[OSList] Q re: "Preparing" for Passionate Discussions....

[Koos de Heer]

Dear Meta and Gary,

I have had clients who set up complete online forums to have preliminary
discussions, share ideas, stories and videos etc. No problem. As you say,
whenever it starts... And when it is over... because after the event, the
forums can serve as a platform for ongoing discussion and action planning.
The number of people taking part were relatively low compared to the OS
event, but interestingly there were some passionate forum participants who
did not attend the meeting itself.

I have never discouraged preparation of topics ahead of time, but I have
always been very firm that all topics, prepared and unprepared, go on the
marketplace when the event starts. People can prepare all they want, but the
agenda wall starts empty and everyone is free to choose where they want to
go.

Koos

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] Namens Metta & Gary
Verzonden: zaterdag 22 juni 2013 01:24
Aan: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Onderwerp: [OSList] Q re: "Preparing" for Passionate Discussions....

Next month we'll be hosting the annual board retreat (in OS) for one of our
non-profit clients (we hosted their 2011 retreat in OS, as well), and this
year we've run into an interesting dynamic.

The outgoing president of the board wants to share an inspiring and
thought-provoking TED talk with all the board members in advance of the
retreat so this video can serve as a starting point for discussion (for
those who are interested) during the retreat.

In addition, the incoming president of the board has now indicated he would
also like to recommend some topics for discussion ahead of time for "the
group to consider in more depth" before the meeting.

Previously, we've always discouraged any attempts (especially on the part of
senior leadership) to try to influence the outcome of an OS event by:
-- planning specific discussion topics ahead of time.
-- preparing "presentations" (including setting up videos to review during
the meeting), and
-- requiring any sort of "pre-work".

At the same time, we all know that "whenever it starts is the right time",
and passionate information sharing obviously has a dynamic and organic life
of its own.  (In this case, it looks like this info sharing is already eager
to start....)

In light of this, we were wondering how others of you have handled this
dynamic with your clients, especially in those instances where sharing and
discussing a particular passion may be dependent (at least in part) upon
reviewing specific resources (or watching an inspiring video).....

Thanks,
Metta and Gary




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