Oliver: My opinion is that is the numbers of people coming and going are very few (like max 10 out of your 140) then it won't matter. However, people coming and going do detract from the cumulative energy which is building over the two days event so you would need to make sure that it is not a universally assumed thing.
Secondly, it is less distracting if a few who were there at the beginning are unable to stay for the whole time than the other way around. That is, if people show up at the beginning (when the space is opened for the first time and when the topics get posted and the rules and principles are explained) then if a few can't make it the second day, so be it. However, if a few people show up the second day who were not there the first day, it is more disruptive and more difficult to integrate. On ocasion, I've made it a rule that those who are coming on the second day, must have been there for the first. And I've made that clear in the invitation. (Especially with high school students) I don't always need to set that rule because coming and going isn't always an issue. But I've found that when you set the rule up front, (as part of the invitation) it becomes part of what people consider when they're deciding to come or not. It's above board and transparent and easily understood. Blessings Esther "All [people] dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, awake to find it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous [people], That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible." T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) Esther Ewing Consultant The Change Alliance 165 University Avenue, Suite 703 Toronto, Ontario M5H 3B9 tel: 416-350-5857 fax: 416-360-6135
