Amen to that! I hear proposals to do less all the time. If the hosting
process becomes a burden - what can I as a host do to bring it back to
being a joy? I suspect this is an never ending inquiry for Open Space hosts.
I love that Suzanne is making a strong case for doing less. I've been
hearing her repeat the mantra "What is One Less Thing to Do".
What seems to me even more important is that we do things from love,
joy, delight, and freedom. One less thing to do is not to hold an Open
Space event at all. And that's exactly what most people do. As a
community that thinks holding Open Space events is healing, beneficial,
just awesome - I'm hoping we can make the joy of these events so
powerful that they happen more often. In *all* kinds of flavors. Whether
hosts want to add a dance or a talk by Harrison or ping pong games or a
jaunt to the beach.
If the hosting party chooses to add things from a place of joy - yay for
them. London isn't a cheap town. Maybe we could have occupied a park and
made it cheaper. But I'm glad it happened the way it did. Knowing a bit
more than most about some of Phelim's work before the event because he
would talk about it at the Open Space Institute meetings - I think it
was the only thing that could have happened. And I for one loved WOSonOS
2012!
Michael, I love that you are making a case for doing less. And I also
cringe at what feels to me like pulling at the threads of what past
hosts have given and what future hosts will give in the future. But
thanks for challenging all of our integrity - as long as you don't mind
that usually is an invitation to have your own also challenged! But
please do - keep challenging us to do less. Maybe the future is indeed
that no one needs to host Open Space events anymore - because it's just
so organic that the job of the facilitator and host is no longer needed.
That sounds like paradise to me - how can we help do that?
There were several interesting sessions at the WOSonOS that touch on
these themes!
http://www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/events/world-open-space-open-space/reports/what-if-the-one-less-thing-to-do-is-facilitation/
http://www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/events/world-open-space-open-space/reports/personal-integrity-in-open-space-facilitation/
http://www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/events/world-open-space-open-space/reports/invisible-leadership/
http://www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/events/world-open-space-open-space/reports/os-circles-opening-evening-news-break-ups-without/
The last one was about doing open space without chairs. That's a cool
conversation because removing chairs brings options for lower cost.
Harold
On 10/24/12 9:49 AM, Michael Herman wrote:
quite right, harrison... all i'm trying to say -- or ask really -- is
might we not be asking too much of our would-be hosts?
might we not, as a community, be evolving our common
expectation/definition of what a "world" osonos is... with the result
being that there is more work for hosts, fewer hosting offers, more
expensive and involved job of hosting, increasing the risk to hosts,
increasing the fee to participants, increasingly complex website to
collect the fees, increasing the need for "access" support to discount
the fees, all of which might at some point muddy our demonstration of
how really simple, elegant and powerful working in open space really
is, and yes, ultimately, leaning in a direction that leads out of
integrity? -- yes that really is one big question AND each of the
steps along the way has important implications.
this is not something any one person did... it's something that's been
happening over 10 years or more, since we started globetrotting. maybe
this expanding role of hosting is just what it takes to have people
come from around the world, but that wasn't the experience for the
first seven or eight or nine years, nor at the osonos-by-the-sea
events. so maybe it's not the world that demands this expanding role
of wosonos host. maybe we're doing it to ourselves. maybe we don't
notice or don't care. but maybe we are slipping back into working too
hard? and maybe that is limiting what ELSE might happen under the
banner of osonos?
it's easy to propose more and more details. it's very hard to propose
less and less... because the process of doing less for participants
leads to unseen gifts, which makes the case hard to prove. so i'm
just trying in so many different ways to invite some exploration, or
more active and conscious conversation, about the ways we've been
evolving one of our core community practices.
m
