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<TITLE>Re: Acquantence & Reports for 2 days OS in Siberia</TITLE>
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Dear Elena,<BR>
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Your questions are important and similar to ones I have pondered myself this very week.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">It looks like that my proposal to provide a workshop for meeting of business people and local government people, who visited US for their professional exchange, with the idea to discuss <BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">How do they use their experience? and What they can do more together? <BR>
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It sounds like these two questions are your theme. It seems like a good theme.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">in a form of OS was heard and it will be held in a week, so there is no possibility to predict what will be discussed and the name is just used as Open World (so I think we need to say more about some possible goals at the beginning?) <BR>
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</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">"No possibility to predict..." is good. When I open the space, I do elaborate about the theme and its importance. But I am very careful not to suggest specific outcomes; I invite individual, private attention on what the people in the circle care about most related to the theme.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">and for more dinamic, and experience (people are not used to such a form at all), I want to make presentations at the end of the first day with more proposals for discussions on the second day. <BR>
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</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">Until this week, I had never used presentations or group reports in Open Space. It is not a part of the process. But this week, in a group of sixteen, my friend Peter Donaldson facilitated a "working lunch." Our four sessions of Open Space were complete. It was noon on our second day and we were about to move to convergence and action planning. We arranged the eating tables in a big hexagon. The convenor or reporter from each group stood with their flip-chart and made a report. The group asked a few clarifying questions, and toasted and applauded each reporter. It was lovely. We only had ten or eleven reports. <BR>
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I know it is very important not to break the flow of Open Space. Perhaps others will comment on this related to your idea of making presentations at the end of the first day. Can someone share how you do "evening news" and how it is different from reporting? <BR>
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The time-tested practice for closing is to hold a talking circle. People don't report; they share whatever is on their mind, often a highlight from the experience. The written proceedings provide the report.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">As I think people need to hear each other!</FONT></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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Yes! Our group this week, like yours, did not have experience in interactive processes. They kept looking to a designated leader for permission to act. Sensing their anxiety, there was a moment when I was tempted to change the process, but I trusted the process instead. Which was right. <BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">also 2 more questions:</FONT></FONT></FONT> <BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2">1/ If people are not acquanted, will the process of acquantence, even short one change the atmosphere? <BR>
is it better with the process of acquaintance or without? there will be some 45 people.</FONT> <BR>
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</FONT>Introductions can slow a group down. People get to know one another as they engage in their work in Open Space.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="2">2/ As we are still not used to read reports at the end and I would like to make presentations, is it better to make it at the first day and then at the second - the rest, or at the end - before closing session? How do you think?<BR>
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</FONT></FONT>I would like to hear from others about this.<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"> <BR>
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Best wishes, Elena. Thank you for your fine questions.<BR>
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Chris Weaver<BR>
Asheville, North Carolina, USA<BR>
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