[OSList] Signing up for sessions

[Koos de Heer]

Hello Rob,

Congratulations on your first!

The way I look at it is that in preparing for an 
Open Space gathering, I create a sturdy and safe 
container in which the process can unfold. Once 
the process is unfolding, I let it go. The only 
thing I watch for is if the space feels still 
open. So if people try to take over the process, 
I encourage them to do their thing inside the 
process, as a session in the Open Space. That 
usually works well. That is the only thing I 
stick my nose into. Anything else is off limits for me.

If people take long breaks and don't go back to 
their sessions (as happened a few weeks ago) - I 
let them have their break. After all, Open Space 
is supposed to be one big coffee break. And who 
am I to tell them to go do something? They decide 
where and how they are most productive.

So I always try to think what the container needs 
so that it can be a safe and productive place for 
the process to unfold. I think it needs a clear 
and compelling theme that is advertised 
beforehand. It needs the four principles and the 
law of two feet. I think it needs an agenda that 
is empty at the start and that is filled by the 
participants based on their passion and 
responsibility. I think it needs some structure 
in time and space so anybody who wants to be in a 
specific session knows where to go and at what 
time. And it is nice if there is a nice big room 
with lots of air and light and a big empty wall 
on one side and if the management is open to the outcome of the conference.

So maybe I have missed one or two, but those are 
basically the essentials for the container. Once 
I have secured those, I can let the rest go. And 
my only task is to watch over this safe place until it is done.

I often have the feeling that people in The 
Netherlands find it rather difficult to use the 
Law of Two Feet. I have asked for feedback about 
my introduction, and people tell me that I 
explain it well and that they understand it and 
like it. But still they feel inhibited to walk 
out on a conversation. I have learned to let that 
go too. I can do only so much, after that it is 
op to the folks themselves. Next time, I may try 
to put a few extra posters of two feet around the 
room, as a gentle reminder. But if people need 
the experience of bering bored and feeling 
unhappy before they take the hurdle, who am I to 
take that experience away from them?

Now I think you did pretty well. I think I would 
have been a bit more structured with the agenda. 
And I would have put it on the wall, so it is 
easier to take a look at when you are going from 
one session to the other. But it sounds like it 
worked fine! If folks are happy and get results, that is what counts.

Thanks for sharing! Hope to see you at a stammtisch some day.

Koos

At 12:07 23-11-2011, Rob van der Eyden wrote:
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>
>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: <tel:%2B31%20%280%296%20512%2072%20127>+31 (0)6 512 72 127
><mailto:robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl>robvandereyden at veranderarchitect.nl
>www.veranderarchitect.nl
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