[OSList] 1000 pax OST in November - need your thoughts

[Lisa Heft]

Hi, Carms -

I have been traveling and on client deadlines so I am just wandering  
back into this conversation - if I recall, you have just under 4 hours.
Originally you mentioned having 3 sessions.
You might think about having just two sessions.
I would always 'err' on the side of not rushing thinking - because if  
you do, only the quick-responder types get to include themselves,  
rather than the full diversity of also the reflective thinkers.
Imagine a group of 1000 having time to name their topics after you  
explain the process. How much time are you planning for that?
Plus it is so important to have time for closing comments and  
reflection - any time at all.

On this list - we have found that it takes no more than 1 hour 15  
minutes for any sized group (yes, when I have done 3500) for the  
opening and co-creation of the Agenda.

Pardon my forgetfulness - I forget how Sharon did and timed the  
Opening Circle, though I remember the visuals she described for  
placards / topic signs.

Because I am a visual thinker and not a numerical thinker, I think of  
'how many topics' first as this:

Imagine / picture a large group (1000 or more) meeting in discussion  
circles-of-chairs of let us say 15 chairs per circle. More than that  
and it is hard to hear.
(realize this is just for a first picture - people will pull their  
chairs together for a group of 20 or a group of 2).
In the larger Open Spaces - especially shorter ones where you will  
only have a few sessions - I observe that people tend to start in  
bigger groups and have less time to explore the Law of Two Feet.
If this was a 2-day (for example) Open Space, what I have observed is  
that you would notice group sizes becoming more diverse in side - some  
getting smaller and more intimate over the course of the sessions  
because people have 'found their feet' and realize that a group is two  
people or that they can move more amongst the conversations during a  
session time.

So. For a larger Open Space so let us say in the 1000-3500 range - I  
divide my participant number by 15 to find how many discussion circles  
there will be around the room.
Then I add some more circles and more materials because as Peggy says:  
abundance.

For an Open Space of let us say 50 to several hundred people, I  
imagine circles of 12 chairs.

For a small Open Space (let us say up to 50 people) I picture people  
sitting in a group of 5 to 7 people (knowing there are groups of 10,  
groups of 1 in the actual event).
So I divide my participant number by let us say 7 to find out how many  
discussion circles there will be around the room.
Then I add some more circles and more materials.

Then I add more circles and more materials as above.

So: whatever that 'how many discussion circles', I just multiply that  
times the number of discussion *sessions* we will have.
Like 2, for 2 one-hour sessions.
And I add a little ;o)

That tells me how many topic signs, sign-in sheets (to pass around  
each discussion group), notes-taker forms and so on to put on my / the  
client's materials list.

Then there is the what-is-to-me a separate question of how many topics  
will the group generate.
Because I do not need to know how many they 'might' or 'would'  
generate - I just need to know how many materials and how much floor  
space to provide them for the highest possibility, given my client's /  
the space's capacities and resources.

I find 'how many topics will they generate' - which I will only know  
when we have collected all their notes into the Book of Proceedings  
during (and usually completed after, with a few more notes trailing  
in) the event - can depend on

- the group and their energies, as much as
- the way I explain that even a group of one is essential and we  
deserve their wisdom, too
- the visibility of the process of notes-taking, the documentation  
design, the physical presence of a newsroom or news wall or however it  
might happen
- the naming of the power of documentation as a way to share wisdom  
across the groups, not just getting the wisdom from the two or so  
conversations someone was a part of

... and a few other things that are different every time.

So I cannot tell you how much a group will generate. I can only tell  
you how to prepare enough materials so that if a group is super- 
fertile, generating oh-so-many topics - that there will never be a  
lack of wall space, or room space, or materials - in order to support  
all that is possible.

By the way - a notes about site use. In my larger group Open Spaces -  
such as 300-3500 - I lay out the room with the major aisles as a cross  
(picture topic sign-making tables / materials in the bottom and left  
and right 'arms' of this cross / these widest aisles, picture the top  
'arm' of the 'cross' the main aisle leading to the huge long agenda  
wall, picture me on a tiny low platform in the center so they can see  
me / I can see them). With pre-set circles-of-chairs all across the  
room. Each circle has an "A" (example identification of a discussion  
space such as A through ZZ), blank paper, notes-taker forms, pens,  
participant sign-in sheet to pass - on the floor. On the walls across  
the room are big arena-type signs helping people navigate across a  
large space - as in an arena (example: "AA through NN" on the wall to  
indicate that row of conversation circles). People come in and sit  
anywhere to start. To announce topics, they simply come up to the  
three sign-making stations (on the arms of the 'cross'/aisles), make  
their sign (it already has a time/space post-it on it), announce their  
topic at the microphone that stands at their sign-making station, then  
walk their sign over to the huge Agenda Wall (or right wall is 10:00  
session, left wall is 11:00 session - whatever works in the huge big  
room). I still work in the round, indicating things in the round,  
holding the circle in the round, taking 'next topic' in the round.  
Then they all go off to their first session, having posted their topic  
signs on the huge long wall. Signs are larger-size paper so people can  
see those topics a bit more easily. In this way, Opening Circle is  
still there, just in a circle-of-circles way. Closing Circle is me  
reconvening them with a bell, and they are in place wherever they were  
for their last session. They come up to the microphones (remember  
there is a mic at each of the three sign-making stations) to share  
Closing Comments and Reflections.

It is of course a different way than I think you will be doing it.  
Just another way. I find this is an easy way to make a safe room in  
the event of any emergency, and so many kinds of people can navigate  
easily.

They are lucky to have you, Carms,
Lisa



Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
President Emerita, Open Space Institute US
Fellow, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution
Opening Space

  
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