When Michael Pannwitz and I did the Open Space for 2000 in Wurtzburg, Germany -- we did everything all at once. The situation may have been a little different as most people spoke German and some English. Also in the plenary session (Opening) we had simultaneous translation. But in any event we did a duo. At the start Michael went one way in the circle, I went the other -- and after we crossed at the starting point, we just wandered all over, everywhere. When we started I announced that Michael was not going to translate, rather he would do his thing, I would do mine, and hopefully we would end at the same place, which I think we did. It took a little longer, but we also had a lot of fun doing it together. The best part was Michael's comments on what I had to say. One time after a rather lengthy discourse on my part (maybe 30 sec.) Michal came in with just a single word. Everybody howled. Wonderful!
Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Communications Esther Matte Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 8:29 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Question - bilingual opening Hi all, Yes, it was a great conference with Deb at Rococo. People there were really impressed with OS. Hopefully, we'll gather a few people for our FoFo in Val David this fall :-) Deb and I learned a lot, of course, as we do every time we facilitate OS. One of the questions we played with was the bilingual opening. We briefly considered doing the opening together, each in one language, but quickly realized we couldn't walk the circle together. So we cut down on the opening text so that Deb could do it systematically in both languages (French and English). And she did a great job! However, it was still too long. Later in the event, people started to ask that we do just English since everyone there understood. But we were in Montreal after all, so Deb maintained the French, and the organizers were happy about that. They wanted to hold a bilingual event and they wanted the French to be present. Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if we could have done two circles just for the opening. To put people in the OS frame of mind and spirit in their own language. Then, merge the 2 in 1 circle, have them look around it, feel the energy and richness of knowledge, experience, etc. and then start the agenda. For the other circles, keep the bilingual format, but with bits of French here and there instead of systematic translation. What do you think? Looking forward to reading your thoughts :-)) Esther * * ========================================================== 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
