<div dir="ltr">Dear friends and colleagues,<div>Some of you joined us for the online workshop about Planning for Highly Participatory Meetings. I am an advocate of a well done 'planning' meeting to assist our clients develop clarity about what they are inviting people to...and thus to provide sufficient information to those being invited to make an informed choice about whether the meeting is something that they with to attend.</div><div><br></div><div>This method of planning is suitable for conversations with the sponsoring group for an Open Space Technology meeting, a meeting using Whole Person Process Facilitation, or other participatory meetings such as World Cafe. </div><div><br></div><div>Now, let me get to the part of this story that is about going back full circle about the planning meeting. A delightful man Joergen from the Netherlands said, what you are teaching here is not actually about a planning meeting....it would be better if you called it 'preparing the ground'. He went on to say that during the meeting the ground was being prepared with the leaders for a carefully considered meeting AND the ground was being prepared for making the most of the outcomes of the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>I laughed at myself. Why in the world had I ever started calling this a 'planning meeting'??? In my early days with Open Space Technology and Whole Person Process Facilitation, I had adopted a concept that originally came from Harrison about 'preparing the field'. Way back then (yes, some decades ago) I had a friend draw a picture of 'preparing the field' and I used this picture in my original workbooks as a necessary step. Thanks to Joergen, I am back full circle to a 'preparing the field' meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>I am attaching the picture. Artist is Virginia Burt, landscape architect.</div><div><br></div><div>And if you wish to learn Whole Person Process Facilitation as a great complimentary method to OST, I have an <a href="http://www.dalarinternational.com/services/training/whole-person-process-facilitation/">online workshop coming up </a> beginning next Friday and taking place for three consecutive Fridays. It is a great method to use when carrying out a 'preparing the field' meeting, and for any other time that a more guided approach than OST is needed...yet retaining the same principles and values as OST.</div><div><br></div><div>Warmly,</div><div>Birgitt</div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Birgitt Williams<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Closing the Gap Between Potential and Results</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Services </span><span style="font-size:13.3333px"><a href="http://www.dalarinternational.com/services/">http://www.dalarinternational.com/services/</a> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Leadership & Organizational Development Training, h</span><span style="font-size:13.3333px">ttp://<a href="http://www.dalarinternational.com/services/training/">www.dalarinternational.com/services/training/</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Author, President & Senior
Consultant of Dalar International Consultancy, Inc. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.3333px">Co-founder: Genuine Contact program</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Co-founder of the
Extraordinary Leadership Network </span><a href="http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/"><span style="font-size:10pt">http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">Co-owner of the Genuine
Contact Co-owners Group Ltd. </span><a href="http://www.genuinecontact.net/"><span style="font-size:10pt">http://www.genuinecontact.net</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10pt">Supporting leadership
development for leading in a culture requiring agility and flexibility in a
performance environment of constant change.<span></span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">PO Box 19373, Raleigh,
North Carolina, USA 27619</span><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">phone: 1-919-522-7750<span></span></span></p></div></div>