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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Dear
wise, thoughtful, playful, kind and courageous colleagues –<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=1
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>I
am now <span class=GramE>back</span> from facilitating in and for the
International AIDS Conference, which was held in </span></font><st1:place><st1:City><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Barcelona</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>,
</span></font><st1:country-region><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Spain</span></font></st1:country-region></st1:place><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>
in July.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=GramE>An
amazing experience.</span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span
class=GramE>For one, the people who work against this horrific epidemic.</span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Scientists, activists, parents,
survivors, policy makers, sex workers, and people with HIV disease –
sometimes all in the same person.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>You walk across to world to meet each other (people come from every
country and culture, from all over the globe, from the poorest village to the
biggest cities) and though you are each unique, you share a common sense of
sharing in life and death experiences – you share an intimacy before
you’ve even met.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It was also
a magical experience of standing next to someone on the steps, turning to meet
them and discovering that you both do the same thing and that person is exactly
the right person for you to have met right then – Whoever Comes Is the
Right Person and Be Prepared to Be Surprised, indeed.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Plus, we were blessed at Closing
Ceremony to hear the eloquent words of two former Presidents, Bill Clinton and
Nelson Mandela.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=GramE>Both
passionate fighters for health, access and dignity for all.</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=1
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>As
for the facilitations: I’d come to facilitate <span class=SpellE>skillsbuilding</span>
workshops in 1) how to take in and process all the information overload of a
conference and 2) strategic planning for vulnerable communities.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>We repeated the workshops in English,
Spanish and French for both topics (I don’t speak French, but I helped
with logistics and waved my hands a lot). For the Community Forum session
before the official conference opened, the conference also asked me to take on
the role of being the lead facilitator of a team of 30 international
facilitators, in a process which I inherited from someone who’d designed
it – a process that I didn’t wholly agree with.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>How would you help 1500 people from all
places and languages network with each other in two hours?<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I’m sure you have some OST-style
ideas.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Their (the pl</span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>anne</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>rs
of this community forum) idea was to have everybody stand under a b</span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>anne</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>r
of their <span class=GramE>continent,</span> with a contact sheet in hand
(their goal was to make 5 contacts).<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>They also wanted people to break into interest areas of: Prevention,
Treatment and Care, Youth and Young People, Gender and Sexuality, Vulnerable
and Marginalized Populations, Mobility and Migration.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Great <span class=GramE>topics,</span>
and they reflect the different issues identified by conference organizers.
Originally 60 facilitators were supposed to circulate to make sure that people
made contacts one-to-one or in groups of no more than three people and to
encourage them to move on to another group periodically to make their total of
5 contacts.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Mimes would also circulate
throughout the gathering to help people find their way.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=1
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:35.75pt;text-align:justify'><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>So
you can see how I put this through an Open Space filter.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Not that OS is the only way; it’s
just that their process seemed so similar yet there was so much control that it
might limit greater possibilities.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>Well, to make a long story short (hmmm…all my stories are long
stories…), we merged our thoughts to create an adapted method, with a
handout in three languages and simple graphics indicating the 4 steps
participants could take (Make a sign with your question/issue/topic of
passion/interest, wear it or wave it, people of similar interest will find you,
feel free to bumblebee around).<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>We
30 or so facilitators wore signs that said “May I help you?” in all
the languages we spoke, and circulated about in the m</span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>anne</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>r
of a host introducing people of similar interests at one’s own cocktail
party.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Some of us facilitators
added other topics to their signs, such as ‘Ask me where the restrooms
are’ and ‘Kisses, 50 cents)… Some participants made many
marvelous connections; others felt they never really knew what was happening
and took care of themselves by going home to rest (many had just arrived and
were totally jet-lagged, and the morning had been a series of speeches).<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=GramE>A great success.</span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Although I think it would have been
better with a ritual / formal opening and closing, as in Open Space
Technology.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>So I experienced a
little ego-bruising when some of the great facilitators looked back at the
experience as perhaps needing a bit more opening and closure.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=GramE>Because in our
compromise with the original design, the organizers did not want Open Space.</span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I just snuck in what I could of the OS
elements.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>So it looked like I was
the lead in a process I designed which was not entirely transcendent.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>Heh</span></span><span
class=GramE>.</span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Lisa lived.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>L i s a<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>H e f t<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>Consultant, facilitator,
educator<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>O p e n i n g<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>S p a c e<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>2325 </span></font><st1:State><st1:place><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'>Oregon</span></font></st1:place></st1:State><font size=2
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:place><st1:City><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>Berkeley</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'>, </span></font><st1:State><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>California</span></font></st1:State></st1:place><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>94705-1106<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span></span></font><st1:country-region><st1:place><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'>USA</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>(+01) 510 548-8449<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>lisaheft@pacbell.net<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";mso-no-proof:yes'>www.openspaceworld.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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