<html><div>This showed up in my mailbox, and I thought to pass it on. If
every there were an assembly of "Js" I suspect this is
it.</div>
<br>
<div>Harrison</div>
<div>**********************************************</div>
<div>>Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 16:30:40 -0400</div>
<div>>From: "John W. Wesner"
<jwesner@lucent.com></div>
<div>>Organization: BL0318H00</div>
<div>>X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Macintosh; U; PPC)</div>
<div>>To: owen@tmn.com</div>
<div>>Subject: Report on an Open Space Meeting</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Harrison Owen</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Mr. Owen,</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I want to share with you an Open Space experience that I led
this past</div>
<div>>March.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) planned a
Retreat</div>
<div>>for the chairs of the 39 Technical Divisions in the society, and
the 12</div>
<div>>society Vice Presidents (the "Council on
Engineering"—COE) who support</div>
<div>>them. The intent was for the Division Chairs to have an
opportunity to</div>
<div>>raise issues important to them, to support their providing the
best</div>
<div>>possible experience to the 120,000 ASME members, each of
whom is a</div>
<div>>"member" of one or more Technical Divisions. All
of these people are</div>
<div>>volunteer leaders in the society.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I had read "Tales from Open Space" shortly before the
meeting last</div>
<div>>November at which we firmed up plans for the Retreat. It
seemed to me</div>
<div>>that Open Space would provide a meeting framework which would
really</div>
<div>>support giving the Division Chairs the best opportunity to raise
THEIR</div>
<div>>issues. The alternative was business as usual: we (the
Vice Presidents)</div>
<div>>would send them an agenda a couple of weeks before the
meeting.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I convinced the COE leader (the Senior Vice President) to let me
use the</div>
<div>>Open Space meeting format. We told the other Vice
Presidents as little</div>
<div>>as possible, other than that I would run the Retreat, using some
other</div>
<div>>new "tools". (I had over the past two years
successfully introduced at</div>
<div>>our meetings and Retreats several of the "Quality
Tools"—like Affinity</div>
<div>>Diagramming.)</div>
<div>> </div>
<div>>To prepare, I read three of the Open Space reference books:
"Tales from</div>
<div>>Open Space", "Expanding Our Now," and "Open
Space Technology: A User's</div>
<div>>Guide". I also got and looked at the video "Growing
Our Now;" it was not</div>
<div>>too helpful.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Before the meeting we took two preparatory actions:</div>
<div>></div>
<div>> + we sent everyone an agenda which only </div>
<div>> identified:</div>
<div>></div>
<div>> 8:00 Opening
Session</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>
9:30 First Breakout</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>
11:00 Second Breakout </div>
<div>>
<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>
(lunch will be available</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>
from 12:00-1:00, to carry</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>
to your breakout)</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>
12:30 Third
Breakout </div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>
2:00 Wrap-Up</div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>
3:00 Adjourn</div>
<div>></div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>plus a
high-level statement of the problem to be discussed and,
</div>
<div>> as background, a copy of a draft Strategic
Plan that the VPs had </div>
<div>> been developing.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>> + the Senior VP cautioned the VPs to let the
Division leaders take</div>
<div>> the lead in raising
issues.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>We did not tell anyone what methodology we would use, or how it
would</div>
<div>>work. We did have to deal a little bit with some who
wanted a more</div>
<div>>specific agenda; we essentially told them to "hang
in".</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I really followed the process as described in the "User's
Guide" very</div>
<div>>closely. I made 3x5 "prompt" cards containing
pretty much the suggested</div>
<div>>words, with minor tailoring to my specific event bounds. I
prepared the</div>
<div>>wall posters and breakout room schedule exactly as
described. I began</div>
<div>>the meeting just as described: I entered the circle, greeted
people, and</div>
<div>>walked silently around the circle. These elements all
worked just fine,</div>
<div>>and I would do the same again.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Forty people created 16 sessions, only two of which did not
attract any</div>
<div>>participants. The dynamics of the early meeting were
exactly as</div>
<div>>described in the "User’s Guide"!</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The breakouts went as expected. There was some drifting of
people among</div>
<div>>sessions, and one session had to find its own space. Most
had to be</div>
<div>>brought to a stop so that the day’s activities could
continue.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The one flaw was lunch. The buffet was set up in the big
meeting room,</div>
<div>>and there were some tables available. Many people came
after the 11:00</div>
<div>>session, and sat down to eat rather than taking their lunch off
to the</div>
<div>>next session. As they finished the lunch, they moved off
to the</div>
<div>>sessions—which did get held, but for shorter-than-planned
time.</div>
<div>> </div>
<div>>For the closing, I did not have breakout leaders give readouts.
</div>
<div>>Instead, I went around the circle doing a "Check Out"
in the sense used</div>
<div>>in Dialog: where each person was asked to express their feelings
about</div>
<div>>the experience, and "where they were at" at the
moment. The response</div>
<div>>was overwhelmingly positive--then and throughout the
weekend. A couple</div>
<div>>of people wanted to know about the book, and one person is
thinking of</div>
<div>>using the method at another ASME meeting this fall.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>The thing we could not do, given the time constraints (which
were</div>
<div>>imposed by other events planned for the weekend), was develop
the report</div>
<div>>before participants went home. We charged the breakout
leaders to send</div>
<div>>in report material; the report is now being distributed, two
months</div>
<div>>after the meeting.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>What would I do differently?</div>
<div>></div>
<div>> + I would put in a lunch period. One
alternate would be no tables </div>
<div>> near the buffet...</div>
<div>></div>
<div>> + I would try harder to get reports (breakout
summaries, at least) </div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab>before
people left the site.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>All in all it went beautifully. All the issues the Vice
Presidents had</div>
<div>>wanted to put on the "formal" agenda were raised, but
they were raised</div>
<div>>by the Division chairs, who thus felt that they were really
being</div>
<div>>listened to. The participants were almost universally
excited by their</div>
<div>>experience.</div>
<div>> </div>
<div>>Two interesting stories:</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>+ The "check out" comment from one person who had come
late was that</div>
<div>>next time we should send more specific information out before
the</div>
<div>>meeting. He obviously had missed the entire point--yet he
was able to</div>
<div>>participate. I thought for a moment about answering him, but I
quickly</div>
<div>>decided only to respond "you should have been here on
time".</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>+ I have facilitated enough meetings that I no longer feel
uncomfortable</div>
<div>>in the center of a meeting circle. You caution that many
people ARE</div>
<div>>made uncomfortable by the circle--and that you can see a gain in
comfort</div>
<div>>from the start of the meeting to the end. I had an
enlightening</div>
<div>>experience at the end which made this point very clear:
the Senior VP</div>
<div>>had committed to give another ASME leader a few minutes to
present a</div>
<div>>message to this group of people. We let this other person
speak to them</div>
<div>>after the "Check Out". They were still in their
circle, and he had been</div>
<div>>there to see me do the checkout standing in the center of the
circle. </div>
<div>>But when I gave him the microphone, he stayed securely in the
row of</div>
<div>>chairs!</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>I really enjoyed using Open Space! The method was just
right for this</div>
<div>>meeting, and I now feel that I have another tool in my
repertoire. It</div>
<div>>is a little intimidating getting ready for the first time, but
now I</div>
<div>>feel that I could do it again, only better!</div>
<div>></div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab></div>
<div>><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>John
W. Wesner</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>wesnerj@asme.org</div>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen <br>
7808 River Falls Drive <br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA <br>
301-469-9269 (phone) <br>
301-983-9314 (fax) <br>
email owen@tmn.com<br>
Website
<a href="http://www.tmn.com/~owen" eudora="autourl">http://www.tmn.com/~owen</a><br>
Open Space Institute website<br>
<a href="http://www.tmn.com/openspace" eudora="autourl">http://www.tmn.com/openspace</a></html>