[OSList] Orphaning the Top Table and the Power of the Circle

[Jon Harvey]

And thus the #ukosonos begins. Looking forward to seeing everyone at
Lauderdale House v soon.

Just thought of running a session on guerilla action & stealth open space.
Will anyone join me?

So, got tea, coffee, milk & food to share. Come Paul, come all to our UK
reprise of #WOSONOS in North London

Great greetings to all in Florida as you wend your way homewards.

Atb

Jon
 On 20 May 2013 07:54, "paul levy" <paul at cats3000.net> wrote:

> I remember a conference where the audience took over - at least for a
> while. It was a revolution that left the top table (the ones who had the
> bottles of mineral water and the little flowers in vases) paralysed with
> perplexity.
>
> A formal presentation using a lot of bullet-pointed Power Point had just
> stopped for five minutes of questions and answers - the fifth presentation
> in a row without  a break.
>
> Garish neon lights blared down from the ceiling in a room with no natural
> light.
>
> Yes, you are correct - I said "revolution". Now, that it an interesting
> word. We talk of a revolution of the people. We also talk of a revolution
> of the planets. Revolution hints at a circle.
>
> Now, everyone was sitting in rows, as in a traditional classroom, facing
> the top table that was in a row facing the classroom style audience.
>
> The speaker stood  at a lectern facing the audience as well.
>
> The chairperson invited questions.
>
> And then it happened. Someone in the audience raised their hand and was
> invited to pose their question. And pose it she did. But not in the
> direction of the top table. She sort of turned to her side and posed it to
> her row. She was interested, you see, in what other people thought of the
> issue underlying her question. Had other people had the same experience?
> Did they have any solutions. She seemed to pose it along her row and then
> to the rows behind her, as her arm swept around her and backwards in a kind
> of inclusive gesture. She finished her question and then someone near the
> back started to answer it. Soon, another person, nearer the front added a
> useful thought and then a small whispering conversation began in a corner
> between three people who were resonating with the original question.
>
> It lasted for about four minutes and, at one point, the whole room were
> now looking, not at the top table, but inwards, towards a rough central
> point in the rows.
>
> The circle was forming, even in rows of seats!
>
> And the circle was powerful. Fora while those who were supposed to be "at
> the top" at the top table were flummoxed, silent, mere onlookers on the
> outside of a forming community circle.
>
> It was a vibrant four minutes. Then the chair person raised his voice and
> attempted to restore "order". He never quite got it back! For at least a
> while afterwards, when questions were asked they are posed by the
> questioner into the centre of the room, rather than directed to the front.
>
> An in that four minutes a lot of ground was covered. The buzz continued
> into the coffee break and the top table was left, orphaned, without a clear
> role. The people wanted to talk to each other, to form a circle, to
> dialogue, to self-organise their own conversation.
>
> And this had happened: Space had opened.
>
> And this was happening: Space was opening.
>
> What I loved about witnessing this was realising the power of the circle.
> The circle wants to form - it is the natural form for people in social
> setting settings. I believe the circle is always there, in archetype,
> whenever human beings come together; it kind of hangs there, as potential,
> above the group. It seizes the chance to realise in real, especially when
> there is a top table and a bunch of rows of seats. All it needs is the
> impulse to self-organise; and that occurs with a gesture. It is the gesture
> usually of one person made, not in a way that reinforces the linear
> hierarchy - the top table - but the gesture that addresses itself to the
> central point of the natural circle. Then the attention of all turns
> towards it and a circle is formed - even when there are rows of seats.
>
> Space opens in a circle. And circles open space. Of course, it is often
> better to start with a circle of chairs, but even when that is not so, just
> direct your comments into the mess, into the heart of the community, and
> watch that circle form.
>
> Written on the way to our Open Space on Open Space in London, on May 20th
> 2013.
>
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