[OSList] OST: Public vs Private events: apples and oranges?

Daniel Mezick via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Sun Apr 26 06:20:53 PDT 2015


Greetings All,

...I notice these well-worn, well-understood set of starting conditions 
for great Open Space, on Wikipedia...hmm...

<WIKIPEDIA>
Hundreds of Open Space meetings have been documented.^[4] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology#cite_note-4> ^[5] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology#cite_note-5> 
Harrison Owen explains that this approach works best when these 
conditions are present,^[3] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology#cite_note-OST-3> 
namely high levels of

 1. /Complexity/, in terms of the tasks to be done or outcomes achieved;
 2. /Diversity/, in terms of the people involved and/or needed to make
    any solution work;
 3. /Conflict, real or potential/, meaning people really care about the
    central issue or purpose; and
 4. /Urgency/, meaning that the time to act was "yesterday".

</WIKIPEDIA>


In an organization, we could work with formally authorized leaders to 
gauge the magnitude of each dimension. So for example we could gauge or 
rank the magnitude, with 1 being lowest and 10 being the highest 
magnitude for gauging each dimension. For a really nice opportunity to 
use Open Space, we might be looking for a combined score of, say, 32 or 
higher (out of a possible 40)



The Public Conference Event

Now let's consider the PUBLIC conference event. What is the typical 
combined score in a public conference... for these 4 elements? I am 
guessing the combined score is something like 20 or lower for the 
typical conference event. Maybe 25 out of a perfect 40? The cohesion is 
just (generally speaking!) /so much lower/ in a public vs org-based 
(private) event...


<HERESY>
And that is why I think OST is for "development and transformation in 
organizations" (that actual subtitle of the SPIRIT book) and that it is 
not at all as effective, in terms of impact, when implemented in a 
public conference.
</HERESY>

I am guessing the scores for the 4 dimensions are almost always be lower 
in a public vs. private event.

Certainly that is my general subjective observation, based on a small 
sample of direct experience (less than 20 experiences doing OST inside 
corporations...)

...Yes: some exceptions do exist. As is almost always the case. Right? 
That said, I feel these exceptions prove the general rule... that 
private events have a much higher combined score, all else being equal.

Ironically, the OST format was originally formulated to ease the effort 
required to arrange and execute public conference events.

And then....


Daniel


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