[OSList] How long for opening for smaller group?

Wed Apr 10 10:17:12 PDT 2019

Depends on what you include in "opening."  Yesterday I facilitated a
one-day meeting.  50 people.  I always make the breakouts the same length.
Between that and limits imposed by my client, I had to "schedule" the
opening for 30 minutes, knowing it would really take 45.  Which it did.
And everything worked fine.  But that 30 minutes didn't include the 30
minutes prior to that for gathering and eating breakfast foods.  With a
free hand, I'd have called it 8:00 gathering, 8:15 opening, 9:00
breakouts... but they'd already pushed out the "8:30 start".  Doesn't
matter.  The opening wouldn't have started at exactly 8:15 anyway.
Wouldn't be far off, I think, to say that the gathering and opening time is
about as long as one breakout session and that might range from 20 to 90
minutes.  But 20 minutes is a really abridged version some might take issue
with as "not open space."  Whatever that means.  Not what I prefer, but I
think it's happened.  The place I'm thinking about was a monthly networking
group.  Otherwise, 30 mins is probably shortest I've seen.  But you have to
include the gathering time.  My answer to "how long should the opening be?"
is "how long will it take everyone to arrive and be ready to begin?"

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Wed, Apr 10, 2019 at 11:09 AM Tom Brown via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Jeff & Jake,
> I’ve also done these mini open spaces.  With greater and lesser success.
> When I have times much smaller than 2 hours I tend to think of using Lean
> Coffee as a form of (Open Space Light).  Because of the amount of basic
> opening and closing overhead build into Open Space is not justified as a
> percentage of the overall time available. I want to get folks interacting.
> Not listing to someone set things up.
>
> With Lean Coffee, If I have a larger group (20 and more), then breaking
> the group down into groups of less than 20 or so seems to be important for
> Lean Coffee.  Also a Table or wall is helpful with Lean Coffee to post
> topics.
>
> --Tom Brown
> tgb417 at gmail.com
> On Apr 10, 2019, 11:52 AM -0400, Jeff Aitken via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>, wrote:
>
> Hi. One evening we only had two hours for 130 people. So the design was 30
> minutes opening, two 30 minute session times, and a 30 minute closing. It
> was a lively loud church hall full of Occupy activists, raising the spirit
> and the roof.
>
> If we had 3 hours we would have planned 45 minutes for each.
>
> Jeff
> San Francisco
>
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 4:55 AM Barry Owen via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
>> Greetings Jake! My experience is that virtually every space I've opened,
>> the opening is @ 45 minutes - I "schedule" an hour for it.
>>
>> Larger groups can take longer just because the Marketplace is more busy.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> b
>> *Barry Owen*
>> *Real Estate Strategist*
>> CEO/Principal Broker
>> *Pareto Realty, LLC *\pə-ˈrā-(ˌ)tō\
>> <http://www.merriam-webster.com/audio.php?file=bixpar02&word=Pareto&text=%5Cp%C9%99-%3CSPAN%20class%3Dunicode%3E%CB%88%3C%2FSPAN%3Er%C4%81-(%3CSPAN%20class%3Dunicode%3E%CB%8C%3C%2FSPAN%3E)t%C5%8D%5C>
>> *The Vital Few*
>> 4004 Hillsboro Pike Ste 234-B
>> Nashville, TN 37215
>> Office: 615-502-2080
>> Connect: *615-568-2123*
>> *BarryOwen.US <http://BarryOwen.US>*
>> WhyJoinParetoRealty.com
>>
>> *Pareto Realty is a residential real estate sales firm that supports
>> member agents in building and growing consistently productive niche
>> businesses as they enjoy the healthy life rhythm they want and deserve.*
>>
>> *IMPORTANT NOTICE:* *Never trust wiring instructions sent via email.* Cyber
>> criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring
>> instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. *Always* independently
>> confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted
>> and verified phone number. *Never* wire money without double-checking
>> that the wiring instructions are correct.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 10, 2019 at 6:47 AM Jake Yeager via OSList <
>> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey everyone,
>>>
>>> I am helping to arrange an Open Space for about 30 participants. In
>>> Harrison's *User Guide* he indicates 1.5 hours for the opening. This
>>> seems a little long for a smaller group. What does everyone think?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>> Jake
>>> ________________
>>>
>>> When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and
>>> you will be free of problems.
>>>  - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>> Past archives can be viewed here:
>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.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
>> Past archives can be viewed here:
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.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
> Past archives can be viewed here:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.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
> Past archives can be viewed here:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20190410/88b58cb2/attachment.html>