Greetings, I am facilitating my first OST meeting this Thursday, based primarily on reading Owens book and a very helpful conversation from Brigitt Bolton.
Although the meeting is coming very soon, there are several points on which I am unclear and would welcome some assistance, one of them regarding the Day 2 bounce. This is a two day meeting, but with a gap of several weeks between meeting days. The theme is to surface the issues and concerns that must be addressed in order to report on the state of the environment in the areas of land and biota in this province--and to suggest indicators that must be monitored in order to track those issues. The participants are government scientists, environmentalists and a representatives of native organizations. About 40 people have indicated they will participate. The gap between meetings is there to allow participants to consult with colleagues who are not at the meeting and to bring in pertinent information that my be helpful, but may not be held by the participants, because no one had yet identified those areas or needs. The gap is long because of the intervening holidays --the second meeting day is scheduled for January 14. I am wondering if such a long gap will dilute the power of the second day and we should seek to reschedule, or if this is not likely to pose a problem? The other areas I am unclear about are no doubt pretty elementary to OS practitioners. -Lunch break. The 1.5 hr break the book proposes seems awfully long for a one day meeting (which in effect is what this one seems to me because of the gap) and where only one workshop period will have taken place by lunch. Does it make sense to shorten it in a one day situation? Are there any other suggestions regarding incorporating this time, for instance if a group wants to schedule a session? -Does the 3rd Principle mean that if someone has signed up to convene a group at 2:00, but who is in a conversation or meeting. they don't want to leave, they have no responsibility to show up at 2? -Does the Law of two Feet mean that people do not need to make a commitment to participate for the day? -Does the facilitator play a role in resolution of scheduling conflict? How long is this part of the meeting likely to take? -And most elementary of all, how do you speak from the centre of a circle for an extended period of time when part of the participants always at your back? Thanks, Joe Szostak
