<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Thanks for your marvelous description of a marvelous event, dear Suzanne.</div><div><br></div><div>Beijos e abraços</div><div><br></div><div>Artur</div><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Claudia Alarcon <claudia.alarcon@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thu, September 30, 2010 3:35:12 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [OSLIST] My Love Affair continues<br></font><br>
<div>Dear Suzanne,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The event was wonderful and beyond our expectations. I was so blessed to be there. You opened and held the space beautifully.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thank you for your inspiration.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Claudia Alarcon<br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Suzanne Daigle <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:sdaigle4@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:sdaigle4@gmail.com">sdaigle4@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT:1ex;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;">
<p class="MsoNormal">At the very beginning, the recovered “Miss Fix it” that I was with “No task too big” from the corporate world, becoming an Open Space facilitator seemed like a climb to Mount Everest. This weekend supported by so many friends (Christine Whitney Sanchez, Harold Shinsato, Lisa Heft, Larry Peterson, Diane Gibeault, Harrison of course, Alan Stewart, Juan Luis Walker and so many others), I felt I peaked at a Base Camp level with an absolutely wonderful team: members of the Scrum Technology community and their many allies.<span> </span>Indeed I have facilitated many Open Space events <span> </span>but this one in Phoenix AZ was truly unique and special.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For this two day event, there was community before we even met. <span> </span>(The true spirit of pre-work as Ms Heft would call it). <span></span>Weeks before, topics were flying on the internet around this theme of “Scrum beyond Software” on blogs, on twitter, on facebook and everywhere. Dreams were starting to crystallize, anticipation was building and the spirit of welcome was in the air. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll admit that I was somewhat trepidatious<span> in</span> this chaotic, “who’s doing what” shared leadership, self-organizing world with my new techie friends. I breathed in and breathed out, knowing that what they have done to change the world in technology, in community, as free agents and free spirits to make this global world a smaller place, through technology change and large system change, well I knew they had something precious to share with the rest of the world. <span> </span>And share they did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From California to Serbia, Canada to the Eastern US, from the Mid-West to the Far-West, they came.<span> </span><span>The banner and welcome signs became works of art, the chairs quickly arranged in circle, everything was ready the night before. Comfortably settled in this incredible place called “Gangplank”, certainly worth reading about (<a target="_blank" href="http://gangplankhq.com/">http://gangplankhq.com/</a> ) that could not have been better chosen for all its principles and values which parallel so much of who we are in Open Space, the conversations began.</span><span> </span>Quickly participants bounded to the center, many still infused with the Orlando event last March that Harrison hosted.<span> </span>The topics just kept coming, too many to really count because it really didn’t matter.<span> </span>It was the passion behind the words that mattered most. <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What I realized in that instant is that when there is a spirit of welcome, a diverse group, people who are there because they want to be there, a sense of urgency because the world needs this and a complex topic that sparks and ignites, well indeed magic or real life happens.<span> </span>People quickly shed their facades, threw caution to the wind, and they got to work.<span> </span>In my opening remarks, I talked about nervous energy (for those who had never sat in a circle like this in Open Space) and pent-up energy (for those who just wanted to get on with it so pressing were the topics they wanted to discuss) suggesting that these were the perfect ingredients for innovation and creativity.<span> </span>I invited all to pause, to look around that giant circle as if seated in the Arizona desert <span> </span>to see who was there and to leave room from within for the 4 principles and the Law of 2 feet to do
their thing.<span> </span>Leave some space to be surprised, I said, and let go of pre-determined expectations. <span> </span>These principles and this law, would be some of the precious take-aways to be used in our life beyond this event. <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No sooner were those words spoken than my job was done.<span> </span>I truly became invisible (with a slight tad of sadness I’ll admit) knowing that passion and responsibility had found their place and there was truly nothing left to do.<span> </span>Yes in some cases, there were concerns: were people documenting their reports, were we capturing the names of all the participants…and I chose to simply smile knowing that I could not interrupt the intense conversations (butterflies, bumble bees and participants) as it would perhaps crash the one magical moment where individuals were connecting and creating something greater than I could imagine. <span> </span>I had no doubt that everything would be alright, that responsibility would combine with passion and that action would naturally emerge which it did and will. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I stood back and quietly watched the intense expressions, the energy bouncing off the walls (exhausting at times), the charged discussions, the markers flying on the flip chart sheets, the smart phone video cameras capturing the action in the moment, the live stream twitter comments enticing folks outside the room to respond. It was exciting; it was exhilarating!<span> </span><span>Anyone interested, have a peak (blogs and live stream) <a target="_blank" href="http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/">http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then at some point, I shed my facilitator role too and had a few wonderful and life changing conversations with a few butterflies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As we closed the circle after two days asking people to say not what they thought but rather to describe how they “felt” about what had happened, I knew then just as I had experienced it at the Wave Rider event in Toronto and also at WOSonOS <span> </span>in Taiwan that these moments would never happen again. This is it and this is now!<span> </span>Certainly what happened in those two days borrowing from the title of one of Harrison’s books is that for those two days in Phoenix, we were “Expanding our Now” and I, for one, will be forever grateful to have had a small part in making this happen with others.<span> </span>My love affair with Open Space continues.<span> <br>
</span></p>Suzanne<br>-- <br>Suzanne Daigle<br>NuFocus Strategic Group<br>7159 Victoria Circle<br>University Park, FL 34201<br>FL 941-359-8877; <br>CT 203-722-2009<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nufocusgroup.com/">www.nufocusgroup.com</a><br>
<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com">s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com</a><br><input type="hidden"><input type="hidden">
<div></div>* * ========================================================== <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank" href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a> ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu">oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu</a><span>: <a target="_blank" href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</a> </span></blockquote>
</div><br><span>
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:
<a target="_blank" href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a>
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</a>
</span></div></div><div style="position:fixed"></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist