OSonOS San Francisco 2011 Invitation!

[Heidi Nobantu Saul]

Dear Colleagues,
 
On behalf of Lisa Heft and myself we invite you to join us in San 
Francisco, California USA on March 2 through 4 for our  Open Space on Open 
Space ("OSonOS")

Several days in and about Open Space – where the newly trained and the 
longtime practitioners will share our excitement, experience, 
encouragement, trials and errors – and explore how we use this remarkable 
dialogue process.

How do we use Open Space in organizations and communities?
What can we learn from each others' diverse experiences?
What capacities and tools do we need to move our work to the next level?
 
Not a training or a workshop, but a chance for people who already know and 
use Open Space to join together for mutual exploration and community.

For additional information and to register – contact Lisa Heft at 
lisaheft at openingspace.net  

Join us to share and learn from one another,

Lisa Heft and Heidi Nobantu Saul

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
[In case you are wondering what benefit such an event can hold for a new 
or seasoned practitioner - we share below the reflections of colleague Jo 
Toppfer about OSonOS events that Raffi recently posted here - and thank 
you, dear Raffi and dear Jo...]: 
_________ 
If you are pondering attending this SF OSonOS, I'd like to post again a 
short piece that Jo Toepfer wrote last year for Russian-speaking 
spaceholders and friends of OST. His words were intended to answer  the 
question, "Why attend an OSonOS?"
abrazos,
raphael
_________ 
Whenever an OST Learning Exchange (LEX) is going to take place in my 
region I try to attend these type of events. And, I always try to convince 
my co-workers and clients to do so. There are a couple of good reasons for 
this:

First, I have a chance to be at an OST event as participant. This is a 
rare chance for me as facilitator to be just a participant. But it implies 
a massive learning opportunity to concentrate on my sensations and feeling 
while I am just there. I also learn more about my own needs how and when 
to apply the law of two feet. This gives me significant food for thoughts 
for my work as facilitator.
 
Second, it is a brilliant opportunity to deepen my knowledge of OST. Every 
single LEX is a practical exercise in Action Research. I  discover new 
countries, situations and fields where OST has been applied. I learn more 
about possible occasions where OST is appropriate. Colleagues tell my 
about their experience and their ways of applying OST in different 
countries, situations and fields.

Third, since a whole bunch of colleagues with different backgrounds show 
up the LEX represents a chance to meet new and old friends. OST folks are 
normally easy going people and it is very easy to get in touch. The LEX 
itself transforms into a playground for new ideas and projects that I 
would never ever have been able to create on my own.  When I go home and 
browse through the Book of Proceeding with all  the projects and 
agreements made I am normally surprised and feel gifted with a lot of new 
opportunities.

Fourth, at a LEX I advance my facilitation skills. I have a chance to 
reflect upon the way to facilitate OST events. This includes reflection 
about pre- and after work and logistical aspects. We tell each other the 
way we work and this is a tremendous rich resource of differences. This 
includes not only behavioral aspects of the facilitation work but also 
technical details of materials used, timing for set-up and take-down, size 
of the team, type of paper   used, computing and software applications.

Fifth, there is normally an issues like "One thing less to do" and I love 
it. For me this represents a very productive mental exercise to find out 
things that are not necessary to do and we can call the result still an 
OST event. This makes life much easier for me.

Sixth, Every single LEX is a good chance to spread OST. Since the  group 
of participants is diverse it includes not only facilitators (which would 
turn the event into a boring occasion) but also  assistants, helpers, 
sponsors, to name just a few. I walked never  away from a LEX without at 
least a prospect of a future assignment.  It simply have the chance to 
advertise myself for free and this supports my business.

I hope to see you at one of these events in future!
Jo Toepfer

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