A little offering from my first experience at WOSonOS & the workshop
with Lisa,
I have arrived home, and while my suitcase was light and quick to
unpack, I feel I am also coming back with an armful of gifts that
will take time to carefully unwrap, and gradually savour their true
beauty. Some that are coming to mind are the conversations I shared
that explored opening space with oneself to discover fearlessness;
open space as a process for engaged learning & discovery; silence as
the auditory partner of physical space - a place where dreams may
come into form, and where the new can emerge; experiencing OS as a
relief for participants (even the skeptical), as it offers a process
that allows for connection with other that is often longed for; the
ancestral element of OS, as a remembered way of being. And, of
course, it was delightful to hear Harrison speak, a good storyteller
brimming with practical wisdom, and most encouraging of continuing
this little adventure...
I know it will have been a fabulous day today, too!
With heaps of appreciation,
Christie
On 23-Jul-08, at 7:08 PM, ashley cooper wrote:
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, LISA and crew. Lovely to hear and
feel the life and possibility bubbling in the certainly sacred
space you have created and welcomed the OS world into.
there with you in spirit,
ashley
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 4:04 PM, Lisa Heft
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello, my lovely friends and colleagues -
Thank you so much for your warm support - we feel you with us in
spirit, indeed.
Monday and Tuesday we had a fabulous Open Space Learning Workshop
with 40+ interesting, interested and diversely experienced
colleagues from around the world. Spark (from Korea) gave us a
gift - little...tiny...baby...two feet - a pin to wear as graduates
of this particular class. Raffi translated for our Russian
colleagues and boy he must be thirsty. That is hard work. Somebody
get him a glass of water...or what was I thinking? vodka. There was
a whole little production project so that by the end of class
everyone received a cd copy of the Open Space Idea Book. I must
remember to invite these folks to my home whenever I need a whole
little elves' workshop! We pondered the true meaning of
invitation, played concepts of Open Space back to each other in
silence, movement and metaphor, walked out to see the Golden Gate
Bridge, took naps... sounds like learning to me...
Tuesday evening was the Author Evening with Harrison. 100+ people
in a lovely room by the San Francisco Marina - sun setting,
sailboats rocking, old friends and new, the launch of the Third
Edition of Open Space Technology: A User's Guide, nibbles, wine,
and okay so some hugging and laughter as well.
Tonight is our opening casual reception - the same lovely room,
some food, and friends. No activity designed - just a lovely place
to meet and share stories, introduce new and old friends, look at
the sunset, drink some wine or juice and enjoy each other.
Tomorrow the conference day opens. This will be in a lovely room
with a very large window and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge to
continue giving us a sense of place. Space opens, we jump in, and
off we go.
We will have...
- A Global Village Marketplace - where you bring bit of art or
fabric or ? from your village or that you made and sell it to raise
funds for your travel expenses or the Access Queen Project (this is
how we share resources to help 'Askers' get to our WOSonOSs)
- Silent Auction - where you hope to be the highest bidder on some
lovely item so you can take it home and the money goes
to ...yes...the Access Queen Project
- a Photo Corner so we can get a photo of everyone present - we
will try to put this in our Book of Proceedings
- A Things to Do and See wall where people will be posting colorful
posters of ideas for spending time and enjoying the San Francisco
Bay Area
- Gently used books on facilitation - for those who do not have
access to books - to take home with them
- A library of Open Space resources (including Raffi's new book)
- Lovely pinwalls and a cool suitcase that holds facilitator items
to show to all - from our friends at Neuland
- Compostable dining items, recycling, local merchant food, and an
electronic Book of Proceedings to keep an eye on our impact on the
planet (our caterer tells us that on occasion, the compostable
dinner ware - forks for example - can change shape a bit during
dinner - but they are still perfectly useful for eating...
hmmm...that will be fun....
- A quiet room...ahhh....
- A Thursday evening dinner and celebration with music, perhaps a
little performance or dancing will break out..and..perhaps some
lovely "hippie" costumes...as people tease us Californians all the
time about being 'hippies' we said 'hey, bring it on! come dressed
as hippies and show us what you mean!' - I know I have my costume
all picked out...peace and love, baby...
- International Suitcase Cuisine - where everyone brings some
lovely food or drink from their country, neighborhood or kitchen to
add to our Thursday dinner (I envision everything from pickled
herring to Haitian rum to local organic chocolates -- okay not all
together, I mean one after the other)...
- Home stays and shared rooms and hostel beds found, ride shares
matched, buddies to meet to navigate in a new land, tips for new
travelers, more Russian translation, sharing language and culture
and more...our Access Queen Project of matching people who can give
to people who need is helping a record number of wonderful people
to join us this year and enrich us with their diverse knowledge and
experience...
- Invitation offered from potential country hosts for the 2009 and
2010 WOSonOS - as we move back and forth across the waters to share
this event around the world...
- ...and a group of fabulous Citizen journalist / bloggers who will
send out more news to you, dear readers...as we go...
A few weeks afterwards, after your dear Host Team can rest a bit,
we will be posting our Book of Proceedings for you all to enjoy,
plus - another tradition of Access Queen behind the scenes - we
will be sending a list of ideas, resources and checklists to our
2009 WOSonOS hosts - lessons learned from several years of past
WOSonOS hosts to future ones to help them in their planning for
this lovely world event.
I am about to swim back in to the details of registration and
preparation and also maybe a lovely walk in sunny breezy San
Francisco before our reception tonight.
But I wanted to give you a taste, my friends who cannot be with us
in person.
We are thinking of you as we jump into this nourishing mix of
fascinating people with stretchy thinking and mind-expanding
experience. If we don't see you this week...we are saving our
pennies for 2009 to see you....wherever in the world that will be.
And that will be revealed...very soon after our conference....
And I bow to my fabulous, creative and hard-working Host Team:
Jeff Aitken
Kelly Feder
Ainsley Nies
Nettie Pardue
Erica Peng
Heidi Nobantu Saul
Bob Sullens
...Most of whom have been together working on this for a year (we
celebrated our year anniversary on this project with ice cream and
cake). We are SO excited that this is happening now...We are
delighted and honored to receive our colleagues here in San
Francisco at WOSonOS 2008.
More soon....
Lisa
On behalf of the WOSonOS Host Team
___________________________
L i s a H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g S p a c e
[email protected]
www.openingspace.net
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