Hi Rob, thanks so much for sharing your experience and feelings, <br><br>- having had the group settle the circle seemed to me a very good idea at first. Afterwards, I think it's better that the facilitator arranges it in advance:<br>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">-you don't need to explain anybody how it should be done (form, distances, what to put in the middle,...)<br>- more important: you express the group with no words, visually, just as anyone enters the place, that they are coming to a special kind of gathering, you rise expectations,...<br>
<br></div>-regarding your doubts about intervening or not, I'll just tell you that I have myself experienced the same feelings many times, and I'm learning to let go of my own agenda. Besides, it's very difficult to really know what is really happening in anyone's mind although one would assume that s/he should use her/his two feet...<br>
<br>this was my two cents, Rob, hope it somehow helped,<br><br>enjoy life!<br><div id="watch-description-text"><br>
<div><div><div style="color: black; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #006600; font-weight: bold;">Eleder</span><span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> </span><span style="background-color: #cccccc; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-repeat: repeat; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="color: black;">B<span style="color: #cc0000;">u</span>M</span><span style="color: red;">31 </span></span></span><span style="background-repeat: repeat; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099;">Mind Mapping-</span><span style="color: #009900;">Open Space Technology</span>-<span style="color: #b45f06;">Creativity<br>
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</div></div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2011/11/23 Rob van der Eyden <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:robvandereyden@veranderarchitect.nl">robvandereyden@veranderarchitect.nl</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="NL"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Hello all,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">I still wanted to share some of my experiences in the Open Space I facilitated a couple a weeks ago. The event was a ‘Veranderdiner’ (Changediner) that we organize a couple a times a year for a network of people interested in behavioral change. Topic this time was: ‘What can I do to make the world a better place?’. About 20 people showed up.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">We had positive reactions on the event, lively conversations, new people met. Valuable experience gained in facilitating an Open Space. All good. About the Open Space ‘technique’:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:38.25pt"><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">We asked the participants to set up the circle of chairs for them self. Worked really well.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:38.25pt"><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">The agenda we had lying on floor in the middle of the circle. After a short introduction, I asked the participants for their topics / sessions. Lot of (very diverse) topics were raised, each put an a paper. Each paper was put somewhere at the agenda, but mostly not at a specific location / timeslot. That was probably because I did not put post-its on the agenda, that could be taken by everyone that wanted to host a session (so will do that next time). So we ended with a stack of topics suggested to be discussed, but no agenda yet…<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:38.25pt"><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">So on to ‘signing up’: based on the discussion on the OS List, I decided to ask the participants to sign up for the topics they were interested in by putting their name on that paper. Result? Nobody did that, but the buzz did certainly get going. And probably a bit different than it should, because we did not have clear topics assigned to location/timeslot. I ‘managed to’ leave it to the group to figure it out. There were some participants that started trying to organize the whole thing (“let’s do it like this…”), but in some way several groups formed about some topics (which were probably all different from the ones posted in the first run) and they got to work and have a good time.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:38.25pt"><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">I did feel some struggle within me during the event. Before we got started one of the participants told me about a (to me very good and clear) topic he wanted to discuss, but for some reason he did not raise it in the group, but chose to raise another topic (to me very vague). I felt some regret, decided to let it go, but when another topic related topic came up, I did make a reference. That went nowhere, so probably I should have stayed out in the first place. Later when I listened in to some of the conversations, I got the feeling that some participants were more involved than others, so I started wondering ‘why don’t they use their 2 feet?’ and ‘should I remind them about that possibility?’ I did not. Any other experiences on that? I had the idea that participants still feel it as not done / not polite to leave a session… Guess I am still trying to find the balance letting the group do it themselves and trying to influence / taking care of the participants <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:38.25pt"><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><u></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">We closed with a nice ‘talking stick’ closing circle with warm reactions. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">So probably I did not do it all by the book, but still I look back to a great event and am looking forward to try again ;-)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Again: thank you all for sharing your thoughts on signing up earlier.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Best regards, Rob <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US">Van:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US"> <a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] <b>Namens </b>Rob van der Eyden<br>
<b>Verzonden</b></span><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> dinsdag 8 november 2011 21:30<br>
<b>Aan:</b> 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'<br><b>Onderwerp:</b> Re: [OSList] Signing up for sessions<u></u><u></u></span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Wow! How good to see how ‘alive’ this open space community is. Thank you all for all your valuable thoughts on signing up. I will try to find my way based on your suggestions and I will share my experiences with you afterwards.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US">Best regards, Rob<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#63002f">De Veranderarchitect B.V.</span><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US">Rob A.I. van der Eyden</span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US">"Change is disturbing when it is done to us, exhilerating when it is done by us" (K. Moss Kanter)</span></i><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US">Parkietstraat 30, 1171 HV Badhoevedorp</span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><br></span><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US">M</span></b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US">: </span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786"><a href="tel:%2B31%20%280%296%20512%2072%20127" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">+31 (0)6 512 72 127</span></a></span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:robvandereyden@veranderarchitect.nl" target="_blank">robvandereyden@veranderarchitect.nl</a></span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#597786" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.veranderarchitect.nl/" target="_blank">www.veranderarchitect.nl</a></span><span style="color:#1f497d" lang="EN-US"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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