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<TITLE>VOSonVOS I - an Invitation from the OSI(US) Board</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana">Dear OS List Friends,<BR>
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On behalf of the OSI(US) Board, I’m excited to extend this invitation to participate in VOSonVOS I – the first (we think) Virtual Open Space on Virtual Open Space. We invite you to consider being part of the Design Team, the Advisory Group and/or to be a participant in this online event. The Design Team will work online and via conference call — starting this week. <BR>
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An additional invitation for general participation will go out in early April. However, we would love to gage early interest, so please take a moment to read the invitation below and fill out the registration form at http://bigmindmedia.com/vosonvos/register.html if you feel called to participate in any way. Your questions, comments and ideas are most welcome.<BR>
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Thank you,<BR>
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Gabriel Shirley<BR>
OSI (US) Board Member<BR>
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So we're all connected, now what? How do we do meaningful Open Space online?<BR>
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INVITATION TO CREATE VOSonVOS I<BR>
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The Open Space Institute (US), in collaboration with BigMindMedia and OS facilitators worldwide, intends to co-convene the first Virtual Open Space on Virtual Open Space (VOSonVOS) this spring. We envision this online event as an exploration of what it means to conduct Open Space online. We recognize that this is an experimental realm, with many more questions than answers, and we believe that the best way to learn about opening space online is to DO IT.<BR>
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To that end, we are convening a Design Team to craft the event and an Advisory Group to assist the Design Team. It is our intention that these groups will be geographically and culturally diverse so that the event itself is of interest to an internationally diverse group of participants. We invite you to be part of the design process.<BR>
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Specifically, we invite you to...<BR>
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- Become a member of the Design Team. This group will create the design and handle logistics and facilitation for the event. It will involve active participation online (approx 3hours per week for 6-12 weeks) and a few conference calls, using Open Space principles to guide our work. We’d like to have about 6 members total. Members so far: Gabriel Shirley, Jay Vogt, Nancy White<BR>
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- Alternatively, become a member of the Advisory Group that will review the design and give feedback/input from a broader perspective. The Design Team will decide the specifics of how to engage this feedback. The commitment is to be responsive to the Design Team when feedback is requested, and to offer input when you feel called to do so (3-6 hours total over time). Initial members: Peggy Holman, John Engle<BR>
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- Participate in the event itself and invite your colleagues to participate. (It's Open Space, so participate in the way that engages your passion. As a baseline suggestion, you might think in terms of 0.5 to 1.5 hours each day or two during the event.)<BR>
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Cost to participants<BR>
The final budget and attendance goals have not yet been determined. Our aim is broad participation, which means minimal fees. We hope this will be in the range of US$25 to $50 per person. We will invite both additional contributions to an Access Fund and requests for financial assistance.<BR>
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Approximate Timeline<BR>
March 25 Design Team conference call and introduction to online environment – 1 hour<BR>
April 8 Design Team conference call 2<BR>
April 9 Distribute the invitation to participate<BR>
April 9-16 Feedback from Advisory Group<BR>
April 29 Design Team conference call 3<BR>
April 30 – May 7 Feedback from Advisory Group<BR>
May 8-12 Design Team final prep<BR>
May 13 Event Launch<BR>
June 19 Event Close<BR>
June 20 Design Team conference call 4 - debrief<BR>
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We invite you to tell us how you would like to participate and to ask any questions you may have at this address:<BR>
http://bigmindmedia.com/vosonvos/register.html<BR>
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Thank you,<BR>
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The OSI(US) Board<BR>
Leon deKing , John Engle, Ric Giardina, Peggy Holman, Dave Koehler, Clarice Seiden, Gabriel Shirley, Janice Vincent, Jay Vogt <BR>
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Gabriel Shirley - gabriel@bigmindmedia.com<BR>
BigMindMedia - http://www.bigmindmedia.com<BR>
P.O. Box 1093 - 772 Camano Ave, Suite 101<BR>
Langley, WA 98260<BR>
360.221.7701<BR>
360.838.0117 fax<BR>
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