Steve, I can understand you being jealous! Would you believe that I was there and it was every bit as wonderful as anyone could imagine!
Knowing that I lived so close to Orlando, "ho" had sent me a note thinking I might be interested to tag along. Of course I jumped at the chance. There were lots of "be prepared to be surprised" moments over those 2 to 3 days. The first surprise was this wonderful international organization called Scrum Alliance. Techies yes, but what I saw and felt throughout this conference is a group whose approach and thinking went so far beyond the scope of systems application, system implementation and project management that is typical of many who work in the technology field. These were people modeling “the new leadership” – folks with lots of conviction and passion in their gut, who understand in a very “holistic” way that human dynamics are an integral part of what creates success. Many knew of Open Space, had used Open Space and were totally in sync with it. Many had read Harrison's books and even tried their hand at OS. Others knew nothing about it but seemed no less excited. It was so much fun hearing them roar with laughter and nodding their heads in agreement as Harrison spoke as their luncheon speaker on the day before the actual Open Space. The Wave Riding themes resonated with them in spades! The night before the OS event, a slew of Scrum volunteers, of which I was one, were there getting posters ready, drawing the theme banner, etc. Enthusiasm was bubbling over already. The next day, the room was packed with over 200 or close to 300? people in the room. No contest, Mickey Mouse lost that day. People knew where they wanted to be...in Open Space with Harrison and with their worldwide Scrum colleagues. Listening to Harrison do his thing as the facilitator and watching/feeling the room come alive was awesome. In no time, people were lined up announcing their topics--probably close to 75 topics in all leading to 30 to 35 meaty reports by the end of the day. You could feel the energy, it was palpable. I took a lot of photos; others did too. One photo in particular stuck in my mind. It was taken early in the morning, an empty room with everything ready from posters on the wall, to the hundreds of chairs in concentric circles, big white sheets and markers in the center and would you believe dozens and dozens of butterfly images on the wall-to-wall carpet floor. So Steve, if I've waited until now to share this, it's probably because it was one of those rare times when I felt a bit at a loss for the right words that would transport all of you to that very special time and place that Harrison alluded to in his posting just now. Perhaps I guessed also that people might be a bit jealous (as I would have been wishing like you, that I could have been there), so now I offer and share a few images which I hope will make it through our "virtual OS list" and won't get rejected. And in closing, I would like to say to Lisa that if Open Space is the olive in the martini of life, I'd say the white onions, which I like in a martini, are the Surprises that cross our path along the way. This certainly was one of those life surprises. Suzanne On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 12:47 PM, Steven List <d...@anotherthought.com> wrote: > I heard about this from some of my friends in the Scrum community. I was SO > jealous of them! > On the other hand, one of them was at the event I facilitated in Boston last > week, and he came up to me and said... > "I was at the Scrum gathering, and saw Harrison Owen facilitate." > [I'm thinking "uh-oh - here it comes"] > "And he was great. And even having seen him, I can say that you're very > good." > Whew. :) > To be compared to you in any way, Harrison, was an amazing thing. > I guess I'll have to start drinking martinis, eh? ;) > ...Doc > On May 5, 2010, at 10:50 AM, Harrison Owen wrote: > > A while back I did an Open space for the SCRUM people – techies all. And if > you are interested in what they thought, check > out http://www.agilitrix.com/2010/03/harrison-owen-rules-open-space/ > > ho > > > * * ========================================================== > 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 -- Suzanne Daigle NuFocus Strategic Group 7159 Victoria Circle University Park, FL 34201 FL 941-359-8877; CT 203-722-2009 www.nufocusgroup.com s.dai...@nufocusgroup.com * * ========================================================== 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
