Hello, dear colleagues -
Get yourself a cup of tea (or other beverage of your choice) as this is a long message... First, thank you for your patience as we work to complete the WOSonOS 2008 Book of Proceedings for distribution. We are just waiting for a few more individuals who had wanted to send in their completed session notes in post-event for inclusion in the Book. So: as soon as those come in (very soon I promise) we will first send the Book to all the WOSonOS 2008 participants, and then let you know here on the OSLIST where it will be posted for your own reading enjoyment. And next, a little thing I have been thinking about. I am interested in hearing your thoughts. And here is a bit of background. At the WOSonOS last month, there were two invitations made for the WOSonOS to come to someplace welcoming in the world, for 2009 and for 2010. You may remember that June 18th message from the June 'OS Groups or Institutes Call' that was ** posted on OSLIST. This call is an every-few-months gathering of one or two representatives from each Open Space Institute or Group - about 15 countries are represented. I also attend those calls as Access Queen, because I communicate with and support each year's Host Team and Askers as needed, no matter where in the world the WOSonOS may be. In the notes from that meeting, you probably read that Taiwan was interested in inviting for 2009 and bringing a nice contingent to the WOSonOS, Berlin was interested in 2010, and also if you look in earlier calls notes, Hungary, France and Estonia were also thinking of inviting for a future year - perhaps 2010 or another year they felt ready to do so. You may also have read in those notes that at the Kiev conference (2007) there was a discussion about having these conferences' locations and dates announced two years ahead - as it is very hard for both the Host Teams and some of the travelers to plan for these things with less than one years' advance notice. (Our Host Team worked for over one year on this WOSonOS, for example. Other Host Teams may need even more time because there is not a large OS community yet locally and the majority of people who come to these WOSonOSs seem to come over land - so this is just my observation but a strong local OS community seems so essential for supporting an event like this. Plus I think it is incredibly useful for prospective hosts to attend a few WOSonOSs if possible to see how it is the same and yet different from a client OS, to experience some of the traditions, and make their own design and decisions based on some of that observation and experience. Again - just my opinion, but to me, this seems incredibly useful.) And there was also conversation and support for moving the conference back and forth across the world - over this land, over that ocean, over someplace else next - so that some people would miss coming for some years but others would be able to come - because of the sharing and moving across the world of this lovely event. My Host Team was interested in designing something thoughtful, supportive and useful for both the invitation process and - as appropriate - any deliberation process, should there have been more than one inviting team for 2009 and 2010. Typically, these invitations get made live at the WOSonOS - by the inviting Host Team or a representative (Brian B of Australia and I once invited the world to India for the 2004 WOSonOS to represent that year's host, Janet Pinto; Thomas Herrmann and Eva P Svensson of Sweden offered my third year's invitation at Kiev last year to represent me - and you can see what happened!). Some of us on the Host Team had ideas for designing a discussion / consensus / decision process and we wanted to know who was offering an invitation so we could welcome them, create time in our event schedule for them, and support all inviters through this invitation and decision process with thoughtful process design. I asked all the conference registrants, too, if anyone was thinking of inviting, just so we would know and design the time and approach to support each potential hosting group or individual. (I had also talked to a few folks who had expressed an earlier interest - and so had some of my colleagues such as Gerard, Karen Davis and others- and it seemed as if those others who had been interested felt it would be better to make their own invitation in another year - though the Hungary inviters asked that the Berlin event be held close to the 2010 OD Summit if possible, for potential attendance at both events). As it turns out, at this invitation portion of the WOSonOS there was only one inviting team for 2009 (Taiwan, their second year of invitation) and one team for 2010 (Berlin). So there was no need for any decision-making. Although fabulous Gerard Muller stood up and reminded me to stop....and breathe....and ask one more time if there was anyone else thinking of inviting the WOSonOS to their country. I bow to you, Gerard. The silence was nutritious. As it turns out, nobody else came forward. So we celebrated our next 2 years of hosts (!!! 2009 Taiwan !!! !!! 2010 Berlin !!!), and at the end of the conference - as is our tradition - the 2008 (San Francisco) Host Team passed the lovely WOSonOS talking stick to the 2009 (Taiwan) team. So. My thoughts for your discussion are... As Access Queen, I often think of 'what will help different kinds of people participate if they have a passion to do so'. I do not get to all the WOSonOSs in person, but I know it is very very powerful to receive an invitation from a potential Host Team - in person - to get a sense for their country, their culture, their personality. And powerful to make decisions in person - with whoever comes - with conversation, and listening, in-person. I am not sure how one would get such an amazing, experiential sense of someone inviting - especially someone from another culture and country - in written form only. Especially if their home language is not in English, as this list conversation usually is. However sometimes I wonder if there would be a way to bring the invitations to the larger OS community - including those of you who cannot come live to the WOSonOS. I am guessing there are some of you who feel 'it is just fine that whoever comes to any given year's event in person collectively hears these invitations and decides / agrees on the future year(s) locations.' You are fine with a diverse group of colleagues being there to hear and feel and taste and sense what future potential hosts are offering. You are like the butterflies in the room. I am guessing there are some of you who feel 'I would like to be included too and I do not get to go to these live events. I wish there was a way I can be included'. Maybe some of you feel both of these things at once. I do not have an answer - and I for one am one of those people who is fine with whoever being there getting to make a decision. That is how I have experienced and enjoyed many Open Space-like organizations' or communities' decision-making processes. They use each others' energies and participation in that fluid and trusting manner, and whoever is at a given meeting gets to make the decisions, whether all are present at that meeting or not. However: I want to invite you to share your thoughts, dear colleagues. As I am just one person. And I feel like there is a conversation here that is waiting to happen. I look forward to hearing the conversation, Lisa ** You can find the brief notes from that recent international call in our own June archives (see below my signature for the web address for the OSLIST archives), or take a look at the complete notes for each of those phone meetings at http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/netwiki.cgi?WorldOSonOS ___________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e <mailto:lisah...@openingspace.net> lisah...@openingspace.net <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== 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