<html>
<body>
At 10:09 PM 6/11/2003 -0400, <font face="arial">Birgitt</font>
wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">The group raised
a number of questions that we hope we can do some learning from you
about. </font><br>
<font face="arial">1. The next time, would you have had participants
announce their topics or would you have left the announcing part out?
What happened to the energy when this part took so long (about two
hours?)?</font></blockquote><br>
The actual "announcements" took about 30 min. We had, in fact
allowed 2 hours from the start until the beginning of the first session
-- just to be safe. As it turned out, the group was a little slow in
arrival (big party the night before) so we got started for real a little
"late" -- which of course was the right time. And so it turned
out that everything took place in the "standard 1 and 1/2 hours. I
would never leave the announcements out -- for lots of reasons. 1)
Hearing the topics is a natural "edit" -- if somebody says
"my topic" I don't have to. 2) Announcing the topic is and act
of commitment -- most important expression of passion AND responsibility.
And yes -- it did seem to go on. . . it always does, I find. But it was
truly awesome.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">2. The next
time, would you limit the number of topics as you did this time. Your
agenda wall with its very clear organization for topics was
interesting but it is my understanding that you planned for 160 topics
but many more were generated and there was no planned way to deal with
them. It didn't look like the agenda wall left any room for the
"unplanned". And yet, maybe limiting the topics was
necessary.</font></blockquote><br>
We did not limit the topics. We had guessed (or more exactly Michael and
I guessed) that 150 would be the max. Prior to the gathering Michael and
I placed informal bets (Beer for all team members bought by the loser) --
but both were off by a wide margin. So we all drank a lot of beer. As for
more spaces -- just blew up more balloons. Seemed to work
perfectly.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">3. The next
time, would you have used cushions on the floor as you did to accomodate
the number of people. We thought that there was probably a lot of
discomfort esp when we became aware of how long people had to be in their
seats for the agenda building.</font></blockquote><br>
Given the space available -- there was no choice but cushions. We did
have chairs around the edges for those who's age or egos prevented
sitting on the floor. Personally i didn't hear any complaints, and for
sure the cushions (along with the balloons and floating signs)
contributed to the total atmosphere. So yes -- chairs would have been
nice. But the cushions were brilliant (Michael's Idea).<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">5. Could one of
you have facilitated this meeting on your own or did it really require
the two of you to "open" and then "hold" the space.
What was your reflection about it being so much male energy in the
facilitation--two men opening the space instead of one male and one
female? Did you feel that sharing the opening of the space was a positive
effect on your own energy or did co-facilitating deflect some of your
energy to your partner?</font></blockquote><br>
One person, speaking both English and German could easily have handled
the situation. But doing it together (speaking just for myself) was a
real treat and privilege. The Program said that I would do the opening,
and Michael would translate. At the very beginning, I made it clear that
was not the case. I said, "Michael will do his thing, I will do mine
-- and with luck we will arrive at the same place." We did. When it
comes to the male/female energy thing I have to say that it had occurred
to me to invite a woman partner, and there would have been a number of
wonderful candidates. I chose Michael for two reasons. First, I had
absolute confidence in his ability to deal effectively with the difficult
logistics and work effectively with the client. Not that others couldn't
have -- but with Michael, there wasn't even a speck of worry. The second
reason, and probably the major reason, was that Michael and I had worked
together long enough and often enough so that I knew there would be an
easy flow between us. Two people in a single dance. I called it a
"duet" -- changing metaphors. But dance or song -- it did flow.
And was there too much male energy? That is a question that somebody else
will have to answer, but my feeling is, no. Male and female energy is
something that all of us, regardless of gender, possess. Effective Open
Space facilitation requires the subtle, conscious, and sensitive use of
both. Some people can do this first time, no practice, just go.
Personally I have found that I can "do" male energy quite well
-- but I have to make a special intent to honor my feminine. It has been
an interesting journey of 67 years, but I think I am making some
progress. Perfect, no -- but progress.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">6. What is the
real advantage in a large OST meeting such as this one? What was
accomplished that could be cited as tangible results? Would it have
been better to break the large group into smaller ie:600 person
simultaneous OST meetings? Would that have been better for the
participants. We noted in the pictures that some of the breakout groups
had hundreds of participants and we were imagining that it would not be
very fulfilling---but Erich pointed out that likely these in fact were
like classes continuing on with masters from the "constellation
work" so they were not meant to be really
interactive.</font></blockquote><br>
There is something truly awesome when you have the Whole System in
the room. There is a richness and energy that you will not find in any
other situation. At a practical level -- our experience in Wuerzburg
demonstrated to me that given the space, numbers aren't an issue. I have
tried dividing large groups in the same area -- and found that they all
got back together again anyhow. Of course, we have also done
simultaneous, multi-site OS -- but that was due to budget and travel
constraints. And were it possible to do them again, I would have opted
for a single site. The fact that the break out sessions got rather large
does not relate to the total size of the group. I have worked with groups
1/4 the size (500) and had large (75) sessions. My learning is that
whatever we learned about "Optimal Group Size" isn't worth much
-- The real criteria in not numbers, but does it work? I have seen groups
of 2 being totally dysfunctional and groups of 75+ just flying. And of
course there is always the Law of Two Feet. If the group is too big
(multiple issues) use 'em. Of course, there is a learning curve,. and in
a one day OS, some folks are still caught in concrete. But they
learn.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial">7. In what
circumstances would you recommend such a large OST meeting and what could
the client expect to achieve?</font></blockquote><br>
Criteria for use??? Same as always. Issue of major, common concern, lots
of diversity. mind blowing complexity, presence of conflict... Open
Space. The numbers don't matter. <br><br>
Harrison<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<br>
Open Space Training
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</a>
<br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
<u>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
</u></font>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<br>
view the archives of <font color="#0000FF"><u>oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu<br>
</u></font>Visit: <a href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a><br><br>
<br><br>
</font></u></div>
</body>
</html>
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:
<p>
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html