Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

Mon Feb 22 14:06:07 PST 2010

Space Invaders -- I guess I invented the term, and we all know the sort of people who "fit". But what to do?

First of all, Don't "demonize" them. They are people, who care, and have come. So give them space. Usually that will be so shocking (never happened before!) that they can't believe it -- and then everything is happening so fast that they are totally involved before they can think that they should not be. Should be out there "protesting!" 

But part of the secret is -- keep everything moving right along. Don't stop to take questions! Don't spend time (waste time) doing "inclusion" and other sorts of "feel good/better" activities. Get to the business, and get people to WORK FAST! After all this is not rocket science. And if the "protesters" came just to protest, they will find that their moment has gone. On the other hand if they came to contribute to the solution -- the opportunity is NOW.

Failing everything else -- (The Space Invaders take over) -- there is always the Law of Two Feet. And you (as facilitator) are also bound/saved by the Law. If you are not doing anything useful or contributing, just put one foot ahead of the other, and keep moving. And invite anybody who feels the same way to join you. Leave the "space" to the Invaders, and they will shortly get tired of talking to themselves. 

Sounds a little "gutsy" I guess, and truthfully I have never had to go that far, but having sort of worked my way through all that, it set me at peace for whatever happened. And what always happened was infinitely better than I could ever have predicted.

Have fun!

Harrison

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
Phone 301-365-2093
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Eva P Svensson
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 3:03 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: SV: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

Dear Lisa and Harrison,
Why am I not surprised with your answers :) Invite and breath :)
And I will! The theme is already set and so is the invitation and yes we think that some of the people "against" who are organizing the demonstration will come as well - and I think that is good - and I do hope that they respect the format and don't be "space invaders" - that is my biggest worry right now - that some of them will try to invade the freedom to everybody to bring forward what is on their heart and mind.
The meeting is about a proposal from a city about how to develop and build/change a part of a city - and it's a "hot potato" i.e a lot of feelings against and some pro of course. And the open space will be a step in the formal procedure that they have to have - to inform the citizens so that they have a chance to react on the proposal. 
So - how do you handle a Space Invader? Any tips there?
Sooo grateful for you being out there!!!

:o)
Eva

BÃ¤sta hÃ¤lsningar

Eva P Svensson

EPS Human Invest AB
Member of Beyond Performance Group

"Verksamhetsutveckling genom mÃ¤nniskor skapar lÃ¥ngsiktigt vÃ¤lmÃ¥ende fÃ¶retag och organisationer"

AnÃ¥sbergsvÃ¤gen 22, 439 34 ONSALA
BesÃ¶ksadress; Norra AllÃ©gatan 8, GÃ¶teborg
Tfn: 0300-615 05, Mobil; 0706- 89 85 50
www.epshumaninvest.se
Skype: eva.p.svensson
BesÃ¶k gÃ¤rna min blogg; www.epshumaninvest.blogspot.com/
"Jag kan inte lÃ¤ra dig nÃ¥got. Allt jag kan gÃ¶ra Ã¤r att stÃ¤lla frÃ¥gor till dig, och lÃ¥ta dig sjÃ¤lv finna svaren." Sokrates

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
FrÃ¥n: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] FÃ¶r Harrison Owen
Skickat: den 22 februari 2010 14:58
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ã„mne: Re: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

If you really want to blow everybody's mind invite the demonstrators to join the circle. When you have conflict (which it sort of looks like you do) the solution is to keep opening the space until there is room for everybody who cares to come. Of course if the demonstrators don't care to come -- just want to stand on the outside and do whatever, that is their choice.

Harrison 

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
Phone 301-365-2093
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Eva P Svensson
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 8:41 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

Hi all!
I'm on my way to hold spAce at an OST meeting where the organizers are  
expecting a demonstration against the proposal that is the theme for  
the meeting! Any of you that have any experience from that??   Would  
be most grateful for advice how to handle a situation like that!!
Snowy greatings from Sweden
:o)
Eva

Skickat frÃ¥n min iPhone

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>From  Mon Feb 22 23:18:45 2010
Message-Id: <MON.22.FEB.2010.231845.0100.>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:18:45 +0100
Reply-To: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com>
Organization: Open Space Consulting
Subject: SV: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?
In-Reply-To: <004701cab3fa$01fec470$05fc4d50$@se>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Dear Eva
Oaooo, this sounds inspiring! I am breathing with you...

The discussion on Space-invaders is an old one and I think I heard HO say he
never saw one and I have the same experience after some 200+ events. On some
rare occasions it did happen that someone was starting to act towards
becoming one but usually other participants took care of it - as they had
space for dealing with it - or I might just remind about the principles/law
or the other procedures such as everyone having the chance to contribute to
the agenda and choose in what conversations to take part. But I can hardly
think of times when this happened either.

To me it is important to keep the "invitational" tone but be clear on these
basics.

...and mostly when I was warned that this or that person might become a
problem - they have turned out to be the most passionately working
participants really enjoying the space! But then, I never had a
demonstration-crowd sworming in...

...and I think "the law of attraction" works on Space-invaders too;-)

Wishing you and everyone there all the best - I think you are on to some
very interesting ground!
Warm regards & hugs
Your "neighbour" Thomas Herrmann

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] För Eva P Svensson
Skickat: den 22 februari 2010 21:03
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ämne: SV: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

Dear Lisa and Harrison,
Why am I not surprised with your answers :) Invite and breath :)
And I will! The theme is already set and so is the invitation and yes we
think that some of the people "against" who are organizing the demonstration
will come as well - and I think that is good - and I do hope that they
respect the format and don't be "space invaders" - that is my biggest worry
right now - that some of them will try to invade the freedom to everybody to
bring forward what is on their heart and mind.
The meeting is about a proposal from a city about how to develop and
build/change a part of a city - and it's a "hot potato" i.e a lot of
feelings against and some pro of course. And the open space will be a step
in the formal procedure that they have to have - to inform the citizens so
that they have a chance to react on the proposal. 
So - how do you handle a Space Invader? Any tips there?
Sooo grateful for you being out there!!!

:o)
Eva

Bästa hälsningar

Eva P Svensson

EPS Human Invest AB
Member of Beyond Performance Group

"Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor skapar långsiktigt välmående företag
och organisationer"

Anåsbergsvägen 22, 439 34 ONSALA
Besöksadress; Norra Allégatan 8, Göteborg
Tfn: 0300-615 05, Mobil; 0706- 89 85 50
www.epshumaninvest.se
Skype: eva.p.svensson
Besök gärna min blogg; www.epshumaninvest.blogspot.com/
"Jag kan inte lära dig något. Allt jag kan göra är att ställa frågor till
dig, och låta dig själv finna svaren." Sokrates

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] För Harrison Owen
Skickat: den 22 februari 2010 14:58
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ämne: Re: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

If you really want to blow everybody's mind invite the demonstrators to join
the circle. When you have conflict (which it sort of looks like you do) the
solution is to keep opening the space until there is room for everybody who
cares to come. Of course if the demonstrators don't care to come -- just
want to stand on the outside and do whatever, that is their choice.

Harrison 

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
Phone 301-365-2093
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Eva P
Svensson
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 8:41 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Any experiences of OS and demonstrations?

Hi all!
I'm on my way to hold spAce at an OST meeting where the organizers are  
expecting a demonstration against the proposal that is the theme for  
the meeting! Any of you that have any experience from that??   Would  
be most grateful for advice how to handle a situation like that!!
Snowy greatings from Sweden
:o)
Eva

Skickat från min iPhone

*
*
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