[OSList] Peggy plus OST Linkedin Comment

Sun Oct 21 03:26:28 PDT 2012

Michael 

What I mean by the client comment is..

I did not consider the people to be coming to be clients. I considered the event to be a gathering of people who are fellow practitioners who already are interested in sharing wisdom about OpenSpace. It was also the 20th year so definitely a celebration of sorts. 

If the event had been put on for a client I'm sure we as a group would not have done some of the things we did. 

I didn't say wasn't an event to bring clients to and know some of our hosting group did, 

I like the sound of the simple OSonOS events. 

Maybe someone should encourage Paul to do one I'd certainly come 

Best 

Phelim 

________________________________

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_____________________________________

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@openspacer

On 21 Oct 2012, at 05:42, Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com> wrote:

> i skimmed paul's pieces.  i agreed with much of the substance and was glad somebody was saying it.  chris read and commented much more carefully, so i wouldn't try to add to his notes about that.  i'm only jumping in now because of the questions phelim raises.
> 
> first, about bringing clients to osonos... i think osonos used to be a place for clients, if you didn't mind learning in front of your client and introducing him/her to a bunch of competitors. <grin> that said, i wonder why you say it's not for clients.  i participated in osonos4, 5, 7, 9, 10, plus a couple regional osonos... and those were all pretty standard events, the simplest version that could possibly work.  though i think in that time we started to put more and more effort into hosting them.  
> 
> as for what osonos is or is for, i guess it's always been a celebration of sorts, but i remember the events i was part of as working places, meeting people who do it and learning like crazy from them.  it was pure open space and the theme was open space.  it was OT, the organization transformation symposium, that had lots of sessions about various transformation methods and things like going canoeing or walking in the woods, more just playing IN open space rather than working ON how we are doing it. if anyone's interested, many years of osonos proceedings are archived at openspaceworld.org/osonos.  
> 
> i think the big change that happened in my experience with osonos is that my first one was the last one harrison hosted at dulles airport hilton in virginia.  one room, hotel restaurant, breakouts sprinkled around in public spaces, clean and simple.  then, as it started to move around, it got farther and farther away from home for many of the folks who'd been there at the beginning.  i think as the travel got greater, hosts probably figured the hosts had to do more and more so that people would make the trip.  maybe they were glad to do more out of appreciation.  so the hosting became a bigger and bigger task, each year building upon what the hosts had seen in previous one or two events.  sometimes osonos has also been hosted with an additional goal of trying to help grow a community of practitioners.
> 
> when sheila isakson and i hosted osonos7, we really did nothing more than get a single meeting room, in a downtown chicago economy hotel.  we got a block of rooms reserved without a deposit, same at a cheaper hostel type place nearby.  we ordered no food, but located our meeting in a place where food -- and participant choice -- was plentiful.  i made a single webpage, not a whole site, but just a page for the invite, and emailed it around a bit.  we had people come from 12 countries.
> 
> i always wish we could return to those really simple events, where the open space and the people were the attraction -- and the celebration -- where you could bring a client and know that they were going to see textbook open space, clean and simple.  an annual showcase of best practice.  
> 
> the other thing i have wanted to see, and tried ten years ago to organize, was an osonos that happens in multiple (handful of) locations simultaneously, so more people could get there.  and now we have skype so there could be open video connections between sites.  old timers would be outnumbered by newbies.  maybe 2013 will succeed in this virtual sort of direction.
> 
> the last thing i'd toss out about osonos is that i think the work that's most amazing to me is that of john engle, who came to chicago and maybe earlier osonos gatherings, but then showed up in vancouver with some haitian colleagues.  a bit later they started annual haitian osonos events that are still running.  i have always wished we as a community might honor that work and all of us focus on getting to the haitian gathering one year, and call it wosonos.  someday i want to get there for myself.
> 
> in the meantime, i hope we'll hear from others about what osonos is and has been and might/should become.  
> 
> michael
> 
> 
>  
> --
> 
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
> 
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Oct 20, 2012 at 3:46 PM, Phelim McDermott <phelim at mac.com> wrote:
>> Chris
>> 
>> I agree with you. I'm fine with the critique. Different strokes for different folks. 
>> 
>> I think the difficulty is what you pinpoint. It's hard to reply and have a constructive conversation when it's not directly addressed to myself and the hosting team and seems like a veiled passive aggressive attack especially considering how it is being disseminated with provocative headlines of the "can you handle criticism" kind. 
>> 
>> I wonder what the intention behind the communication is? 
>> 
>> I also think this raises the issue of what WOSonOS is....
>> 
>> Is it a celebration and a meeting of a community who share? Not just an open space event but the creation of a welcoming gathering space in which people work on being a community and honour the history of the event. Or on the other end of the scale is it where we come and check out how other people "do or facilitate open space" and critique and score it? 
>> 
>> I know that WOSonOS is not an open space event for a client And Personally I'm in for celebrating diversity of style in event and facilitation. It was one of the reasons we were encouraged to invite by the international OS community we are a theatre company and our event had small touch of that style...  if only a touch. 
>> 
>> And Paul if you're on the list I would love to engage in a conversation about this. 
>> 
>> Love 
>> Phelim 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 
>> I generally pick up emails only at the beginning and end of the working day. I am currently aiming to respond the following day. If it is urgent please call me on 07956 187298. 
>> _____________________________________
>> 
>> www.improbable.co.uk
>> @openspacer
>> 
>> 
>> On 20 Oct 2012, at 21:23, Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> The critique in the article is fine. And the subsequent link Phelim sent along is fine too. Paul's tone is a bit jarring and his argument isn't helped by making a lot of generalized statements. Also he critiques WOSonOS in a way that makes it hard to separate his critique if the event from a critique of the team, even though he later clarifies that he wasn't critiquing the facilitator. It's tricky to make a forceful and powerful critique without it seeming personal. 
>>> 
>>> My response to these posts is that Paul is right in substance. In general my take in things is that the Law of Two Feet applies. If you are not learning or contributing find some way or some where that you can. That's what makes things better. Obviously expecting others to change the way the way a process seems too dependant on them is rational madness. 
>>> 
>>> Chris
>>> -- 
>>> CHRIS CORRIGAN
>>> Harvest Moon Consultants
>>> www.chriscorrigan.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Art of Hosting - Participatory Leadership and Social Collaboration, Bowen Island, BC
>>> November 12-15 2012 
>>> 
>>> Art of Hosting in Faith Based Communities, Salt Lake City, Utah
>>> November 28th - December 1, 2012
>>> 
>>> On 2012-10-20, at 5:09 AM, "alan at alanhalford.com.au" <alan at alanhalford.com.au> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Just spent a delicious  three days co-learning with Peggy Holman here in Perth then I read this - 
>>>> So, what's possible now?
>>>> http://rationalmadness.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/the-tragic-re-imprisonment-of-open-space/
>>>> 
>>>> take care out there
>>>> alan 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> www.alanhalford.com.au
>>>> 0421 475 252
>>>> skype: alanhalford
>>>> 
>>>>  
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