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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Lucas – Sounds like a
lot of fun. And I know on the basis of long experience, being an old Fed
myself, that Feds are just like every other human being on the planet. When
they first sit down in the circle they may think it is a little bit weird. However,
if you will just go right ahead with the “Standard opening” –
Welcome to Open Space as you walk the circle – move right to the reason
for the gathering (We are here today to solve the problems of transparency) hit
the four principles, one law, the admonition (prepare for surprises) –
and if you keep all of that to 15-20 min they will be hard at work identifying their
issues and never look back. Don’t worry about making them feel
comfortable – just open the space and get the folks working. After all
that is why they came (I hope). Anything else is just a distraction, I think.
Have fun!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Harrison Owen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>7808 River Falls Dr.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Potomac, MD 20854<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>USA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Phone 301-365-2093<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>www.openspaceworld.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;
color:#1F497D'>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives of <a href="mailto:oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu"><span
style='color:blue'>oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html"><span
style='color:blue'>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Lucas Cioffi<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:36 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Balloons as an Ice Breaker<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Howdy All, <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Bottom line up front: How do you break the ice with
participants unfamiliar to OS?<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Here's one way I found helpful:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>I recently facilitated an open space workshop for sixty
participants from roughly two dozen federal agencies. The topic was how
to make government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative as part
of the Administration's <a
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive">Open
Government Directive</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>I'm a novice at OS, but I've learned a bunch from this list
and I'm happy to offer an idea which may be helpful to others. OS can be
intimidating, especially for government employees, so I opened with a
collaborative exercise using balloons. The inspiration came from a
landscape architect's presentation where he accented a landscape with huge
balloon sculptures to give it a playful feel for adults.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>Rules of the Game:</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'>Everyone gets 2 colored balloons in a sealed
envelope.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'>There is a point system posted on the wall
(Red = 5, Orange = 4, Yellow = 3, Green = 2, Blue = 1).<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'>Collaboration through trading is heavily
incentivized-- if someone ends up with a pair of balloons which are the
same color, then their score is multiplied times three. This
encourages people to mingle and create win-win scenarios. There are
no restrictions on how balloons can be traded (for example trading 1 for
1, 2 for 1, or even 0 for 1).<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'>Participants are given three minutes to inflate
and trade their balloons. The goal is to have the most points.
(An alternate goal could be to maximize the number of points for the
entire group rather than individuals.)<o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>Reasons why we opened with a game:</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Make it clear that this was a place where it's OK
to be creative, unlike their standard government workplace<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Prime the audience for the subject matter of
collaboration (learn by doing)<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Have some fun<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Build a bit of community among the participants
who were mostly strangers (incentivize mingling).<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Create a shared experience.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Create a little chaos.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'>Jazz up the place visually with a few balloons
(it needed some color)<o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong>Reasons why we opened with this game for this
workshop</strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Thomas Jefferson had a saying that “He who receives
ideas from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who
lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.”
After the exercise I asked the participants what the difference was between
trading a physical object (like a balloon) and sharing an idea; this exercise
was lively and helped them understand that their purpose during the workshop
was to share knowledge and benefit from others doing the same.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Each month a different agency hosts this workshop for all
the other agencies, and to keep the workshops fresh, our next opener will
consist of small collaborative teams competing to build the tallest
marshmallow-spaghetti tower (here's a fascinating TED <a
href="http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html">video</a> which
describes some stats behind this game).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Any thoughts? Do you open with games or collaborative
exercises that you would recommend? As always, thanks for the discussion!<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Lucas<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal>* *
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