[OSList] CULTUREcon2014 Boston June 26 & 27

Fri Apr 25 06:44:50 PDT 2014

Greetings to All,

The agile CULTURE conference is a 2-day event we developed starting in 
2013 when we connected Philadelphia (Day1) with Boston (Day2) with a 
super-nice party bus that shuttled the speakers, the sponsors and the 
organizers from here to there. We stowed some food, beer and wine on the 
bus. And we enjoyed it!

We picked people up. We dropped people off. We had a time of community, 
and connection as we took that trip. And we connected the 2 cities in 
the USA most associated with freedom: Philly and Boston.

Description: 
http://newtechusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-13-10.51.02-224x300.jpg

We invited Harrison to come and keynote Philly. And he did! And we had 
quite a good time there. You can see some good pictures, and get the 
full story, here:

http://2013.agileCULTUREcon.com

Description: 
http://newtechusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-13-11.34.47-224x300.jpg

In Boston, we invited and got Dave Logan, the author of TRIBAL 
LEADERSHIP, to keynote.

Description: 
http://newtechusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-14-08.39.18-224x300.jpg

My friend Dave Logan. He keynoted the 1^st CULTUREcon event

The theme of the first CULTUREcon was: "Freedom At Work". We taught Open 
Space in Philly and Boston. And we influenced almost 400 people, many of 
whom experienced Open Space for the very 1^st time, across the 2 cities.

*The History*

Our Agile user group www.AgileBoston.org 
<http://www.AgileBoston.org>arranged the first-ever Open Space ever held 
inside a public Agile event in Boston. And since then we have 
experimented a lot. Since 2008 or so, we have been experimenting with a 
format we call the "Agile Boston Format" or "AB Format":

...we offer a traditional conference in the AM, and do Open Space after 
lunch with "multiple exit points" for participants, so newbies can ease 
into it, or even opt-out.

They can observe, and opt out if they want. (They never do.)

Description: 
http://newtechusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-14-13.17.15-300x224.jpg

The 1^st agile CULTUREcon event. We got 210 people, the majority of whom 
experienced OST for the 1^st time

This has been described in detail a previous post to OSTLIST (see a copy 
of that post, from 2013, listed below.)

As a result of this format we have introduced over 2200 people to the 
Open Space format over a period of 6 (almost 7) years in Boston. Dozens 
of these people have gone on to arrange Open Space events in their own 
organizations around Boston. This has resulted another 1200++ people in 
the Greater Boston area experiencing Open Space--- for the 1st time-- 
inside their very own organizations.

Agile is a learning framework built on frequent experimentation. In 
Boston, with respect to Open Space, we've taken that idea seriously. 
Since 2008 we have been experimenting with various ways to bring Open 
Space to organizations faster.

We've tried many different approaches.

Early on, we learned that people who did not fully understand Open Space 
often shied away from pure public OST events, presumably because they 
didn't get it. So we started thinking about how to address that.

We did experiments. Lots of them.

As I said we tried a 1-day format consisting of a traditional conference 
in the AM and an Open Space event after lunch. The ½ day Open Space was 
actually a kind of 'taster'. Guess what? Bingo. That idea worked. Really 
reallywell!

The very 1^st time we tried we got 230++ people into a ½ day Open Space 
event after lunch. No one left and everyone had fun. One guy told me 
later they used it inside ORACLE in Boston. We were on to something.

*Bringing Innovation to OST Proceedings in Public OST Events*

In late 2010, we began noticing that many so-called Open Space events 
during Agile conferences were actually deficient in several respects, 
most notably the lack of timely, good-quality proceedings. Proceeding 
were often messy, even shoddy...literally an afterthought. Often, there 
were no proceedings at all!

In 2011 we innovated with respect to the generation of OST proceedings 
in public Agile events. We produced high-quality proceedings that 
everyone attending got the very same day. We filled the 
"proceedings-gap" that was so evident inside most Agile conferences that 
were using Open Space.

Here are those proceedings we produced in 2011, a searchable-text PDF 
with the flip-chart artifacts from each session inside:

FULL PROCEEDINGS PDF Link:

http://newtechusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/culturecon-boston-2012-proceedings.pdf

Getting the proceedings done by the time the event ended in a public 
event attended by almost 250 people was very tough... and we plugged 
away, and figured out how to do it.

We later wrote a little report on how we did it.

As a result, the word got around. Shortly after that, Kennan Salinero (a 
wonderful person who attended CULTUREcon) asked us to produce 
proceedings for her DC Open Space event for scientists. We supported the 
event by sending someone down to DC to help do the proceedings.

As I understand it, Kennan's DC event got some pretty good proceedings 
out that day!

I did not attend, and I believe Suzanne Daigle did facilitate that 
event, and knows more about it.

*The Present Day: CULTUREcon 2014 Boston*

We continue to experiment in service to improvement, like Agile 
suggests. We keep trying different things. To bring Open Space to more 
and more people, and more and more organizations. And this is what we 
are doing this year with the CULTUREcon 2014 event, once again.

This year, we are doing a 2-day event in Boston, around a theme of 
"Building An Amazing Workplace Culture."

The story behind the story is that with this event, we are presenting 
Open Space as (perhaps) the very /best//tool for rapidly and effectively 
designing and redesigning the culture of an entire organization./ The 
2014 CULTUREcon June 26-27 in Boston is largely about teaching people 
how to actually DO that....with Open Space... inside their own 
organizations...

We are doing a 2-day event where the entire 2^nd day is Open Space AND 
we are opening that space on the afternoon of Day1---after a morning of 
traditional conference sessions consisting of a keynote and several 
breakouts.

Is this Open Space heresy? Are we Open Space heretics? What the hell is 
going on here?!?

After the Day1 conference sessions, we are doing the opening circle on 
Day1 ... so people can sleep on the theme of the event, and really get 
that deeper experience of Open Space that can happen when the event 
spans a night of sleep. We've never, ever done this before, so we are 
sticking our necks out. We could fail miserably. Or not!

Description: 
ttps://pbs.twimg.com/profile_background_images/402058732/OpenSpace01.jpg

Boston, 2011. ½ day Open Space, 230++ people

*The Story Behind the Story*

The story behind the story of CULTUREcon 2014 is that the event is 
literally a stealth "Open Space on Open Space." We have loads of 
speakers from OSLIST coming, and giving talks. Esther, Tricia, Harold. A 
few others! Guess what those talks are going to be on?

To build an amazing workplace culture, you'll need tools right? Tools 
like Tribal Leadership triads...Scrum...Kanban...sociocracy...and that 
clone of sociocracy we call Holacracy. Circle governance...World Cafe. Etc.

And of course: the really good one :) Open Space Technology.

Open Space is the tool, that typical people, in typical organizations, 
can bring back to work, and use right away, and get big results.

And THAT is what CULTUREcon 2014 is all about.

It promises to be a great event, and we certainly hope to see you there. 
We are keeping the price very very low, so that anyone and everyone can 
afford to attend.

Event Link:

http://agileCULTUREcon.com

Related OSLIST Post:

Reference: Posted to OSLIST on Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:07:21 -0400

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject: ***

[OSList] Agile Boston format for 1-day conference event

*Date: ***

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:07:21 -0400

*From: ***

Daniel Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net> <mailto:dan at newtechusa.net>

*To: ***

oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>

For the past 6 years, since 2008, we have successfully used this1-day 
conference event meeting design (listed below) to socialize Open Space 
in Greater Boston. One of the design goals is to give people a taste of 
OST and gently introduce them to the concept and format.

We have done 11 half-day Open Spaces with 175 or more people 
participating, since 2008.

The AM is what everyone thinks they want: the predictable and 
well-understood conference format, the usual routine, with keynote, 
breakouts etc.

The PM is the canonical Open Space format as described in the Guide. We 
do full proceedings, because we noticed that the Guide has lots to say 
about these, and typical public OST events have weak proceedings... or 
none at all. So we experimented and innovated a little bit....

Proceedings

It includes full proceedings. We modify that a little: We have people 
who process the proceedings for the session conveners. This lightens the 
load on the session conveners and makes it more likely that even a 
newbie will convene a session. They remain responsible for seeing that 
the session proceedings gets collected.

For smaller events, we render the PDF right there, by entering the text 
and pictures of the artifacts (flip chart diagrams etc)
For larger events, we take a picture of the filled-out forms, send them 
to a transcriber we have engaged, and they send back the text in real 
time during the event. The event ends and within 12 hours we can get the 
PDF into everyone's inbox. 90% of the woerk is done when the Open Space 
ends. Then we drink martinis. And to the rest the next day.

Multiple Exit Points

One aspect of the 1-day design is what we call "multiple opt-out exit 
points": people new to Open Space might NOT be comfortable with it as 
described in print. So we provide explicit messaging in the promo, like 
this:

"Open Space in the afternoon..after a great lunch..."
"You do not have to do anything at all during the opening. You can just 
sit quietly and observe it."
"...if you do like it, you can participate for awhile, and even then, 
leave anytime you want...."

So the thinking of new participants might be....

"...I'm going to the event to hear from the AM speakers. The lunch is 
free, so I stay for that..."
"...This Open Space thing..hmm...it says I can observe the opening 
without having to do anything, maybe I'll do that...sit in the 
back....and bailout if it's not my cup of tea....if I stay, I can still 
play passive, and exit anytime....hmmm..."

The basic idea is to invite people into it. We do that by providing 
multiple opt-out exit points. Easy. We do messaging that makes it plain 
you can watch the opening and decide for yourself if you want to stay or 
go. Etc...

They usually all stay. All day. They get to the opening and once they 
are there, they usually go all the way. Many newbies end up convening 
sessions!

=========================
Agile Boston 1-day Conference format:
=========================
Moving through time: AM is a traditional conference, PM is Open Space

AM: Theme X (might be stated as a statement)

Keynote speaker (full assembly)
Break
Other plenaries (full assembly, shorter time length than keynote)
Break
Breakout sessions (held in smaller spaces)

LUNCH
...setup Open Space at lunch...

PM Theme X (always stated as a question)

Open Space opening circle
Open Space
Open Space closing circle
Social/happy hour

Within 24 hrs or less:
Proceedings out

On 4/17/14 11:40 PM, Diana Larsen wrote:
> Hi Dan,
>
> I'm curious. Why not hold both days - the whole magilla - in Open Space?
>
> "This year, we plan to bring OST to the attention of a great many 
> people...as many as possible..." seems like it's saying you want to 
> give everyone a deep dive into the OS experience, but then you only 
> devote half of the event to it. And it's the half *after* you've 
> alerted folks to the special speakers - which subtly sets them up as 
> more deserving of attention than whomever else might show up.
>
> I get a mixed message about Open Space when I see this format.
>
> To be fair, I'm leading an Open Space in two weeks at a conference for 
> a group of software architects, mostly giving them an easily 
> identifiable space to bail out of sessions, use the law of two feet, 
> and talk about the stuff they want to talk about. OTOH, I have no 
> illusions that it will give them a full exposure or experience of the 
> potential power of Open Space, as when there's really something at 
> stake. Though there's still no telling what might happen, the 
> conference organizers aren't expecting more.
>
> To get closer to OS's powerful, passionate potential, I help to 
> organize Agile Open Northwest and other Agile Opens - conferences that 
> are all OS all the time with every participant as special and 
> priceless as the next.
>
> Agile's emphasis on self-organizing teams and OS reliance on the human 
> drive to self-organize seem like such a natural fit. I'm curious why 
> you've chosen this format.
>
> Diana
>
>
> **************
> Diana Larsen
> http://futureworksconsulting.com
> Envisioning a world where everyone at every level of the organization 
> can say, "I love my work; this is the best job EVER!"
> ********************
>
> On Apr 17, 2014, at 8:00 PM, Daniel Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net 
> <mailto:dan at newtechusa.net>> wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> Our 2-day conference, the [agileCULTUREcon] is scheduled for June 26 
>> & 27 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This year, we plan to bring OST to 
>> the attention of a great many people...as many as possible...
>>
>> This is an announcement, and an invitation. You are hereby invited to 
>> come and play...as a participant, as a speaker...in any way the you 
>> think works the best...
>>
>> ==================================
>> Here is the link for the upcoming 2014 event...
>> ...June 26 & 27 in Cambridge Mass:
>> *agileCULTUREcon 2014 BOSTON June 26-27 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/agileculturecon-2014-boston/>*
>> ==================================
>>
>> Pictures from the last event
>> http://newtechusa.net/culture-con/the-agile-culture-conference-2012-photos/
>>
>> The tickets are very inexpensive, from $200 to $320 for a full 2 
>> days, with food throughout each day.
>>
>>
>> ...the 2014 event is still very much under construction, and if you 
>> want, you can play a large role in the shape of the event overall!
>>
>> *agile CULTURE Conference 2014*
>>
>> Day1 is designed as 15 total speaking slots, some of very short 
>> duration. The intent here is to introduce a numerous, rich and varied 
>> set of thinkers and ideas into the opening of the conference on 
>> Day1....and mix those ideas...and set the stage for a much deeper 
>> dive into culture & community, with a full-day Open Space on Day2.
>>
>> Speakers as of now include:
>>
>> *Robert Richman* from CULTURE BLUEPRINT (*link 
>> <http://www.robertrichman.com/>*), formerly of Zappos
>>
>> *Jim & Michele McCarthy* from McCarthy Technologies, home of the Core 
>> Protocols (*link <http://www.mccarthyshow.com/>*)
>>
>> *Jean Russell*, author of Thriveability (*link 
>> <http://thrivable.net/about/>*)
>>
>> *John Buck*, expert on circle governance & author of We The People 
>> (*link <http://sociocracyconsulting.com/about/team/john-buck-bio/>*)
>>
>> *Daniel Mezick*, originator of the Open Agile Adoption method and 
>> author of THE CULTURE GAME (*link <http://www.danielmezick.com/>*)
>>
>> *Deborah Hartman Preuss*, Executive Coach & Open Space Facilitator 
>> (*link <http://www.deborahpreuss.com/>*)
>>
>> 230 people attended CULTUREcon2012. Space for this year's event is 
>> limited to the 1st 150 to sign up...
>>
>> Conference Link:
>> ***agileCULTUREcon 2014 BOSTON June 26-27 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/agileculturecon-2014-boston/>*
>>
>>
>>
>> We plan to announce more exiting speakers in the next 10 days...and 
>> more than a few surprises!
>>
>> There are still a few speaking slots open if you have something big 
>> to say about culture. If you have culture design/redesign tools like 
>> meeting formats, social system designs, facilitation and related 
>> tools for designing cultures for teams, organizations and 
>> enterprises, we want to hear from you!
>>
>>
>> *The Open Space Story-Behind-the-Story*
>>
>> In many ways, OST is the star of the event, the primary culture-tool 
>> to explore, and an important area of focus for the event.
>>
>> One of the intentions of the conference is to actively socialize Open 
>> Space into organizations that are trying to cope with the relentless 
>> pace of change. We are looking for OST people with deep experience to 
>> participate, and teach and socialize Open Space to across the 2 days. 
>> Most of the attendees are managers, directors, VP, and C-level people 
>> from a typical workplace culture. These attendees are interested in 
>> improvement, and know very little about Open Space. This event is 
>> designed to change that!
>>
>> The primary task of the event is to put practical tools for shaping 
>> culture... tools like Open Space... into the hands of the people who 
>> need them most.
>>
>> How you choose to participate is up to you...if you are _*hot*_ to 
>> offer a session on Day1, we want to hear from you!
>>
>> The single rule for the 15 speakers on Day1 is that they must be 
>> present during the entire Day2 Open Space in some way, and be present 
>> at the closing circle. The intent here is to create a valuable and 
>> rich social learning experience for attendees, who want to socialize 
>> with the speakers, book authors and thought leaders at the 
>> conference. The focus is on practical tools company leaders can use 
>> to design, and redesign intentional culture designs at work. The 
>> intent is to showcase Open Space as perhaps THE most essential tool 
>> available for creating genuine progress in organizations.
>>
>> We at Agile Boston hereby invite you to come and play...and to 
>> consider what this conference may mean to you, and how you may choose 
>> to participate. The space holds about 150 people.
>>
>> Conference Link:
>> ***agileCULTUREcon 2014 BOSTON June 26-27 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/agileculturecon-2014-boston/>*
>>
>> PS: Here is the link for the previous event we did in 2012, the one 
>> with the BUS from Philly to Boston:
>> 2012 (past event)
>> *http://newtechusa.net/culture-con/*
>>
>> I hope you can make it!
>>
>> Will you email me at dan at newtechusa.net or reach me by phone at 203 
>> 915 7248 with your questions? Will you forward this to a friend?
>>
>> Thank you! and
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>> Daniel
>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Daniel Mezick, President
>>
>> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>>
>> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
>>
>> Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter 
>> <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
>>
>> Examine my new book:The Culture Game 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the 
>> Agile Manager.
>>
>> Explore Agile Team Training 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching. 
>> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
>>
>> Explore the Agile Boston 
>> <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org 
>> <mailto:OSList at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org 
>> <mailto:OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

New Technology Solutions Inc.

(203) 915 7248 (cell)

Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog 
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.

Examine my new book:The Culture Game 
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the 
Agile Manager.

Explore Agile Team Training 
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching. 
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>

Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0008.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 26898 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0032.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 24972 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0033.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 16855 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0034.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image008.png
Type: image/png
Size: 209393 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0016.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image010.png
Type: image/png
Size: 135238 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0017.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image012.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 37151 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140425/a9b98edc/attachment-0035.jpg>