[OSList] 1,000 participants in 4 hours

[Kári Gunnarsson]

A question here

I have been a bit confused about the selection process for open space.
In my last possibly large gathering, there I was opening up the idea
to my client that we should have a self-selection of participants in
the open space by use of open invitation letters to the possible
participants. My client did not like that.

How have these 1000 people been selected to take part in the open
space and dose that mater in any way?

with a breeze from Iceland
Kári

On 10 July 2013 19:56, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
> Sharon Joy -- What a joy (excuse the pun) to see you here! You do have a
> hand full, but it will be fun. With large groups, my biggest concern is
> always to have enough space. And 1000 people do need some major room to
> maneuver, particularly when the time is short. Two spaces are critical: in
> the center of the circle, and at the wall. With that many people I would
> look for a center open space of 100 feet across. It is more than likely that
> you will have 100-150 people all rushing to the center, and that will become
> quite confusing if they don’t have any room. And at the wall – remember that
> there will be a time when you have 1000 people all trying to read what is up
> there (issues) and make their session selections. If the wall is too short,
> the people will bunch up, and when people are standing 5-6 deep, it will get
> frustrating and things will move slowly. My rule of thumb is 6 inches of
> wall per participant. That way people will never be more than 2-3 deep. You
> can get away with less wall, but, but you do pay a price. In terms of time
> periods I would suggest 1 ½ hours for the opening, 2 -- 1 hour Sessions, and
> a half hour for the close, maybe even less. It is all “doable” but I do have
> to ask: Why just 4 hours?
>
>
>
> I suspicion the answer is something like – there will be speeches and
> presentations in the morning, which presumably will provide the people with
> the necessary inspiration and information to do the job. However, every time
> I have been in a situation like that, the information provided was never
> enough, and the inspiration imparted simply didn’t do the job. More to the
> point, there is an implicit statement made which I find most troubling. It
> would seem that the wisdom of the several “presenters” somehow was equal to
> and/or took precedence over the collective wisdom and experience of 1000
> people. Of course this could be true, but if it is, I seriously doubt that
> Opening Space will do all that much good. Probably better to just fire
> (terminate) the lot. On the other hand, if that 1000 person collective
> wisdom is of the sort and depth I suspect it to be – the allocation of time
> is, if nothing else, short sighted and disrespectful. It might seem that the
> “idiots and children” will be allowed a little play time after the experts
> and adults have set the stage. Am I suggesting that you and your colleagues
> thought this way? Definitely not. But that is a possible conclusion based on
> the facts on the ground. And I have definitely experienced situations where
> the “thought” not only occurred, but was totally conscious. Worst case was a
> CEO of a large American corporation who was heard to say, “Never turn the
> asylum over to the inmates.” The Asylum, of course was the company, and the
> “inmates” were all the employees. Is it any wonder that creativity and
> innovation at that company were virtually non-existent, and that employee
> morale was dismal? Thankfully the company is now out of business.
>
>
>
> Doubtless I have gone way too far here, and knowing you Sharon Joy, I know
> that such thoughts would never enter your mind. That said, I find that
> sometimes what we do speaks so much louder than what we think or say. And
> even worse when our actions are the direct antithesis of our real
> intentions.
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
> Harrison Owen
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
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>
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Joy Chao
> Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 8:39 PM
> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> Subject: [OSList] 1,000 participants in 4 hours
>
>
>
> Need to figure a way of convening a thousand government people to go through
> an exploratory discussion on high performance system, all under 4 hours.
>
> This happens next week down south in the city of Cebu. The focus is on the
> Philippine government service, its performance management system and how it
> can be truly essential, responsive and life-giving.
>
> Gail West, my OS mentor friend, has provided me with some incredible
> suggestions on how to proceed and she also advised me to post on OSList.
>
> Any thoughts on how best to proceed with a cast of thousand in 4 hours time?
>
> Maraming Salamat.
>
> ========================================
> Sharon Joy Berlin Chao
> SEAMEO INNOTECH
> Commonwealth Avenue, U.P. Diliman, Quezon City
> Metro Manila 1101 Philippines
> Phone (632) 924-7681, 9267900
> Fax (632) 928-7692
>
>
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-- 
Kári Gunnarsson
kari at openspace.is
gsm: +354 8645189