<html><div>At 03:36 AM 2/16/00 -0500, you wrote:</div>
<div>>I am preparing a proposal -- and of course they are asking for a
budget.</div>
<div>>Please help me estimate the before and after amounts of meeting
time and</div>
<div>>activity... This proposal involves a large and very
complex system -- across</div>
<div>>a number of state agencies with multiple partners that must
coordinate their</div>
<div>>responsibility for operating a program. Presently they are
experiencing</div>
<div>>inconsistent delivery of information, especially to line staff
and thus to</div>
<div>>clients. This OS would be convened to help them improve
communication to</div>
<div>>more effectively achieve the program goals. I am imagining
about 7 to 9 days</div>
<div>>of my time --- I have no idea if this is at all realistic!
Also, would you</div>
<div>>find it necessary for me to add a partner = have two
facilitators for such a</div>
<div>>large project (though this of course brings all the costs
up)? --I am hoping</div>
<div>>if this OS happens, they will find it so useful they will want
to launch a</div>
<div>>whole series to involve more and more of their myriad
stakeholders. Here is</div>
<div>>what I have sketched out:</div>
<div>**********************</div>
<div>One of the bad parts about Open Space is that it really cuts down on
your billable hours. (smile :-) -- or is it scowl... :-( .....</div>
<br>
<div>Anyhow I have worked with groups where theme and set up were
accomplished in about 10 min on the phone -- even with very complicated
and conflicted groups. As for facilitators, one will do -- but it
is much better (I think) to have 2 of the opposite sex. Balances the
energy so to speak. But if you have two, I would not try to do
things together, as in a joint opening of space. That just seems to
confuse folks and takes longer. Real point is to get all the folks to
work as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Air time for facilitators
is not the issue.</div>
<br>
<div>Some clients will take longer to figure out what they really want to
do -- or even if they should do it at all. The longest I have ever spent
is a full day, and frankly that was a waste of time. It was clear
to me at the start that they didn't know what they wanted, and whatever
it was that they did want was certainly not Open Space. With the wisdom
of hindsight, I would have said all that at the beginning and saved them
and me a lot of time/money. But I didn't. </div>
<br>
<div>Setting up an Open Space is really very simple. If they have a good
logistics person, given that person the book (User's Guide) and they can
read. What i would spend time on, however, is what happens afterwards.
Are they just going to have a good meeting -- which they will. Or. Are
they really going to move on into some different ways of being in
organization. That is the real question. That, in my judgement, is where
the time should be spent. </div>
<br>
<div>So -- half day up front -- full day at the end. You can spend more,
but typically this turns into a situation where you are trying to
"explain" Open Space. Don't go there. I just tell folks what
Open Space will do, and even when they say they want to go, I often say
"think about it" -- and get back to me. What I know is
that given the people and the space, Open Space may happen just
about instantaneously, and certainly with 24 hours. </div>
<br>
<div>Harrison</div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854<br>
USA<br>
phone 301-469-9269<br>
fax 301-983-9314<br>
website <br>
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br>
Open Space Institute websites<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
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