welsome györgy, a couple of comments to follow michael, harrison and elwin...
1. fees, flat fees... i am not quoting a flat fee for open space work these days, but instead am quoting a day fee and a number of days, which is only slightly different. this lets me say $$$ (and i start with the corporate sort of rate) per day AND 3-4 days of total time for each day or partial day in open space. i find that by separating the daily rate and the number of days in this way, we can talk about shifting the rate to accommodate groups with less cash AND at the same time not lose track of the actual time that will be spent on the things michael pannwitz lists out so nicely. people are often surprised by the number of days, and surprised again when we look into all of the ways we prepare for and follow up on what is to happen in the event. also, i find that most groups don't need lots of attention to every aspect of prep/follow, but that most groups do have one specific area where extra time and attention is helpful. i often tell folks that i've never not done one of these events because of money issues. sometimes that is because i'm willing to come down on my day rate. sometimes that is because they come to understand the time and attention that will go into it and decide to pay for more of the days i know i will give to it. 2. getting started... elwin says don't organize an event yourself, but find others to hire you, others with responsibiltiiy for outcomes. my experience was opposite. we say that we live in open space. i set out to test this and have found it to be true. when clients seemed scarce in the beginning, i identified the issues that i thought were most important to focus attention on and issued my own invitations, one or two per year, sometimes sponsored by local church-related organization, and used this approach to practice my own style, introduce others to the method, let others know about the topics that i cared about, get known for bringing attention and posting learnings about those topics, also get firsthand experience with the risks and uncertainties and discomforts of bringing something i am passionate about to a public, open forum. this last one makes it much harder than opening space for others' issues, but gave me more appreciation for the tensions they feel in bringing their issues into an open space meeting. if you see that this method can help your community/society there, you probably see some specific issues or ways that your place could be different or better. i think it's okay to get known as someone who invites others to look into those needs/possibilities and gets things started. like i say, it's trickier, but possible. it also makes for less pressure about the money and getting paid for doing a practice that you're still unsure about. 3. getting known... hee hee hee... (warning, openspaceworld.org webmaster about to invite you into responsibility)... if you notice that the openspaceworld.org website now has opening pages in 6 different languages. there is a nice short welcome page and a longer (page and a half) "what is open space" article. one thing you might do that would help build your credibility is to translate those two beginning pages and we put your name down as translator on them. if you copy those pages and translate the text, i will put it into the website. then you can use the 'what is open space' article in hungarian and it will come from the worldwide website with your name on it. michael pannwitz is right. lunatic for sure this is. but sometimes it helps to be able to show that you're not the only lunatic! in the end i agree with the others, though... read the book, find a group or an issue and just do it. the learning and successes will follow. welcome! michael -- Michael Herman 300 West North Avenue #1105 Chicago IL 60610 312-280-7838 voice 312-280-7837 fax http://www.michaelherman.com -evolution at work - online book on open space -michael herman associates - consulting -globalchicago.net - online open space -websites worth visiting - community -michael's open notebook - journal mailto:mher...@globalchicago.net * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed