[OSList] Open Space in relation to triennial-biannual meetings

[Lisa Heft]

Hello, Kári -

My thoughts are with you and your family. Do take good care of yourself.

My experience is that - if doing a mix of 'traditional' format  
conference and Open Space - the most ideal situation is traditional,  
(recreation day before or after that or after the whole conference)  
and then Open Space.
I have seen that if Open Space happens first - when there is the  
switch to traditional, participants feel uncomfortable and 'edgy'  
because they have tasted the power of self-organization and physically  
being able to move to what they need and find who they need - so they  
are not happy or focused sitting in an audience listening after that.  
If you do OS as the last day (or whatever) then there are two extra  
values of people being able to host conversations about what they are  
learning and exploring in the previous days of the conference as well  
as whatever your theme question / task will be. Nice integration and  
self-organized continuation of learning, networking, community. Plus,  
the close of the Open Space makes a very nice close for the conference  
- it really feels like reflection, comment, participant voice to close.

The most difficult thing I know is to start and stop Open Space /  
break it up within a conference - really, it destroys the reason for  
doing OS and completely changes what OS can do. When I am told that by  
a conference I simply switch to some other lovely interactive dialogue  
stuff - for example I will do World Cafes within a conference with  
themes that will help participants as they move through the arc of  
learning and the several days of the conference.

The other most difficult thing I know is to have OS at the same time  
as other things in a conference - because usually there is not a good,  
focused opening (for all participants who wish to join), arc of  
learning and thinking across time, and not a good sense of closure. So  
it all feels like a big room where conversations can happen but just  
like any other sort of coffee house environment, no reason to do Open  
Space. You could just as well give people signs to put on their tables  
to gather around a self-organized topic whenever they come into that  
room, if they like. No process or facilitator needed. (this is  
sometimes referred to as 'Birds of a Feather'.)

Oh yes and I personally think that all formalities in a conference  
must be seriously considered - do 100% of the participants need to do  
that voting or decision, or is that for a small leadership group, do  
people really need a keynote speaker or is the wisdom in the group,  
are speeches really good for anyone other than the person  
speaking ;o) ... do people walk away from conferences going 'gee I  
loved that formal gala and it really changed how I do my work on  
Monday' or do they get more from participant-driven co-learning - all  
things to consider when deciding on overall conference design.

The thing about the Open Space Learning Workshop that is happening  
before the WOSonOS - that is done for a specific reason:
The WOSonOS is like a 'user's conference' for people who do and have  
learned about Open Space. So placing a workshop before the conference  
gives the learning to people who are not coming to the WOSonOS and  
gives the fundamentals to people who have never facilitated OS so the  
conference itself acts as sort of a next-level learning for them -  
where they can integrate and reflect upon what they learned in the  
workshop and then move further into conversations with OS folks to  
explore more lessons learned, differences and similarities in doing  
things and so on.

Putting a workshop before this particular conference - as was done in  
Chile for example - is also a strategy for growing community capacity.  
So the WOSonOS is not a stand-alone event but is part of a chain of  
events that builds and grows regional community.  So in that instance,  
the workshop connects with the conference or stands alone. In another  
conference - such as the International Association of Facilitators  
conferences - the pre-workshops can sometimes be a way to offer full- 
day experiences in particular issues or methods, whereas the  
conference is more of a sampling of very short tastes of things (90-  
or 120-minute workshops, for example). So that is I guess another way  
of going deeper for those who wish to arrive earlier and can afford to  
attend both kinds of things.

I look forward to hearing others' similar or different experiences and  
observations,

Lisa


On Oct 3, 2012, at 10:07 AM, Kári Gunnarsson wrote:

> Hi Open Space Community
>
> A sad news hit to day as I heard that my grandfather passed away to  
> day. Hi funeral will be on the 12th of October and therefore I am no  
> longer able to attend the Wosonos in London this year.  I will  
> however be online and perhaps I can participate somehow. (I will  
> however be present at the Pre- Learning Workshop with Lisa Heft)
>
> One of my Open Space issues that I was faced with while I was  
> preparing for the women's societies triennial meeting was the time  
> of the Open Space.  Whenever it happens is the right time. If  
> sufficient time is allocated. (135 participants and 24 handwritten  
> discussions reports, printed in a book of proceedings for all  
> participants)
>
> I had 7 hours of the 3 days program and I could not use much time on  
> the Sunday. I advised the planning committee about the time of the  
> grief process as described in HO wave rider and based on that I  
> suggested that it would be a good idea to let the women's sleep at  
> least one time before closing the space.
>
> A question has been awoken now that I look at HO video for the agile  
> community post event  (see: http://youtu.be/HvUOj3lSoMs). A question  
> on if the open Space should happen out side of the context of other  
> meetings, like our Pre- Learning Workshop in front of the Wosonos  
> main event or some post-event ad-dons for the people that care. If  
> this would be the course of action for future annual or triennial  
> meetings where some formalities must be taken care of (6 hours), and  
> people like to have entertainment like the formal gala with all the  
> speeches and other fun stuff. By divorcing the formalities from the  
> Open Space, we will have other people registering for the open space  
> than before hand. (Some don't like elections and such and would skip  
> them, while others would only go for this part out of  
> responsibility, while having no passion for discussions.)
>
> I'm now thinking about this in terms of of tree options.
>
> A: Open space summit (1-3 days) + 1 day for recreation + 1 day of  
> formalities
>
> B (A in reverse): 1 day for recreation + 1 day of formalities + Open  
> space summit (1-3 days)
>
> C (mix match): 3-5 days of everything. Open space mixed within the  
> other agenda items.
>
> I think option A and B are easier for me as a facilitator where I  
> can only show up for my part and then vanish.
> While I thin option C is intrusive for the open space where the  
> planning committee would be interested to add lectures and  
> presentation in the morning / evening of the open space to do some  
> unproductive input for there formalities agendas. I just had some  
> experiences with option C, it works.
>
> What are your stories and experiences with these planing options?
>

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