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Harrison and Suzanne,<br>
<br>
Thanks for attending my session on how to improve individual session
facilitation!<br>
<br>
I totally agree that the "whatever happens" helps deal with the
results of hosting a session, Suzanne. And I also completely agree
that the process of the Open Space itself should not be interfered
with. I'm not looking for an OST intervention!!! Wandering
facilitation trainers - ugh!<br>
<br>
My wondering isn't about improving Open Space - it's about improving
myself - and maybe making that learning available to others also
interested in improving their own participation.<br>
<br>
For myself, hosting an Open Space conference has been weirdly more
simple than getting people to come to my sessions! Part of it is
that there is so much help for how to host an Open Space. Lisa
Heft's training was indispensable for me. Attending other people's
Open Space events was also incredibly powerful. There's the manual,
there's OSList. And actually hosting and facilitating them was the
biggest training ground of them all. In a way, that's also true for
convening successful OST sessions. Practice. Do it. Learn from
doing. Do it again. What I sense is that there's a lot of the "learn
from doing" that we don't really have to be doing alone. That could
be shared. There's a wealth of experience to get to the learning
faster!<br>
<br>
Interestingly, the one particular challenge I had with getting the
Open Space to work was the same challenge I had with my sessions.
Getting people to come. It's nice saying "whatever happens" and
"whoever comes" but I think more guidance could be made available
(but again, not in the Open Space). One of the best advice I heard
about this is that it's just about inviting people into the circle
and doing it again and again. But again, I think more could be
uncovered. One thing I just had a sense for myself was to reach out
to already existing communities and participate. The way to reach
out is something I'm still learning. The book "Made to Stick" has
helped with the wording. But I can tell there's more to learn.<br>
<br>
There's another bit of advice I received just yesterday from a
fellow software developer who is also an Open Space fan. Arlo
Belshee was attempting to answer the question of an author I respect
greatly about what would work best as a session. I had already said
my piece which reflected my awareness of the community and what
topics were the most interesting, and how that might intersect with
his own interests. I found Arlo's advice even better, and in a way
it was related. Arlo said he never plans his sessions in advance as
to what he's going to say. Instead he reads the room and hears what
people are talking about. And Arlo gets great attendance at his
sessions at all the Open Space events I've seen him at - which have
been quite a few. In a way, Arlo's advice sounded a lot like a
Toyote Production Systems practice (a lean manufacturing practice)
called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genchi_Genbutsu">Genchi
Genbutsu</a> - "Go to the source to find the facts to make correct
decisions." It's about being more present and see what's actually
going on. Some people already know and can surface what needs to
surface at the right time. I seem to need to work at it!<br>
<br>
This all happened yesterday for me at <a
href="http://leancamp.crowdvine.com/">Seattle Lean Camp</a>, which
was a properly facilitated Open Space Technology conference. Jeremy
Lightsmith did a great job opening the space. Many people wondered
after the event why people are still paying thousands for
traditional conferences when so clearly we get better results for
just $50 using Open Space. It's a good question!<br>
<br>
I got another powerful hint at what can help get people to come to
your sessions. At the Open Space evening news on Saturday for Lean
Camp Seattle, the facilitators asked what percentage of the
attendees had been to "Lean Coffee". It was over 50%! Their Lean
Coffee was described as the same thing as Open Space except in just
a couple hours. It's an open forum that happens about once a month
at a cafe' in Seattle to talk about lean management/software issues.
Whoever comes is the right people. They put their topics up on
cards, like the Open Space billboard, and then work their way
through the topics in vote priority order. It's not quite the same
as an OST conference, but multiple people claimed that their lean
coffee events were basically "the same" as OST. Jeremy Lightsmith
and Jim Benson have succeeded in creating a full blown Open Space
conference and getting high attendance by creating the feeling of
Open Space in stammtisch style in advance - creating community and
credibility by taking the time to initiate and invite again and
again people into conversation.<br>
<br>
There's a lot more to be said here but this is already way too long.
Perhaps it'd be better for me not to ask the question, just be happy
with the guidance that's already available, and be satisfied. I hope
I don't offend by continuing to ask the question and wondering - if
people don't like my question I'm probably going to continue to host
the session and attend just by myself. I seem to do that often! But
I'm going to keep asking: How can I get better at convening
successful sessions at OST conferences?<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Harold<br>
<br>
<br>
On 7/14/11 3:01 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">Harold wrote: “It's interesting that Open Space
gives very minimal advice for convening sessions - but I can
tell that some are much better at it than others. Both in
the choice of topics that are relevant and in the actual
facilitation of the group conversation. I continue to be
curious about what works and what doesn't work for the
convening of individual sessions in an Open Space.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align:
center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";
color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">It is a curiosity, for sure. And you are not the
first, nor doubtless the last to wonder. Over the years,
people have tried just about everything, ranging from
“Providing Guidelines for discussion” – to recruiting a
corps of wandering facilitators, available upon request.
Some even tried “assigned facilitators.” Or a “designated
process – e.g. “Dialogue.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align:
center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";
color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">I can’t say that I have seen it all, but what I
have seen brought me to the conclusion that any intervention
was, at the very least, more trouble than it was worth. And
in worse case scenarios, actually counter-productive. Nobody
ever followed the “Guidelines.” The “wandering facilitators”
were inevitably in the wrong place and either sat on their
hands or were totally overwhelmed. Attempts to manage the
process with “assigned facilitators” drove the “managers”
crazy as the natural dynamics of Open Space refused to
follow any process they envisioned, and if they attempted to
control the dynamics of OS – well good luck! Mandating some
formal process like Dialogue really gummed up the works. It
was just too slow and out of sync with the ebb and flow of
discussion. And it often seemed that people were more
concerned to “manage the process” than to talk to each
other. Even worse, stupid discussions (my judgment) were
continued because people assumed that if they got the
process right, the discussion would improve. From where I
sat the problem was that the topic was a mindless matter of
minimal concern, and yet the moribund horse continued to be
beaten. Or something.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align:
center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";
color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">Perhaps it is the eternal optimist in me – or
something about half full glasses. My wonderment was that
the sessions were as good as they were, and generally
speaking – better than any facilitated session I had ever
attended. Could it possibly be that the whole business of
“facilitation” was vastly overrated? Heresy!!!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align:
center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";
color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">But as I concentrated on what was clearly working
very well “all by itself” I began to notice that even in
those situations where the discussion was less than
outstanding (by whatever standards), nevertheless useful
things were happening. For example, was the stated topic
never addressed? Yes, but what came up was infinitely better
and more interesting, I thought. I think I learned
something: People really don’t know what they are talking
about UNTIL they create to talk. Which is why tightly built
agendas never seem to work. Yes you cover the agenda, but
did you do anything useful, productive, creative? By
definition, NO! You ended up in precisely the position you
said you were going to reach – so why take the trip in the
first place? You were already there. Just write the minutes
in advance and cancel the meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">Then there were those situations where the whole
thing was just stupid and snarky. People argued endlessly
about nothing of importance – just for the sake of arguing,
it seems. But even that painful experience turned out (more
often than not) to be a positive. Folks learned to use the
Law of Two Feet. Or at the very least, they learned that
they COULD use the Law next time – unless they honestly
enjoyed being miserable and non-productive. Which does
happen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">Anyhow, Harold, your wonderment is a shared one.
But after some years considering the emergent situation, I
have come to the conclusion that any fix I might propose
will create more problems than it solves. That could just be
lazy, and doubtless younger and more subtle minds may find a
way. But I ain’t holding my breath.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);">Harrison <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
"Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31,
73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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</blockquote>
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