[OSList] Poke the Open Space Box

Barry Owen barryo at comcast.net
Wed May 18 17:32:08 PDT 2011


"Living in Open Space" is something I decided to do 20ish years ago. It's
been working fairly well.

Occasionally, opportunities show up for me to Open Space for groups, and I
am always honored to have the privilege of holding those spaces.

Interestingly, I have never opened a Space in which the participants were
concerned about what the process of the event would be. Most "attendees"
show up because they have an interest (passion) for the theme at hand . . .
not because of the format.

I'm an avid seth godin Reader - Smart man!
I'm most aware of the uncanny reality that "innovation" happens most often
when we allow things to happens as they would anyway if we didn;t attempt to
organize and control . . . Open Space!

It's ALL very liberating for me.

Now! as to how to make money doing it . . . I haven't figured that part out
(yet)

That seems to be taking care of itself.

:-) best,

b
On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 8:51 AM, <donna.read at managing4wellness.org> wrote:

>  Dear All, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who has
> participated in this, to me, extremely important conversation.  It has been
> so helpful to me in making myself move out, poke the box and hit GO.
>  Looking around, I had to admit that anyone who ever accomplished anything
> had to poke and hit the button.  I read the whole Poke the Box rant
> yesterday afternoon and wouldn't have without all of you even though I've
> had it on my Kindle since March. So glad I did and so grateful for this
> list. Time to uncoil the Dragon Lizard from off my heart and throat. All my
> potential clients can say is "no" and there's a chance they might say "yes."
> Bright blessings, Donna
>
>
>
>  -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Poke the Open Space Box
> From: Suzanne Daigle <sdaigle4 at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 6:13 am
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>
> Harold,
>
> Your post has been on my mind a lot...Your question: "What's the path to
> abundant full time Open Space living?" and then your comment "I've been
> wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and facilitate
> OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that back at me".
>
> All I can say Harold is to follow your passion.  In many ways it is a
> hero's journey, a journey that does not have the security, the
> predictability, the stability and all that a traditional "abundant full time
> job or career might have".   For me, Open Space is the pathway that opens up
> space to transform how we do work, how we experience life, how we are
> together, together.  There is nothing that compares.  I know I could be
> accused at times of being a "one trick pony" but how can I dismiss the
> depth, the possibilities, the layers, the hope, the transformation,
> innovation, creativity, peace, performance and all that Opening Space
> invites in our lives.  It is a way of being much more than a process of
> doing.
>
> As I reflect on my corporate career, I can feel and taste the possibilities
> of what Open Space invites. It invites EVERYONE to participate and engage,
> to contribute and make a difference. To be themselves without holding back.
> Wow!  And as I think of you Harold, your depth, your  commitment and
> contributions to this community, I think to myself, lucky client who would
> have you to Open Space. What a gift knowing the results and outcomes in
> productivity, high performance and high engagement that could occur.
>
> As a community, I feel us to be on the edge...on the edge of so many
> possibilities. The World today is a very different place: in business, in
> politics, in education, in finance, environmentally, etc.   Or perhaps it's
> not that different at all, it's just our perception that has changed and
> perception is everything.  It's a lot.
>
> The opportunities to be opening space abound.  Some days I feel like a shoe
> salesman seeing
> so many people around me with no shoes, not even knowing what shoes are and
> I think of the "repetitive patterns" of how they work and live that aren't
> working anymore. I then think to myself "if only they had shoes aka Open
> Space" and therein lies the entrepreneur magic inside of me.  In those
> times, I feel myself to be a business owner, a scientist and an inventor --
> imagining the path of how I can help people discover  how life could be
> better if only we could open space and introduce a few principles of living.
>
>
> At this stage, rather than writing a book, I feel myself wanting to write a
> marketing campaign not to sell somebody on something but to speak in a
> language where people are, a language of need and possibilities that is
> familiar. A language that invites a relationship with clients, a language
> that does not talk about Open Space but that is all about Opening Space in
> different ways so we can get different results.
>
> So Harold, I thank you for posting this.  It made me realize again that
> time is "awasting" and  that I have important work to do if I am to go for
> the whole enchilada, as Harrison told me in a recent post. It means being
> smart and strategic, thinking like an entrepreneur, knowing what I'm good at
> and going for it.
>
> I'm imagining there are lots of Wave Riders out there like you, like me who
> are not shy about announcing that making a sustainable living doing what we
> love to do is indeed a noble and worthy goal.  And "abundance" seems like a
> darn good word because it is through abundance, sharing, helping each other,
> contributing back to this community that abundance happens and multiples.
>
> So Harold, keep simmering your dream and let me know if I can help in this
> trail blazing, wave riding adventure that we call Open Space which is really
> nothing more than opening space in our lives so that "people can be helping
> people" in business, community and in life.
>
> Suzanne, invigorated and energized about the future
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com>wrote:
>
>> I just read this in Seth Godin's latest tract - "Poke the Box". I've heard
>> occasionally that some folks are having trouble making ends meet as Open
>> Space Technology facilitators. Yet others seem to be doing ok. I've been
>> wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and facilitatre
>> OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that back at me.
>>
>>
>> "My friend Jessica wants to be a conference organizer. You can hire her
>> and she'll sweat every single detail of your event. Give her the attendee
>> list, the venue, and the agenda, and the conference will go off without a
>> hitch.
>>
>> "The problem with this plan is that it involves being picked by the event
>> promoter. If she gets picked often, it's a fine living. If she can negotiate
>> a fair payday, it's a fine living. But Jessica must pitch the promoter, hat
>> in hand.
>>
>> "So... why not be the promoter, the initiator, the one in charge and
>> responsible?"
>>
>>    - Seth Godin, Poke the Box, p. 25
>>
>>
>> This sounds a lot more like the spirit of OST than going out looking for
>> clients who want to do OST events. This is very personal for me as Missoula
>> BarCamp's OST event happens on Saturday. I went out and just got it started
>> - but it's not exactly a money maker at this point. But what Seth says, just
>> initiating cool OST events, sounds a lot more juicy than trying to pitch OST
>> facilitation.
>>
>> Any enlightenment anyone? What's the path to abundant full time Open Space
>> living?
>>
>> --
>> Harold Shinsato
>> harold at shinsato.com
>> http://shinsato.com
>> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Suzanne Daigle
> NuFocus Strategic Group
> 7159 Victoria Circle
> University Park, FL 34201
> FL 941-359-8877;
> CT 203-722-2009
> www.nufocusgroup.com
> s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
> twitter @suzannedaigle
>
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-- 
Barry Owen
Real Estate Broker
Professional Coach
Keller Williams Realty

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