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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=Smkerr7@aol.com href="mailto:Smkerr7@aol.com">Susan M Kerr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 04, 2005 7:52 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: The World Cafe</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>My copy of The World Cafe arrived yesterday, so I've only just started the
reading, but it looks very interesting. We used World Cafe last year in Scotland
at the OT22 conference (Organizational Transformation - year 22) for the first
morning, then went into Open Space for the remainder of the 3 days.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John Adams was one of the key facilitators of that - if he is on this
perhaps he can speak to the process or motivation for using it. I thought
it was a good experience - yes more structured than a usual open space beginning
but I liked hearing the ideas from the different groups and how they built on
each other - and the physical medium of writing/drawing on the paper covering
the tables. And for me, it helped get to know the people in the group. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Following that we went into open space with opening the circle as
usual.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't know if it will be used at OT23 this July in Milwaukee or not -
perhaps if Shelia Isakson is on here she can speak to that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Not having lead OS yet (I'm a fringe dweller on this list) I have
participated in a few. Currently where I work the leaders are not quite open to
it. I am exploring WC as a tool I might be able to introduce there and would
like to hear more how others have used it and what benefits they have found with
it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Susan Kerr</DIV>
<DIV>Milwaukee, WI, USA</DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>G'day All</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chris Corrigan's nudging is always difficult to resist ... :-) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My sense is that Susan's experience is a nice indication of where and
how Cafe processes can complement OST. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John Adams who Susan mentioned is well known to Harrison and many
others on this list; he was present when Open Space was first
<BR>"rolled out" at Organizational Transformation (OT) 3 in 1985. John is a
great friend of mine and he and I have had periodic exchanges </DIV>
<DIV>about the uses of OST and World Cafe (TWC) processes. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He has said to me that, in his role of facilitator of recent
annual OT gatherings, he has introduced TWC both in the opening and
closing</DIV>
<DIV>1/2 day sessions - around the main OST event - to very good
effect. * </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps the 'reasons' for this, in my take, is that sitting at small tables
- what I have called 'eyeball to eyeball' distance apart and what Lisa
Kimball</DIV>
<DIV>describes as 'knee to knee' - produces feelings of inclusivity and
intimacy which in turn means that participants quickly go deeply
into </DIV>
<DIV>questions which emerge at the time rather than being prepared in
advance. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Moving around periodically (which does not always happen in TWC meetings)
leads to meeting new people, and helps participants </DIV>
<DIV>appreciate that there can be many perspectives of an issue, some of which
they had not remotely imagined. Also participants often report</DIV>
<DIV>that the germ of an idea which arose at one table developed
further when it was taken to another group. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There is much more which could be said, not the least that in
particular circumstances - independent of a time factor - one of these
formats is more appropriate</DIV>
<DIV>than the other. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I wonder if anyone else here who has used both of these wondrous processes
would wish to say something about the issue of 'control' which </DIV>
<DIV>'worries' Harrison. It does me too, particularly when the facilitator/host
of a WCT event is not a 'spacer type person'! Yet in my
observation there </DIV>
<DIV>are contexts in which the 'disadvantage' of a bit more 'hands on' by the
facilitator can be thought of as being outweighed by participants having </DIV>
<DIV>a lively experience, as Susan, Jeff and others have expressed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And perhaps also touch on distinctions between facilitating and
hosting?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The new book which Dave Cox mentioned is a treasure trove
of wholesome stories of the effectiveness of TWC and of very thoughtful
</DIV>
<DIV>questions - and is a totally different entity to Juanita
Brown's PhD dissertation; Berrett Koehler have seen to that. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Let me say again (having done so previously on our list) that I see OST and
TWC as very compatible. For are they not both methodologies</DIV>
<DIV>in which treating each other well is the starting point in the course
of addressing questions that matter? And do they not both bring forth
the possibility</DIV>
<DIV>of producing feelings of freshness and of the emergence of
unforeseen creativity and optimism? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Harrison and Juanita are both to be accorded the highest of accolades, in
my opinion. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>With love</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Alan </DIV>
<DIV>Hong Kong </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>* John notes: </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"If anyone has not yet heard, OT 23 will be held this summer in Milwaukee
July 26-29. And OT 24 will be July 25-29 on the big island of Hawaii, at the
<BR>retreat center of Joel and Michelle Levy. I am sure that we will continue to
experiment with integrations of TWC and OST at these two coming
attractions."<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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