Andrew - my experience on "optimal group size" is anything that works. I know that people have spent endless hours attempting to define the perfect number - but I have never seen that reflected in an Open Space. I think the reason is that OS groups are self-organizing/emergent - and therefore natural. In other situations, the groups are formed by some higher intelligence (The Facilitator). I don't think the optimal group size has anything to do with the nature of groups, and has everything to do with the capacity of the facilitator. In Open Space there is obviously no facilitator, so the groups can do whatever feels good. And in my experience, that is precisely what takes place. The largest breakout group I personally have ever seen was pretty close to 100 - but I didn't count. It was dynamite!
Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andrew Rixon Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 6:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: The largest size of a session group Dear all, I have just returned from OsonOsinOz and it was great! I sure picked up a few gems. One which I loved was "being happy with not-knowing" which I've blogged about: http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2006/02/being_happy_wit.html Anyway, ever onwards, I was wondering: What have been the largest self-organising breakout group sizes for sessions raised in OS that you might have seen? (I think there has been some research into the sizes of naturally occurring groups and what their natural limits are.?) I will go back now to trying to be happy with not-knowing. :-) Warm regards, Andrew -- Andrew Rixon PhD Director Anecdote Pty Ltd Skype: AndrewJRixon Mobile: 0400 352 809 Fax: (03) 9383 6274 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.anecdote.com.au * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
