Joelle, Raffi, My wife, Maureen and I facilitated an Open Space where we used special post-its (tree and flower shaped) to indicate that certain sessions would be in a story-telling or training format with one primary speaker. We explained in the invitation and the opening circle that sometimes we learn best from one-way communication as opposed to two way communication, or multiple way communication that we focus on in OS. We invited people to take what they learned from the storytelling sessions and then post new topics based on the learning. The traditional OS sessions ran concurrently with the storytelling sessions.
In this way each participant had the space to tell a story or teach/explain an idea and each participant could choose to attend those sessions they wished with a simple visual clue (those flower and tree post-its) as to which ones were one-way communication. I noticed that most of the one-way communication started with the story or explanation of a new idea or way of seeing the world and then the session was opened up so everyone could say what was sparked from the primary/opening speaker. I would say about 1/4 to 1/3 were storytelling sessions. It seemed to work very well. The participants liked the format and the opportunity to do both styles of OS sessions. With Grace and Love, Zelle ************ Zelle Nelson Engaging the Soul at Work/Know Place Like Home/State of Grace Document www.maureenandzelle.com www.stateofgracedocument.com ze...@maureenandzelle.com office - 828.693.0802 mobile - 847.951.7030 Ravenswood - Isle of Skye 2021 Greenville Hwy Flat Rock, NC 28731 Joelle Lyons Everett wrote:
Raffi-- People do and will present lectures and trainings in Open Space, and some of these sessions will be effective. If this is the intention, might be good to say so. But I suspect that the elaborate boundary-setting that you suggested might rub people against the grain a bit, once they have been introduced to the principles of OST. I've been on both sides of this one as a participant. I've offered a workshop that has been effective in other settings, and found it did not work out as well in Open Space. I've convened sessions where I asked an honest question and had magnificent conversations. I find I like that better; other people are more interesting when they have space to expand, explore, open to others, dance with ideas. I've been in sessions convened by others which took me to places I could never have arrived at on my own. I don't think there is any one right answer for all situations. I'm just discovering what it fun, and productive, for me. Joelle * * ========================================================== 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
-- ÐÏ à¡± á * * ========================================================== 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