[OSList] WOSonOS 2013 - A love note and a giant thank you

[Suzanne Daigle]

In London, we extended the invitation to come to Florida.  We did not have
an active community of practice; we were just a few who knew Open Space and
we imagined there could be many more if we invited the world.  A little
over 5 years ago, I had fallen in love with Open Space and it changed my
life (or rather it gave me the keys to my life and opened a door that I had
shut long ago). I recognized immediately in the most powerful way that Open
Space was something that urgently needed to be shared with others for all
the reasons we know and most especially to bring many voices to the table
in solving today's problems so we can get to work together on the big
opportunities that are out there -- big work, wonderful work and real work
that is waiting to be done!

I asked friends, my Global Open Space colleagues, if they thought it would
be a good idea to invite to Florida and all said yes.

So we invited and a bigger community got built... a vibrant community of
all ages, with all kinds of folks with the University of South Florida St.
Petersburg who became our partners.  We adopted a motto for our planning:
"one less thing to do"!  Our intention was that we all do a little and
share in the work, having fun doing the bits we love most just as we do in
Open Space using the law of 2 feet. And oh what fun we had... a
multi-generation treasure trove of skills and experience.

You will hear more about our experience in our briefing book, which will
take longer to prepare than typically happens after an  Open Space because
we have much to share.  So please be patient with us!

Our hosting has continued with friends staying here in Florida.  During the
event, we lived in "real time"  focusing on the new Google doc way of
running the news room plus the Virtual Tapas menu.  The students who joined
us (more than 25) attended Lisa Heft's training, WOSonOS and now many are
doing Scrum training and this after just finishing their exams and in the
midst of their new summer jobs and internships.

This was an amazing journey. We experimented a lot and even though we were
scared in our brazenness on the virtual trailblazing to try so much all at
once, we decided to follow our gut. It was not perfect (sound,etc); never
is when we try new things but in its own way, we felt it to be wonderful to
have you there with us. Our deepest intention was to invite others in the
world to join us so they too could share in the joy and feeling of our
conversations, the learning, the sharing and the "being together" -- in a
way that still honored the privacy and intimacy of small group
conversations.

Now it is Serbia who invited!

In passing the beautiful WOSonOS Talking Stick gifted to our World Open
Space community by Chris Corrigan more than 10 years ago, it was an
expression to Jasmina Nikolic, to Belgrade and to Serbia that we are
delighted to accept her invitation and that we are happy and ready to jump
into the sandbox with her, with many folks in Florida and others around the
globe, who want to help a bit here and there as she prepares for next year.
Perhaps she too, will choose the "one less thing to do" and it will be like
a Giant Pot Luck gathering that will attract others just as we felt it to
be here. Our WOSonOS had a little bit of everything, much joy, lots of
learning and sharing, a few bumps along the way which happens when passions
collide and people care deeply. It's what creates the magic of Open Space -
this tension between talking and doing, chaos and order, feeling separate
and together, speaking our own truth or choosing to not speak.

Such gratitude and so many people to thank, too many to thank here now --
our briefing book will capture the full expression of this. For now, I am
now taking a bit of a vacation nap with some pals who are still in Florida,
a nap I did not allow myself during WOSonOS as it was too exciting to be on
the edges as a facilitator, chatting here and there with old and new
friends as if a butterfly or rather a bumblefly to borrow Tricia
Chirumbole's new term!

As I was writing these last few lines... an email jumped into my inbox.
It embodies all that is beautiful about this community - a place where we
can honor, admire and learn through the amazing work of others.
Congratulations to John Engle (who could not attend) and to our most
wonderful Haitian Friends Benaja, Abelard and Maxandre who we had the great
joy of meeting.
http://haitipartners.org/2013/05/john-receives-lifetime-achievement-award-at-worldblu-live/


Suzanne


-- 
Suzanne Daigle
NuFocus Strategic Group
7159 Victoria Circle
University Park, FL 34201
FL 941-359-8877;
CT 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
twitter @suzannedaigle
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