[OSList] Poke the Open Space Box

doug os at footprintsinthewind.com
Wed May 18 19:44:44 PDT 2011


Barry--

How do you explain what you do? Focus on deliverables? Describe any
parts of the process (bulletin board, for instance)?

I remember one client who kept saying "That's not what I pictured...."

			:- Doug.




On Wed, 2011-05-18 at 19:32 -0500, Barry Owen wrote:
> "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
>                         
>                         _______________________________________________
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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
> 
> Connect with me @ Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Plaxo
> 
> Call me: 615-568-2123
>  
> Read my Blog: http://activerain.com/blogs/barryo
> Visit The Owen Group http://www.theowengroup.net
> http://www.owengroupnashvillehomes.com
> Barry Owen’s Internet Portal to all blogsites, websites, and social
> networks
> http://tnrealestatetribalhub.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/barry-owens-web-portal/
> 
> Simply & BOLDLY Living the FourFold Way in Open Space!
> 
> Quintessentially connected to the real estate industry to offer the
> ultimate experience for Home Buyers and Sellers in Middle
> Tennessee . . . Inquire within!
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