Hi Mikk Good to see you here! Just wanted to add that I´m in a group of Scandinavian GC-trainers and when we have our gatherings which mostly last over 2 days we always use an OS approach to set the agenda together, then we usually stay together as a group and work through all issues since it usually concerns our continous cocreation of our group/work. We couldn´t find a better way to have good meetings and continue our learning journey together.
So I join the chorus - go for it. Today I facilitated a follow-up meeting with 6 participants, and for part of the meeting I used OST - 2 sessions á 45 minutes. THey chose to stay together as a whole group working to continue with the 2 actionplans that engaged them most. I express this choice (to split up or stay together) more clearly when I work with small groups as they often tend to stay together as a whole group (my experience) and maybe that´s not always the preferred way by all... Once I had one man who tried to arrange the agenda proposing that the group, of 12 or so, stay together - talking about 3 issues during the first session and three on the second (it was short OS-meeting). I was holding to the arms of my chair - as Harrison teaches - and a woman stepped up and told the group that this was not what she wished. So the group split up into smaller groups - which seemed to be just right for that group. Good luck Esther Thomas Herrmann, Sweden > -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Från: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]För Mikk Sarv > Skickat: den 20 september 2006 07:52 > Till: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > Ämne: opening space with very small groups > > > Dear Esther! > > I have several times conducted OS with small groups, one of them was only > with three persons. Two of them had earlier OS experience, so > they just used > the co-created space as usually - posted their topics about what > they really > cared about and then started to write down to flip charts their thoughts > about it. > > When the first outburst of inspiration was over, the time was > right to look > around, what others had done and written down. They walked from > one topic to > another and got wonderful additions to their original ideas. > Third day was, > as usally, for action planning, at it worked the same way. > > Just be relaxed and encourage people to select topics they really care > about. Then remind them, that they have wonderful and rare > opportunity to be > with something, that they really care about, for 90 minutes and possibly > they can get some enriching comments and additions. > > Go and do it! > With best greetings, > Mikk Sarv > Estonia > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Communications Esther Matte" <ema...@excellence.ca> > To: <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> > Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 3:29 PM > Subject: opening space with very small groups > > > > Hello everyone! > > > > First, let me say thank you for the wonderful learning I found in the > > OSList. I'm new to Open Space, and even though I have yet to make my > > "first big circle" as Ted put it recently, I feel more > confident thanks to > > you all. > > > > I may have two possible projects with very small groups (5-7 people) > > which is what worries me. I have participated to one OST in my > > experiential training with Diane Gibeault (fantastic!), and > co-facilitated > > one with 45 people. But I simply cannot visualize how it works > with as few > > as 5 people. How do you do this? Do you have several rounds of > discussions? > > In separate rooms? Do people actually work by themselves and > team up? Can > > you do it in approximately 3 hours ? (Maybe 20-30 minutes opening, 2 X > > 40-minutes rounds of discussion or 3 X 30-minutes, action planning and > > closing). > > > > I'm sure some of you have done this. I'll be meeting with the first > > possible group next week, and nothing is set in stone yet for the other. > > Any comments, suggestions, ideas or warnings will be very much > appreciated. > > > > Thank you very much in advance for your time! > > > > Esther Matte > > Communications Esther Matte > > 1011, Marie-Victorin > > Verchères (Québec) J0L 2R0 > > www.excellence.ca > > > > "L'art de dire" > > > > Tél. : (450) 583-5849 > > Téléc. : (450) 583-3513 > > > > * > > * > > ========================================================== > > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > > ------------------------------ > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > > > > * > * > ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist