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<DIV>Has anyone noticed more milling about before people move into sessions over
the last few years? I'd been noticing enough of a trend this way that I
always intend to explicitly tell people that there won't be anyone telling them
when to move, that it is up to them to follow their own rhythms and
interests. I haven't quite internalized this yet, so I usually
forget. Anyway, I think I may have figured out what is going on.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I just did an OS for a friend for a group of about 50. He uses OS a
lot but wanted to be able to really participate in this one. He
told me that he was a little surprised when the first round of breakout
sessions was starting that I didn't tell people it was time to get
started. He came to me when the first round after lunch
were scheduled to start and asked me wasn't I going to ring a bell and let
people know? I basically told him that I never did that. The
participants were adults and could figure it out for themselves. He was
floored and a little upset. He said he always lets people know. And
then it dawned on me: there are more and more people who have experienced
OS. Perhaps there are many practitioners doing what Jon does - telling
people when it is time to start the next session. I realized that since
most of these folks came at Jon's invitation, they were probably enculturated
to responding to a bell. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So I took what seemed a middle ground to me and rang a bell, saying, "It's
1:30 and all's well." I figured a town crier was a minimalist thing to do
-- providing information without attachment to how people used
it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I then spoke more with Jon because I wanted to understand his
perspective. He said that to him, what is posted, like the
session start times, are part of the commons and when he is holding the
space, that is part of his contract with the group, to give them the
information. He doesn't care what they do once they hear it. So, it
strikes me that Town Crier is a good description of what he does.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Given the trend I mentioned, I suspect Jon isn't the only one doing
something like this. I'd love to hear other thoughts on providing
information that marks the passage of time.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>from sunny (for a change) Seattle,</DIV>
<DIV>Peggy</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>________________________________<BR>Peggy Holman<BR>The Open Circle
Company<BR>15347 SE 49th Place<BR>Bellevue, WA 98006<BR>(425) 746-6274
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.opencirclecompany.com">www.opencirclecompany.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to: <BR><A
href="http://www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook">www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook</A>
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get
burnt, is to become <BR>the fire".<BR> -- Drew
Dellinger</DIV></BODY></HTML>
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