[OSList] Large Open Space with Anglican Church Australia

Brendan McKeague mckeaguebrendan at gmail.com
Tue Aug 27 06:17:39 PDT 2019


Thanks Birgitt - we did a bit of serious discernment around the session times, given the numbers involved, the transitions between spaces (and paradigms), and the time we had available to open the space.  

A couple of interesting variations to our usual practice emerged

1)	we decided to put the starting times on the Agenda Wall and not nominate the finishing times (ie Session 1: 10:30, Session 2: 12noon, session 3: 1:30; reconvene for convergence: 2:45 - or something like that from memory)

2)	we then offered an invitation to Action Planning from 2:45-3:15’ish when participants could nominate the action areas they were interested in pursuing, the place where they could be found, and inviting others to join them around the grounds during afternoon break 3:15-3:50, before they all returned to the hall which by then had been reconfigured into the conventional Synod style - rows, microphones etc...

3)	we invited participants to continue having conversations throughout the remaining 1.5 days of the Synod and if they chose, to record these and submit for inclusion in the Book of Proceedings… an invitation to ‘keeping the space open’ for as long as they wished, in the context of their gathering. 

All in all, we embraced a few challenging contextual concerns around time, space, numbers…..and as usual, collective intention and openness to co-create with willing sponsors enabled us to experience yet another complex adaptive system in motion….

Yippeeeeee :)

Brendan 
 

> On 27 Aug 2019, at 8:08 am, Birgitt Williams via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
> 
> Congratulations Michael and Brendan ,
> Among the many aspects of this story that are just great, the one I am appreciating the most is that you did your OST design so that all sessions were given 90 minutes, using the gift of time within the space, time for meaningful conversations.
> 
> in genuine contact,
> Birgitt
> 
> 
> Birgitt Williams
> Supporting Next Level Leadership "Leading So People Will Lead"
> Author, Senior Consultant, President Dalar International Consultancy, Inc <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
> Founder Genuine Contact Program <http://www.dalarinternational.com/genuine-contact>
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> 
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> Upcoming learning module: Working with Open Space Technology <https://www.dalarinternational.com/curriculum/open-space-technology/>. Three different learning options to learn a process for facilitating meetings that engage the people. Self-Study + One-to-One Mentoring + Mentoring Circle; Self-Study + Real-Time Workshop + Mentoring Circle; and Self-Study + Real-Time Workshop + One-to-One Mentoring + Mentoring Circle with real time workshop dates three consecutive Fridays from 9am to 12:30pm EST on October 18, 25, and November 1st.
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> On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 3:14 AM Michael Wood via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
> A few weeks ago Brendan McKeague and Michael Wood co-facilitated what might be the largest ever Open Space in Australia (certainly with a church group) when the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane took the step of hosting most of the first day of Synod (the annual large gathering of representatives of Anglican parishes, schools and other organisations) for 6 hours in Open Space. 450 people attended around a very spacious question, ‘what is God calling us to be and do at this time’.  Three sessions of 1.5 hours each led to the posting of 56 conversation topics and 14 action plans. One of the interesting pieces of feedback at the end of Synod is that the remainder of Synod (which is conducted in a traditional Westminster Parliament format) ‘felt’ more calm and respectful that in previous years – no surprises there.  Although it’s early days the whole thing felt to me like an opening up of new possibility about the way we meet in the church and I personally hope it might be part of a cultural shift starting to happen. Time will tell.
> 
> Michael Wood. Perth, Western Australia.
> 
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Brendan McKeague
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