[OSList] Taste of Self Organising in 45 mins

[Brendan McKeague]

Hi folks 

I'm wondering if anyone might be interested in this little tale of opportunistic opening of space...

I was invited to be keynote presenter at a local School Leaders networking breakfast - I had recently used Open Space twice with one of the schools in the district, first to create, and then to implement, their strategic plan. The leadership team really liked it and have become champions in conversations with others. 

So, to breakfast....we chose my theme: Creating Space for Collective Wisdom in Schools

About 35 school leaders showed up and were treated to a hearty breakfast for about 45mins. We didn't have enough venue space (or time) to have a separate circle to move into after the breakfast, so tables had been set up in a square formation with folks sitting round the outside and an empty space in the centre. 

After the feast of food, I was introduced and from the centre of the square briefly outlined a few terms/concepts (power-pointlessly) around the creation of space notion:  Complexity; Diversity; Invitation; Self Organisation; Passion and Responsibility; Convergence and Divergence; Priorities and Action Plans; Emergence - done in about 10 mins.  

Then, I invited any questions or issues emerging from what I'd said; five people put their hands up (in good teacher fashion) and I asked them to give their names and state their question/issue. I then asked them to move to different spaces around the outside of the square. Then I invited the remainder of the group to go to whichever question interested them (or continue eating more breakfast as they chose) - and they could also move between the conversations...for the next 15 minutes....there was a moment or three of confusion and dazed looks, then off they went with the most delightful buzz of energy. After 15 mins I tingled the bells and they all came back (immediately) for about 10 mins closing comments... 

All done spot on 44mins - so I let them out early! 

I'm now prepared to be surprised by what happens next...?

Cheers
Brendan