Hello Allison, Lise,
Lise, I appreciate your post. Your excellent idea sparked an idea of my own.
You can put up the different asssumptions at to different slides -
presenting one way of seing the world - and another way.. - and then it
is up to the participants to decide their attitude...
Allison, if you first write the paper about pros/cons looking at an OST
conference compared with a traditional conference, using Lise's
methodology. Then as your invitation in the 10 minute sessions: What
works and what doesn't work at conferences OST and otherwise? What would
you change, what would you keep? And your participants can document
their conclusions and provide that as a post-event-paper.
A couple of other things come to mind -
Wow, what a challenge shrinking OST into a 10 minute experience - how
open is that invitation? How does the type of invitation limit, filter,
color what is received by the person accepting the invitation? When we
assume how others best experience gathering information, coming together
at a conference, what do we lose and what do we gain?
Even if the conference organizer says that everyone has already
experienced OST it doesn't mean he's right, or that the statement is
true. I can't count the number of people who I've talked to about Open
Space or who've attended an Open Space that I'm hosting who said: "I
thought I knew what Open Space was and had experienced it, but I was
wrong. What you're doing/describing is so much different (and better)
than what I did, that I had been called Open Space." - For me the
conference organizer seems to be making another big assumption about
other people's experiences - and is limiting what is possible. (Maybe
the organizer has given a survey and has more information than you or I
- I can't know until I've asked.)
Leading to another comment - if you don't believe something is possible,
you will most likely realize your own prophecy.
Is there a possibility to open space outside of the scheduled conference
times, perhaps in the evening? That way people could get a bigger taste
of OST.
The last thing I'll add here (very long - for email) story that my wife
Maureen McCarthy (a lovely woman with whom I do all my work with) wrote
called "No More Conferences". Allison, I'll send you a separate email
with a Word attachment.
No More Conferences
by Maureen McCarthy
I flipped by an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation the other
night. In the opening, a group of officers are returning to the ship
after spending a week at a space conference. They were complaining that
Dr. Florck (not his real name) bored them to tears with his monotonous
lecture on the theory transpectoral anomolies. And I thought, "This show
is supposed to take place, what, 3000 years from now? Life will not be
worth living if we're still holding conferences in the same old style
that far into the future!"
There is an assumption about meetings and gatherings that's so old it's
almost genetic. Conferences ask people to come as passive information
gatherers. We're drawn by big name speakers and then sit and wait for
information to flow downwards. Yet when you ask people where they
learned and contributed the most, they'll inevitably say it was dinner
with Tom or a passionate discussion over drinks with Katie and Jack. We
need to re-evaluate how we create large group events to take advantage
of the way we're beginning to see, create and connect the world today.
Our old style hierarchical models just aren't as effective anymore, and
current conferences are still based on them.
When we sit in classroom or theater-style seating, the premise says the
person at the front of the room has the most knowledge and power, he's
the leader. And once we're there, we're stuck listening to the boring
lecture of Dr. Florck ...no escape.
Take a look at our definitions of leadership over time. Two thousand
years before Christ, leadership was characterized by physical
domination. "If I conquer you, you follow me." Then we moved into the
last 2000 years up till today, which has largely been leadership through
intellectual domination. "I have the information and I'll let you know
when it's time for you to know." It's what our corporations, religious
institutions and governments are based on. The hierarchical business
models all stem from this thought process and hence our conferences.
But, like it or not, we're moving into a new model of leadership and
interaction. It is one based on what I call a Wisdom Web. We're
currently living in an age of information overload. If I want to
continue to be a hierarchical leader, I'm fooling myself to believe I
can contain and control all the information and decision-making that is
required to run a business today. I need to know when to lead and when
to step back and encourage others to lead. And the only way for me to do
this is to better know myself and where my strengths and passions lie,
and then to ask the pertinent questions to better know and understand
others. My knowledge is no longer contained in my head, but in the web
of people I connect with as well. That's true power.
It's the difference between giving a classroom of 10-year-olds three
weeks to do a paper on Martin Luther King in 1975 versus today. In 1975
we went to the library, combed through the encyclopedias, Reader's Guide
to Periodical Literature and the card file and used the last few days to
write the paper. Today a kid goes home the first night, logs onto the
internet and suddenly has 575,000 entries on Martin Luther King. She now
has three weeks to sift through the information, which is a different
skill altogether than the gathering of information we grew up with.
Classroom style learning is hierarchical and says the teacher knows the
most. Imagine if the teacher of today discounted the email that a
student received from Martin Luther King's great grandson because it was
a piece of information she didn't possess? Business is no different.
Leaving someone out of the mix because they don't sit high enough on the
hierarchical org chart will only hurt you and the organization. There's
way too much information out there to sift through all of it yourself.
Four areas to consider to better harness the Wisdom Web in large group
settings
INVITE Start with the invitation. Rather than invite and entice by
publicizing the names of "important" speakers or workshop facilitators,
we need to show every person the entire participant list. Similar to the
way www.evite.com works, share the invite list electronically so people
can know who's coming. Like a high school reunion, the catalyst to come
is often someone you want to see. People can be asked to answer
questions in the RSVP about issues that are top of mind, areas of
discussion that would be beneficial, and stories to tell in relation to
the purpose of the gathering. That way if I'm trying to decide whether
or not to come, the entire knowledge base available can be considered. I
may see that Mary, whom I've never met before, is passionate about or
frustrated by the same thing and it's important for me to meet her. Or
maybe Daniel is someone I know and trust and if I see that he's coming I
might be more apt to join in.
The traditional "big name" speakers become "one of the guys" in the
invite list. Promote everyone as the expert, because we are. That's
certainly been the power of the internet. Let's now use that power to
create face-to-face conversations that throw status out the window and
create a level playing field according to knowledge and passions. There
is a wealth of knowledge within all of us and we miss out when we
believe only a chosen few have something significant to say. Now I might
be enticed to attend because an industry thought leader or favorite
author will be there, but it's not the sole reason. It also helps me to
come prepared to give rather than just receive.
INVOLVE Storytelling v. Keynote Speaking. A lecture or keynote
speech is interesting when someone is sharing knowledge you don't
already possess or your mind is opened to something new. Rather than an
individual or committee choosing speakers for the gathering, create a
Storytelling Arena. Designate a particular area of the gathering for
people to sit in theater style seating. It becomes the stage that anyone
can take by signing up to an allotted time. People come and go as their
interest is piqued, so the audience ebbs and flows, but it offers an
opportunity for anyone to share in a one-way form of communication. We
need storytellers, researchers, cutting edge thinkers to inspire our
conversations. Set aside time to hear the latest research or innovative
idea, but use it as a way to spark conversation and action among the
rest of the participants. The room may be overflowing when the industry
leader speaks, certain people do draw a crowd, but everyone has the
opportunity to be the "keynote speaker" if they choose. Tell us about
what you're currently working on; what works for you; your latest book,
workshop, or paper; sing a song, share a poem, tell a tale . . .
whatever will get the juices flowing. Then we can weave it back into the
rest of the gathering and use it as a conversation starter for even more
momentum.
COMMUNICATE Creating multiple , organic discussion. Have you ever
heard an author or speaker talking about something you're really
interested in? Chances are there's a lot of other people in the audience
who share the same passion. Yet we walk out of the speech without
sharing what's going on in our heads or connecting with one or many
people present to build off the initial ideas. The friend who came with
us might hear how inspired we are, but it's not the same as 10, 25 or
500 of those people in the room beginning a passionate discussion while
it's top of mind. When these conversations start, the dividing line
between who's leading and who's following is quite blurred and the
speaker can take part to whatever level he or she is interested as well.
The speaker becomes the catalyst for the rest to do the dance of leader
and follower.
Open Space Technology and The World Café are two examples of large group
conversation approaches that address this. Open Space Technology (
www.openspaceworld.org ) begins with an invitation drawing people to
talk about an over arching topic; like what is the future of our
industry or innovation in technology. In other words, whatever you want
the conference theme to be. After that, no agenda is set till the people
arrive and create it themselves. Five to a thousand people are seated in
concentric circles because no one is at the head or foot of this
gathering. Participants are asked to take flipchart paper and marker to
post discussion topics regarding their thoughts, ideas, conversations,
solutions, frustrations etc. they have related to the theme of the
invitation. In a matter of 20 minutes, an entire 5-day conference agenda
is on the wall and has become the Marketplace of Ideas. Meeting place
and time are arranged via Post-it Note on the flipchart page, so anyone
can join the discussion at any time. When you post a topic you don't
have to be an expert or give a speech, you just open the conversation
and make sure notes are taken. Notes from all conversations are shared
with all participants at the end of each day. The power of Open Space
comes from the Law of Two Feet. It states that if you're not learning
and/or contributing in a conversation, use your two feet and go
elsewhere. Sit in on another conversation, have coffee with Sue or make
a phone call. Never stay where you don't want to be because it drains
the energy of people wanting to be present. Open Space is passion
bounded by responsibility. You're responsible for your own experience,
so if something you want to talk about never gets talked about, you only
have yourself to blame.
The World Café ( www.theworldcafe.com ) is similar to Open Space
Technology, but is a little more structured. People are invited to the
large group conversation based on a theme or invitation. This time the
room is set up like a café. Tables seating no more than 4 or 5 are
covered with tablecloths and flowers. Music is playing, people come in,
grab a drink or a snack, sit down wherever they like and conversation
naturally begins. There's a familiarity about the café setting that
makes facilitation virtually unnecessary. You begin by asking an
overarching question related to the invitation, allow people talk for 45
minutes or an hour and then ask them to switch tables. One person
remains at each table, and as new people sit down, they take a few
minutes to relay what each of the other tables talked about. Now you ask
a deeper level question and let people chat again and so on and so on
depending on the amount of time you have. There are also large sheets of
paper and markers on the tables for people to draw and write colorful
notes as they go along. I often place a stack of 5x7 index cards on each
table and ask people to capture one thought per card as the conversation
is taking place. These cards are then tacked to a large white poster
paper mural on the wall so everyone can see the threads of the
conversations. Sometimes we group
CONNECT Electronically connecting follow-up and on-going
conversation. Have you noticed that the energy of a conference dies down
when we get home? But when you encourage people to take responsibility
for their learning and contribution, they inevitably take responsibility
for their follow-up and action. When you use Open Space Technology or
World Café there is an element of conversation capturing that rarely
goes on at traditional conferences. The conversation topics,
bullet-pointed notes and list of participants are shared online or via
email. This gives us an open line for further communication and a way to
take part in something we missed, even at a later date. It's also
important to share the contact information of everyone who attended. We
often exchange business cards with a few people at a conference, but
what about the people we didn't get a chance to connect with, or the
contact info we misplace? Gone are the days when people hide behind a
secretary as a sign of power. The Wisdom Web insists that we are
accessible and open to sharing. As an example, I like the way Fast
Company Magazine has the contact information of the writer and the
subject matter and the end of every article. It takes the reading
experience to a new level because you can contact someone for further
conversation.
We can keep the momentum of large group gatherings going after we've
boarded the plane when we invite, involve, communicate and connect
without the ties of hierarchical structure. I'm ready to reinvent the
conference, so much so that it's not even called a conference anymore.
The term conference, which comes from the root "to confer," means to
bestow information, as in a parent teacher conference. I believe that if
we start gathering instead of conferring, maybe, just maybe, we can
rewrite the future. And the next generation of Star Trek won't have to
be subjected to the ho-hum of the conference.
by Maureen McCarthy
Zelle here - thanks so much for listening:
with grace and love,
Zelle
************
Zelle Nelson
Engaging the Soul at Work/Know Place Like Home/State of Grace Document
www.stateofgracedocument.com
ze...@maureenandzelle.com
office - 001.828.693.0802
mobile - 001.847.951.7030
Isle of Skye
2021 Greenville Hwy
Flat Rock, NC 28731
USA
Allison & Jim Baensch wrote:
Hi Lise,
You are right, it is a challenge for me.
I do enjoy variety and new opportunities.
In your email you said:
You have only 90 minutes: - the assumption is: The speaker transfer
her knowledge to the participants by giving a paper and a speach
OST-assumption: We all (also participants) have lot of knowledge,
what we need is to sort it out - meaning relating to our one
knowledge, deciding our attitude.
In fact, I have up to 10 minutes with each new group, so I need to say
as little as possible and then get feedback from the group members.
That may be good experience for me - to describe OST and open a new
space all within maybe 3 or 4 minutes, to a mixed group...
then get feedback recorded in the remaining 5 minutes before one group
leaves and the next group meanders in.
Cheers to you in clouded, cold Copenhagen,
from
Allison.
(Crisp dark evening now - 9pm)
On 22/11/2005, at 8:34 PM, Lise Damkjar wrote:
Hello Allison and everybody on the list!
You really put yourself into a challenge! And it is very interesting
because everyone of us (my guess) meet these requirements for
conferences and reservations about OST. It tells us something
important about the possibilities in OST!
If I found myself in that position (I hope not, but...) I would put
up some assumptions/beliefs - some leading to the traditional
conference (as the one, you are attending) and some leading to OST. I
would find the beliefs from thinking about this actual conference:
why do we do stuff like this? (and here the difficulty could be to be
appreciative, but that's important!)
I have tried a little here...
- Groups rotating... - the assumption: it is more important to hear a
something about everything (and then you can always search more
information afterwards)
OST-assumption: You learn the most from being in dialogue about what
you are really passionated about
You have only 90 minutes: - the assumption is: The speaker transfer
her knowledge to the participants by giving a paper and a speach
OST-assumption: We all (also participants) have lot of knowledge,
what we need is to sort it out - meaning relating to our one
knowledge, deciding our attitude.
Organizers assumption: Participants have tried OST before and already
know about it
OST-assumption: The participant's who already tried OST would love to
do it once more and the more they know about it, the more they know
that they now have the possibility of learning even more.
Organizers: Some people don't want to speak in public
OST: You don't need to - and if you are passionated about something
it's easier to talk about it
You can put up the different asssumptions at to different slides -
presenting one way of seing the world - and another way.. - and then
it is up to the participants to decide their attitude...
Have a nice conferece!
Lise
Clouded and cold Copenhagen..
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