<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Well if it isn't the fabulous Chris Weaver !<div>Your presence is felt in much of the work I do -and- I use your invitation text (strategic plan for Swannanoa) in both my The Power of Pre-Work workshop and my Open Space Learning Workshop.</div><div>Welcome back, you inspiration.</div><div>Although I know you have been here in spirit all along. </div><div><br></div><div>I do a lot of OS work in conferences and a lot with youth.</div><div>Here is what I have learned - and of course other colleagues on the list may see and do it wonderfully differently.</div><div><br></div><div>a) So so hard to have a concurrent OS - running at the same time as a larger conference - if the young people also have to give workshops or attend the larger conference.</div><div>Hard to hold the space, challenging for folks wandering in and out to feel what is happening (in the same collectively-held way as the others who are already in the room), hard for the young people (smart as they are) to remember when to show back up in the OS room because they are living in the now and often lose track of time. Not a catastrophe, because great things always happen - just harder for the facilitator. Me, at least. </div><div><br></div><div>b) Physical space - if the young people are also participating in the larger conference - think about how to keep that 'hidden' space present for them. Once I gave everybody pocket cards to share and pass with / to their friends that said where and when and gave the energy of the OS event. Plus fun signage in the halls etc. Low tech and effective.</div><div><br></div><div>c) Inviting others to flow in and out and look at the wall, participate, etc. As much as I love engaging the whole system - in the conferences where I have done a youth conference-within-a-conference - the youth have consistently said that it was so amazing to have a youth-only space. Youth-only meaning: they loved having a facilitator who was older than them as witness-without-telling-them - so you don't have to be the same culture as the participants. But youth-only meaning - the only other adults that are allowed into the space are those one or two or four who are specifically invited by a youth participant to come into the room. Like one time when the young people wanted to talk to an adult who had been in the military for something they were working on in OS. Another time they wanted to talk about aging and include someone older than them. All by invitation at the event and rather spontaneously done as-needed. To me - especially in a mixed-age conference it is HUGE to give youth their own self-led space. In all ways. And this is true for other countries I have worked in as well.</div><div><br></div><div>I guess the question is why. How does it serve the youth. What is the objective of this youth conference-within-a-conference session. And the conference as a whole. And I would design according to that. </div><div><br></div><div>d) Let the adults know of the cool things happening in the room in some other way. They'll find that the cutting edge topics happened in the youth space rather than the main conference. Posting those topics out can happen after the conference or during but of course it does not have to be your job to do that because your job is to hold space for what's happening in the youth OS room.</div><div><br></div><div>c) To me, young people are no different than adults: if documentation is not obvious / apparent / seen - it does not get done. Even if a community is very high-tech or tech-oriented. There is no felt space. No noticing that yes, others are documenting so I guess I should get my notes in too. Even in a high-tech environment I always place a physical newsroom with a few laptops and signage to remind peoples' minds and bodies of the presence of documentation. Even when people say 'oh we all use GoogleDocs' you can see how nobody is turning aside to post notes - they are mostly taking notes for themselves. And here's the biggest thing - to me: Each time you adjust or 'improve' or change something - something else shifts. Which is fine. But just know what you are shifting and then make your decision - that's what I remind myself when thinking of these things. So in eliminating a 'take your notes on paper, then go to the Newsroom and transcribe them' - you are eliminating the ability of someone to re-write the notes for the 'outside reader' (someone not in their group discussion) - not in shorthand but in a way that shows responsibility for knowledge-sharing across the groups; you are eliminating the ability of someone to think again about their experience as they transcribe - thus further integrating their experience; you are eliminating the 'come here and sit with me at the Newsroom - let's talk about these notes'; you are eliminating your paper back-up system (should computers fry - which they have done). Those are reasons I often prefer going with a laptops Newsroom if laptop technology is available. Or graphic templates or some other thing that make it more than a flipchart: because I notice that most things folks draw on flip-charts have meaning to the group that was there when it was created - but others wish for just a little bit of text so they can understand, too. So perhaps a graphic template with a little box for some descriptive text? </div><div><br></div><div>d) Of course documentation design also depends on the group culture and capacity, how the information / ideas might be used post-event, how participants might be able to access the information, and so many more things. </div><div><br></div><div>At the risk of sounding like a broken record (hmmm...new technology...scratched cd?) - those are the many interconnected elements we talk about and explore in my Power of Pre-Work workshop - which is coming up next month in San Francisco. I don't know if you have resources for travel Chris but housing is very cheap if you need it (a great hostel) and registration is pay-the-most-you-can so if you time and resources allow - join us and we'll all explore together ! (let me know and I can send you more information - dates below).</div><div><br></div><div>I look forward to hearing others' experiences that might inform Chris and I'm so glad that these young people will have such a great space-holder ... </div><div><br></div><div>Lisa</div><div> </div><div><div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Power of Pre-Work</div><div> - August 8-10, 2012 - San Francisco, USA</div><div><div>The Open Space Learning Workshop / el Taller de Aprendizaje de Espacio Abierto</div><div> - October 9-11, 2012 - London, United Kingdom </div><div> (before the World Open Space on Open Space in London)</div><div> - December 12-14, 2012 - San Francisco, USA </div><div> - In English y en espaņol: 2013 dates and countries to be announced </div></div><div><br></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br><div><div>On Jul 29, 2012, at 10:25 AM, Chris Weaver wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Hi OSList,<div><br><div>I have been away for many years, but now I am back, seeking advice. <span><330.gif></span></div><div><br></div><div>I am negotiating a proposal for an OST youth summit, nested within a much larger traditional conference. The youth OST will have 100 to 200 participants; the larger conference will have 1,000 to 1,200. (And no, there is no prospect of holding the whole thing in OS, as lovely as that would be).</div> <div>For the moment, two questions:</div><div><ol><li>I am weighing the pros and cons of inviting participants who are part of the larger conference but not the youth summit to even so pop by the agenda wall, and drop into an OS breakout session if they wish. They won't have been in the opening. You tell me: enhancement, or catastrophe?</li> <li>The last time I put together newsrooms, I used word documents & memory sticks, or hand-written reports & posters. Have people had luck with web-based documents like GoogleDocs, allowing participants to type in reports on their personal devices? I want to catch these high-school and college youth leaders where they are at...but I want it to work!</li> </ol><div>Thanks for your thoughts.</div></div><div>Warmly,</div><div>Chris Weaver </div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>