[OSList] Signing up for sessions

Eleder_BuM eleder.aurtenetxe at gmail.com
Wed Nov 23 12:35:09 PST 2011


Hi Rob, thanks so much for sharing your experience and feelings,

- having had the group settle the circle seemed to me a very good idea  at
first. Afterwards, I think it's better that the facilitator arranges it in
advance:
-you don't need to explain anybody how it should be done (form, distances,
what to put in the middle,...)
- more important: you express the group with no words, visually, just as
anyone enters the place, that they are coming to a special kind of
gathering, you rise expectations,...

-regarding your doubts about intervening or not, I'll just tell you that I
have myself experienced the same feelings many times, and I'm learning to
let go of my own agenda. Besides, it's very difficult to really know what
is really happening in anyone's mind although one would assume that s/he
should use her/his two feet...

this was my two cents, Rob, hope it somehow helped,

enjoy life!

*Eleder BuM31    Mind Mapping-Open Space Technology-Creativity
Bilbao + Mundaka
*
www.burumapak.blogspot.com (eus)   @Eleder_BuM<http://twitter.com/Eleder_BuM>
(Twitter)
www.in-fluyendo.blogspot.com (esp) www.flowandshow.blogspot.com
http://bm31-liburuak.blogspot.com <http://bm31-liburuak.blogspot.com%20/>
http://www.bilbohiria.com/gaika/berbaz


2011/11/23 Rob van der Eyden <robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl>

> Hello all,****
>
> ** **
>
> I still wanted to share some of my experiences in the Open Space I
> facilitated a couple a weeks ago. The event was a ‘Veranderdiner’
> (Changediner) that we organize a couple a times a year for a network of
> people interested in behavioral change. Topic this time was: ‘What can I do
> to make the world a better place?’.  About 20 people showed up.****
>
> ** **
>
> We had positive reactions on the event, lively conversations, new people
> met. Valuable experience gained in facilitating an Open Space. All good.
> About the Open Space ‘technique’:****
>
> **·         **We asked the participants to set up the circle of chairs
> for them self. Worked really well.****
>
> **·         **The agenda we had lying on floor in the middle of the
> circle. After a short introduction, I asked the participants for their
> topics / sessions. Lot of (very diverse) topics were raised, each put an a
> paper. Each paper was put somewhere at the agenda, but mostly not at a
> specific location / timeslot. That was probably because I did not put
> post-its on the agenda, that could be taken by everyone that wanted to host
> a session (so will do that next time). So we ended with a stack of topics
> suggested to be discussed, but no agenda yet…****
>
> **·         **So on to ‘signing up’: based on the discussion on the OS
> List, I decided to ask the participants to sign up for the topics they were
> interested in by putting their name on that paper. Result? Nobody did that,
> but the buzz did certainly get going. And probably a bit different than it
> should, because we did not have clear topics assigned to location/timeslot.
> I ‘managed to’ leave it to the group to figure it out. There were some
> participants that started trying to organize the whole thing (“let’s do it
> like this…”), but in some way several groups formed about some topics
> (which were probably all different from the ones posted in the first run)
> and they got to work and have a good time.****
>
> **·         **I did feel some struggle within me during the event. Before
> we got started one of the participants told me about a (to me very good and
> clear) topic he wanted to discuss, but for some reason he did not raise it
> in the group, but chose to raise another topic (to me very vague). I felt
> some regret, decided to let it go, but when another topic related topic
> came up, I did make a reference. That went nowhere, so probably I should
> have stayed out in the first place. Later when I listened in to some of the
> conversations, I got the feeling that some participants were more involved
> than others, so I started wondering ‘why don’t they use their 2 feet?’ and
> ‘should I remind them about that possibility?’ I did not. Any other
> experiences on that? I had the idea that participants still feel it as not
> done / not polite to leave a session…  Guess I am still trying to find the
> balance letting the group do it themselves and trying to influence / taking
> care of the participants ****
>
> **·         **We closed with a nice ‘talking stick’ closing circle with
> warm reactions. ****
>
> ** **
>
> So probably I did not do it all by the book, but still I look back to a
> great event and am looking forward to try again ;-)****
>
> ** **
>
> Again: thank you all for sharing your thoughts on signing up earlier.****
>
> ** **
>
> Best regards, Rob           ****
>
> ** **
>
> *Van:* oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:
> oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *Namens *Rob van der Eyden
> *Verzonden**:* dinsdag 8 november 2011 21:30
> *Aan:* 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
> *Onderwerp:* Re: [OSList] Signing up for sessions****
>
> ** **
>
> Wow! How good to see how ‘alive’ this open space community is. Thank you
> all for all your valuable thoughts on signing up. I will try to find my way
> based on your suggestions and I will share my experiences with you
> afterwards.****
>
> ** **
>
> Best regards, Rob****
>
> De Veranderarchitect B.V.****
>
> Rob A.I. van der Eyden
> *"Change is disturbing when it is done to us, exhilerating when it is
> done by us" (K. Moss Kanter)*
> Parkietstraat 30, 1171 HV  Badhoevedorp
> *M*: +31 (0)6 512 72 127
> robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl
> www.veranderarchitect.nl****
>
> _______________________________________________
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20111123/68a56ef0/attachment-0008.htm>


More information about the OSList mailing list