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At 11:55 AM 11/27/00 -0500, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Harrison--<br>
Condolences that you aren't the new record-holder. Congratulations
on a<br>
productive and wonderful meeting.<br>
<br>
There is always another day . . .</blockquote><br>
Thanks for your solicitude! But while I'm waiting -- I might as well
confess that there actually was some method in my madness. The reason
that I was hoping for a truly large group was in order to demonstrate to
my own satisfaction that handling a group of 1500 required essentially no
more pre-planning and onsite logistical support than for a group of 150.
Obviously there are more bodies which require more space and a bigger
wall. But what about such things as traffic flow, group size (and
therefore appropriate breakout room size)? One could argue, as indeed
some have, that when you reach a certain size, you are going to have to
bend a few principles, if you will, in terms of doing things for the
group, and telling them what to do -- all in the name of preserving some
semblance of the civil peace. So it was an experiment of sorts. <br>
<br>
Obviously 850 is not 1500. Then again 850 is not a small group either.
And this much I can say. Everything happened just as usual. No surprises.
There was one of me, and no additional effort devoted to traffic and
space management. Everything took care of itself. I think it safe
to extrapolate from that experience (850) to a much larger group (1500)
-- and say that the power of self-organization amongst Homo sapiens is
every bit up to the task. No help needed. But that is just an
extrapolation. Maybe on another day the experiment will be run for
real.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Harrison Owen</blockquote>
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