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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b>Dear fellow member of the OST community </b><i>[with apologies for cross-posting]</i><b>:</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>I would like to invite you to participate in <a href="http://www.bit.ly/povwealth">a conversation about the connection between <i>race</i>, poverty and wealth</a>.</b> This is an experiment in “hybrid” process, combining in-person, online and live virtual spaces in a single dialogic engagement. I am hosting this in partnership with the NCDD Catalyst Award-winning National Dialogue Network (NDN) initiative on the theme of “poverty and wealth in America” more generally, with which some of you are familiar.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Perhaps some of you are also convening your own groups as part of the broader NDN conversation.</b> Please see <a href="http://www.nationaldialoguenetwork.com/">the NDN website</a> for more on this opportunity, which (of course!) pairs well with OST. By contrast, this is an invitation to take off your hosting/facilitating hat for a change. Of course, even as participants, I know that members of this community of practice have the potential bring special value to the conversation by helping to create and hold “hospitable space” around such a sensitive subject as race.<b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>You might also be interested in this engagement as a process experiment, although it’s not Open Space but more of a “deconstructed world café.”</b> Like a traditional WC, it is taking place in three rounds using a shared set of questions discussed in small groups, plus harvesting as a full group. But rather than gathering live for two or three hours, we are stretching this out across many weeks as well as many “spaces,” with everything coordinated via the hackpad platform. It is therefore part of a growing collection of experiments we are now seeing that explore our ability to cross boundaries of space and time using virtual tools.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>We completed Round One a week ago, and are now ready to begin Round Two.</b> This will run through 10/15, with a third round planned from 10/16 to 10/31. It is expected that both of these rounds will explore the connection between <b><i><u>race</u></i></b>, poverty and wealth. <i>Note that Round One began before the NDN was ready to go live with its overall invitation, and so I waited to extend this invitation to the list-serve until I was ready to launch the next round. It’s also worth mentioning that “race” was </i>not <i>our initial focus, but rather something that emerged out of the Round One conversation, in which participants were asked what they would most like to discuss with others. For more on how this evolved, please see the links below.</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Our question for Round Two is as follows:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span class=author-p-72833><i><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'>How might an exploration of the relationship between</span></i></span><span class=apple-converted-space><i><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'> </span></i></span><span class=author-p-72833><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'>race</span></b></span><span class=author-p-72833><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'>,</span></span><span class=apple-converted-space><i><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'> </span></i></span><span class=author-p-72833><i><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white'>poverty and wealth in America help us to examine our own beliefs, understand those of others and discover new possibilities together? </span></i></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>If you’re interested in participating, would you consider taking just five or ten minutes <i><u>right now</u></i> to share something simple and heartfelt to help “seed” the conversation? </b>To get started, or for more about this round and why race has been chosen as a focus, please go to the <b><a href="https://hackpad.com/Round-Two-Main-Pad-HOX1p1IR0v2">Round Two Main Pad</a> </b>on our hackpad platform. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>I will also be hosting MaestroConference calls on the following schedule,</b> during which small group conversations and harvesting will be taking place:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>ˇ<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Saturday, October 12 from 8-9:30 pacific/11-12:30 Eastern<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>ˇ<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Tuesday October 29 from 3-4:30 Pacific/6-7:30 Eastern <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>ˇ<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Thursday October 31 from 11-12:30 Pacific/2-3:30 Eastern.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>I hope to “see” some of you <a href="https://hackpad.com/Round-Two-Main-Pad-HOX1p1IR0v2">online</a> and on the phone.</b> If you have any questions, please email me here: <a href="mailto:ndn2013@conversationcollaborative.com">ndn2013@conversationcollaborative.com</a>. I also invite you consider extending personal invitations to a few others to join us for this round. Please feel free to share this link to our “welcome” pad: <a href="http://www.bit.ly/povwealth">www.bit.ly/povwealth</a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>In addition, if there is a desire for a “meta-conversation” about this process experiment</b> (versus engaging in the race/poverty/wealth conversation itself), it probably makes sense to do that right here on the list-serve, at least for the time being.<b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Regards,<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Ben Roberts<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#4F6228'>The Conversation Collaborative<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#4F6228'><a href="http://www.conversationcollaborative.com/">www. ConversationCollaborative.com</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><img border=0 width=208 height=172 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CEC29F.E6405F10" alt="tagxedo 1"><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>