<html><div>At 12:15 PM 3/14/00 -0700, Martin Leith wrote:</div>
<br>
<div>>The main thing to consider is that you will need a lot of wall.
A lot.</div>
<div>>However much you are thinking of, double it or treble it. The
sign-up</div>
<div>>sheets need to have lots of space around them. And only one
sheet high,</div>
<div>>if you understand what I mean. After the marketplace you can
move the</div>
<div>>sheets closer together to free up the wall for session reports
etc.</div>
<br>
<div>>You will probably need a few assistants to direct session
convenors to</div>
<div>>the *right* bit of the wall. (Harrison screams loudly at this
point!).</div>
<div>>Yes - you'll need to divide the wall up into a.m. and p.m.
sessions to</div>
<div>>ease logistics.</div>
<br>
<div>>It's also worth having a room tsar during the marketplace, to
make sure</div>
<div>>that people have big enough rooms, move chairs and so
on.</div>
<br>
<div>>I usually put the approximate room capacity on the Post-its.
This tends</div>
<div>>to eliminate a lot of unnecessary room 'allocation' problems.
(Harrison</div>
<div>>screams again!).</div>
<div>***************************************************</div>
<div>Martin Leith -- Good to see you online! And no "screams"
-- but maybe some alternate thoughts and suggestions.</div>
<br>
<div>A large Open Space (500-1500) does present certain challenges, and I
have done not a few. My learning has been that it is actually easier to
work witrh a large group than a small one, and further, that the dynamics
in both cases are virtually identical -- strange as that may seem.
</div>
<br>
<div>The point about "Lots of Wall" is very well taken. When
the wall is too small, things get a lot more chummy than may be
comfortable. It always seems to work out, but it works better with more
space. My rule of thumb is 6 inches of wall per participant (20 cm) per
participant. For 800 people that is 400 feet of Wall. 300' will actually
do it, but more is better.</div>
<br>
<div>When it come to all the "stage management" I have never
found it necessary and, in some significant ways, counter productive. As
for the Czar... It is true that the addition of people and tasks that
Martin suggest may have the immediate impact of apparently making
things move more easily, but at a major cost. Every time you do something
for somebody you deny them the opportunity of doing it for themselves. It
is all about empowerment and taking personal responsibility. Of course if
everything were going to break down into a mass of confusion and discord,
then some form of additional assistance would be essential. But I have
never seen that happen. The folks always get it done, and most important,
they learn in the process what they can do.</div>
<br>
<div>In terms of some of the specifics -- "Room size on the
Post-its" Nice idea, but two problems. First, what starts out as a
small group will often grow, and so the size chosen turns out to be
"wrong." There is an easy solution for this, the group just
takes personal responsibility, exercises the Law of Two Feet -- and moves
to a more commodious environment. No sweat. But if you as facilitator
have taken responsibility for "space management" you are going
to be very busy and unhappily so. Self-management, and self-organization
will win every time. But it is important to choose a venue with lots of
different sorts of spaces so that groups can move My strategy is to keep
the main room free, so that large groups will have a place to go. They
will figure it out.</div>
<br>
<div>Then there is "Order on the Wall" Virtually every Open
Space I have done (small or large) somebody always seems to suggest that
it would be very nice if the wall were a little more orderly, and
especially nice if it were lined up by time slots. I used to resist. Now
I just let them go ahead. The result is instructive. Just about the time
they have gotten it all in order somebody makes a change (adds a session,
combines a session, drops a session -- inevitably without observing the
Wall Management Protocol.) They put their paper where they damn well
please. Of course you can have somebody standing there all day just to
keep things under control... The cruelest cut comes when some
participant loudly complans that "somebody has thrown out their
session." Of course it hasn't been thrown out -- just tidied
up. Reminds me of some of my family members who's bedrooms look roughly
like the aftermath of a tornado -- to me. But God forbid that I should
straighten it all up. I think there is some wisdom in all that mess, and
specifically a benefit to participants. If sessions are neatly lined up
by time slots, participants will (typically) make their selections rather
in the manner of a dance card... one per. On the other hand, if
everything is all over the place, the participants will first look for
what they care about and then figure out the time. And to me that lines
up the cart and the horse in the proper order. Go for what you care about
and the rest will take care of itself. Now truth to tell, I am not a
purist on all this. On a multi-day Open Space, it is useful to specify
the days. But beyond that -- anything goes -- very productively
so.</div>
<br>
<div>For me the real issue is -- think of one more thing not to do. And
if it turns out that it all works very well by itself without assistance
-- fantastic. And in addition the people will learn just that much more
about their own power and possibility. Over the years, I have found that
many (most?) of the sort of "assisting" kinds of things that I
have done were largely for my benefit, they made me feel better. But they
added nothing to the power and productivity of the Open Space. Indeed
some of them actually had the unintended consequent of diminishing that
power and productivity. </div>
<br>
<div>So, Martin -- no screams -- just some alternative thoughts and
experiences.</div>
<br>
<br>
<div>Harrison</div>
<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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