Diane, The Website was created by GSUSA. That is they created the "frame". All the content, from entry to formatting was done by the volunteers. There were a couple of glitches with that one, but ultimately it turned out great and people are still actively using it (that's 3 months post convention).
The OS and TWC events were offered in addition to the regular tri-annual business meeting. This is their convention where the board gets elected, changes to the by-laws are considered etc. etc. There are about 8000 guests and 2800 official delegates. The delegates HAVE to attend the business meeting and many guests choose to because that's why they came in the first place. The OS was on the topic of Governance and initially only open to delegates. They later added "substitutes" and a couple other "representatives" per council. This event was held mostly BEFORE the actual convention/business meeting started. The Cafés were in the exhibit all and open all day for almost three days. They were open to anyone there, including those visitors that only had an exhibit pass, vendors, and anybody else who had access to the exhibit. However, they ran parallel with the business meeting. People definitely chose to go to the events. Those that went to the OS on Governance may have been there also because there was an expectation that their council should be represented, but that's really guessing. There really wasn't a competition between the business meeting and the Cafés. People are clearly there to attend the business meeting and participate in shaping their organization in the context of the existing governance structure. However, we have heard several comments that all the conversations - even if they were not directly related to the topics in the business meeting - changed the dynamics of the business meeting and that many people there can't imagine another convention without OS and TWC (or something like that). I wouldn't be surprised if the next edition will be much more integrated. In addition to these events, there was a Girl Congress at the same time. The never-tired group of volunteers also pulled off 2 TWC sessions here. They were for everybody, no alternative program. It went fantastic. 900 Girls talking about the future of Girl Scouting. As I am writing, this should be added to our "public" report so that those who were not there get a better context. Thanks for asking about this. I'll put a few slides together that create a frame. Best - Claudia Claudia Haack KAIROS Alliance Inc. tel. 608.288.8315 fax.480.247.4824 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Diane Brandon Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 4:14 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: Report available - Girl Scout Open Space for over 1,600 & Strategy Cafes for thousands more Christine and Claudia, Really nice ppt, and the websites that are linked are loaded with information. I see www.GSUSA.org and www.girlscouts.org/convention/conversationsummary.asp Who did the report website, your company, or GSUSA? I read some of the report sheets from individual sessions/tables. One theme I saw is that local folks often don't trust the "corporate leaders" of GSUSA to respect their knowledge, their voices, and some wonder if these sessions will be "token" -- and whether their being satisfied with things as they are locally "doesn't count," when the national leadership wants change. Who "owns" the Girl Scouts, what story does the money tell..... interesting. I may have missed this (sorry) -- but did those that went to the OS & WC events select them, or were they assigned to those sessions? Did I read that there were maybe 10,000 people there all together? Do you think that more "traditional" folks went to lecture/listen sessions, and those who wanted to be heard selected the OS/WC sessions? Were there conversations about the GS pledge and law? It's all very thought provoking, and I look forward to reading more at the website. Diane Brandon Eliot, Maine * * ========================================================== 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 * * ========================================================== 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
