the reports (for this you post all the reports in the main
> room with an A4 augmentation sheet next to each report so that
> everyone can read and augment the reports...no printed Book of
> Proceedings, yet...your crew sets this up while people are still in
> the break out session...its like a second News Wall but now with the
>  additional sheets for augmentation...being in the main room does
> make a community exercise out of this with people reading, walking
> around, discussing, asking questions, digesting all the stuff they
> produced). 13:00 Lunch 14:00 Action Planning (as Koos suggested,
> sometimes also called Action Space, yes, forget the prioritisation,
> there is no energy in it, its turned out to be a statistical exercise
> that does not promote passion and responsibility and only delays
> people to get into the Action act).
> 
> 17:30 Final cercle 18:00 End of the day
> 
> The Reading etc. session at noon followed by lunch has somewhat the 
> function of "sleeping"...actually, I call the Action Planning the
> "third day" on the experience that a 3-day event is optimal, even if
> the "third day" is, as in the event you will facilitate, on the
> "second day".
> 
> While the participants are having lunch and then enjoy Action
> Planning your crew can produce the Book in the background, including
> the "augmentation sheets". The book will be available to everyone on
> their way out as they leave the event (it has become quite a practice
> in the events I am facilitating that there no longer is a paper Book
> but that the Book appears as an e-Book, pdf, on a website for the
> participants or even for everybody interested in the book...it might
> go online without the contact list with all the contact data for the
> participants).
> 
> The advantage you have with a night between "day 1" and "day 2" is
> that participants have 2 more opportunities to offer isssues
> (especially those also, that arrive only on the second day).
> 
> Here are some links to details:
> 
> Action Planning, a very detailed description of the process, Koos 
> mentioned, in English http://en.boscop.org/pages/30-action-planning
> 
> Augmentation Form (in German)for the reading and augmentation part 
> http://de.boscop.org/pages/27-augmentation
> 
> Next Step form (in German) for the Action Planning
>> http://www.boscop.org/pages/28-naechster-schritt
> 
> The forms are MS word documents that you can download and adjust to
> the details of the event you are facilitating.
> 
> By the way, its a good enforcer for sustainibility if the date of the
>  Next Meeting is known even before the event.
> 
> Have a great time mmp
> 
> 
> 
> Déborah Maarek wrote:
>> Hi Koos,
>> 
>> Thank you so much for your answer!
>> 
>> Regarding the time, the participants are part of a group of people
>> who come every tuesday night (from 18:00 to 21:00) to listen ton
>> conference about "transition town, energy, climat change, new
>> currencies...". Each tuesday there is one conference, than a break
>> with food, then a second conference and food again.
>> 
>> That's why we had the idea to do the first half day until 21:00
>> with food supply during the 2 last discusisons.
>> 
>> I think your right that it is strange to have a session in the
>> second morning. It would be better to make them happen all in the
>> same period.
>> 
>> I am curious about what you call storytelling? How do you
>> facilitate that? Wouldn't the participants be surprise and maybe
>> not so happy just to tell or listen to stories?
>> 
>> Can you tell me more about that?
>> 
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Déborah Maarek
>> 
>> Awareness Consulting
>> 
>> Rue de Toulouse, 15 - 1040 Brussels, Belgique
>> 
>> T: +32 (0) 2 219 33 35 - Gsm: +32 (0) 495 38 98 88
>> 
>> deborahmaarek at awareness-consulting.net
>> 
>> www.awarenessconsulting.com
>> 
>> Skype: deborahmaarek
>> 
>> 
>> Le 20-oct.-09 à 22:37, Koos de Heer a écrit :
>> 
>>> Hi Deborah,
>>> 
>>> Looking at your program, the first thing that comes to mind is
>>> that it will work, as Open Space always works when done with good
>>> intentions. The second thing is that it feels a little strange to
>>> have three sessions on one side of the night and the fourth
>>> session on the other side. For me, the night is a boundary and I
>>> usually use it in that way. Usually when I do a 1,5 day Open
>>> Space event, I have a full day first with all the sessions and
>>> then the morning of the second day for convergence and action
>>> planning. The night is the time when everything from the sessions
>>> can settle down and boil and simmer and stew.
>>> 
>>> In your time frame, with a night and a full day, I would consider
>>>  doing just storytelling and sharing on the first day, and
>>> sessions as well as convergence on the second day (sessions in
>>> the morning, convergence in the afternoon, that gives you the
>>> lunch break for printing reports).
>>> 
>>> My third thougt looking at your program is that folks will get
>>> very hungry when dinner is at 21:00, but maybe that is normal in
>>> France.
>>> 
>>> By the way, I have abandoned the priority voting. I find it sort
>>> of messy and clumsy. I simply open the space again, with a new
>>> agenda for action planning. Very elegant and powerful.
>>> 
>>> Good luck
>>> 
>>> Koos
>>> 
>>> 
>>> At 19:17 20-10-2009, Déborah Maarek wrote:
>>>> Hello again,
>>>> 
>>>> Working on a OST for Rennes City in France, I would like to
>>>> have you experience about the timing to propose for a 1,5 day
>>>> event!
>>>> 
>>>> One of the pb is that the host is afraid that many people will
>>>> come only the first day or only the second day. How can we
>>>> manage this kind of situation?
>>>> 
>>>> Just to give you the context: The OST is about Rennes, post
>>>> carbon city. They have to reach -20% CO2 in 2020 and they want
>>>> to consult the citizen (around 100 to 160 participants:
>>>> inhabitants, companies, politics...)
>>>> 
>>>> My idea is to do most of the emergence part during the first
>>>> day:
>>>> 
>>>> Day 1 16:00Opening 17:00Discussion 1 18:00Discussion 2 
>>>> 19:00Discussion 3 20:00News of the day 20:45End of the day
>>>> 
>>>> Day 2
>>>> 
>>>> 9:00Morning news* 9:30Discussion 4 10:30End of writting the
>>>> reports 11:00Reading 12:30Vote of priorities 13:00Lunch 
>>>> 14:00Action Plan 15:30Action Plan presentation 16:15Personal
>>>> Action Plan 17:00Final cercle 18:00End of the day
>>>> 
>>>> My idea is that after the morning news, I will explain to the
>>>> "new" participants the process so that they are not lost and
>>>> they can do the 4th discussion. Would it be strange?
>>>> 
>>>> I imagine that it is very short for printing 100 or 160 reports
>>>> after the 4th discussion... But also if I take more time, what
>>>> would the participants do during this "off" time?
>>>> 
>>>> If you have any suggestion, ideas or experience, I would love
>>>> to hear them!!
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you for your help and support
>>>> 
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> 
>>>> Déborah
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Déborah Maarek
>>>> 
>>>> Awareness Consulting
>>>> 
>>>> Rue de Toulouse, 15 - 1040 Brussels, Belgique
>>>> 
>>>> T: +32 (0) 2 219 33 35 - Gsm: +32 (0) 495 38 98 88
>>>> 
>>>> deborahmaarek at awareness-consulting.net
>>>> 
>>>> www.awarenessconsulting.com
>>>> 
>>>> Skype: deborahmaarek
>>>> 
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> 

-- 
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpanne at boscop.org
www.boscop.org


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