Re: [OSList] peggy holman for prez!

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

I have mad respect for Peggy's skills but I would never assume she would
want to be u.s. president and, um, why not ask her first?

On Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Peggy Holman via OSList <
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Not sure what to say to this one Raffi. Can’t say it’s an office I’d seek.
> How about Kai Degner? At least he’s got some experience in the political
> arena!
>
> Peggy
>
>
> _
> Peggy Holman
> Executive Director
> Journalism that Matters
> 15347 SE 49th Place
> Bellevue, WA  98006
> 206-948-0432 <(206)%20948-0432>
> www.journalismthatmatters.net
> www.peggyholman.com
> Twitter: @peggyholman
> JTM Twitter: @JTMStream
>
> Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into
> Opportunity 
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 27, 2016, at 5:57 PM, Raffi Aftandelian via OSList <
> oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> This may seem a little random, if so- no harm in moving right along :)
>
> Most years I usually write in the name of a spaceholder whose work I
> really respect for US president...it may seem a waste of a vote, but it's
> the best thing i figure I can do to take part in this exercise while
> standing in my integrity (yes, in my view- both HRC and DT promise
> different but equal harm to the world). (unfortunately, this also means
> that I can only write in the names of US-born people!)
>
> So, again, I'm voting for Peggy Holman for prez (see link to photo of
> ballot)
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18572036/ballot.jpg
>
> So, based on my back-of-the-napkin calculations- if everyone else on the
> list who is reading this convinces at least a million people to vote for
> her between now and election day, she would stand a chance of becoming
> president!
>
> happy voting!
> raffi
>
> **
> What is one thing you are grateful for?
>
> ___
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>
>
>
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Re: [OSList] who are the right people

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

Of course, depending on an event's goals, and planning team capacity, you
do as much outreach as possible. My friend Lisa Heft has sometimes offered
a workshop, which I have not attended for I consider myself an
professional, expert OS facilitator, in which LIsa does a lot of training
on what goes on before an OS event. The more outreach you do, the more open
the space.  And some OS events are sorta closed, such as an event for
employees of a organization.

A key part of the planning work is the invitation:  how wide is the invite?

I am recalling a time that I, and several others, organized an event called
Practice of Peace, shortly after Harrison's book of that name came out.  We
invited, and funded the costs, of OS facilitators working in conflict zones
around the world. We had everyone we knew putting out our invitation and,
lucky for us, one member of our team had some great connects in Africa.  We
did not have any formal speakers, other than Harrison speaking of his
then-new book but by having what we labeled "invited guests", who were each
free to do whatever they wanted in OS and, guess what, most of them offered
sessions about their work!

It was a big reach for us to fund airfares for three OS professionals from
Jerusalem, one from D.C. (the event in Seattle area),  one from India, one
from Colombia, one from NYC -- the airfares We had no capital, just
registration fees so we had no lump of money up front. We trusted things
would work out and we developed some pride as it looked like we were gonna
be able to finance all the airfares, housing and food of our 'invited
guests'. My memory is incomplete but I think we had 8 invited guests to
fund.

We listed the invited guests in our invitation and that invite went all
over the globe.  I am sure it made it to this list.   We ended up with
participatns from 26 countries including N. Ireland, Herzegovina, Nigeria,
Burundi  . .and many I am leaving out.

Now to the point of my story. Just as we were feeling confident we could
finance all our invited guests, a minister from Burundi wrote to us and
asked if there was any scholarship funds. Whew. We had not considered
scholarship money. Airfare from Burundi to Seattle is not cheap.

So. What to do?  Our planning team realized that if we were who we said we
were, open space facilitators, that we should try to facilitate the
participation of whoever was showing up. That guy from Burundi was trying
to show up!!!  And we were the right people to try to help him for there
was no one else. We decided we would fund whatever scholarships we could
and we came up with a brief application. Prosper, the Burundi guy, returned
his application almost instantly. We got a couple other financial aid
requests but could not fulfill many. But we paid for some. And the first
scholarship was to Prosper.

When Peggy arranged to wire over $3,000, which was a huge chunk of our
resources back in 2003, she realized that, for all we knew, this person
claiming to be from Burundi was just looking for money. And, besides, by
then a guy from Nigeria had asked for some help and we have all heard about
Nigerian online scams. (NB:  the guy from Nigeria, Joel, turned out to also
be an awesome guy and on the up and up).  Peggy, if I recall correctly,
took a big breath and reminded herself "this is about who we are" and she
wired that money to Prosper. Poof. It was gone.

But Prosper showed up.  He made contacts that he still works with to this
day, working to heal some of the wounds of genocide in his homeland. Joel
married one of our team, although they are no longer married, and together
they raised seed funding for a leadership center in Lagos, Nigeria.

And all the 'invited guests' that we financed were awesome.

And, gosh, it sure felt like as many of the right people as possible showed
up. We OS facilitators, we did our best to get as many of the people who
wanted to show up to be able to show up.

I am not answering your question. Maybe I am telling this story because
your question included international collaboration.

OS is about trust. The deeper the trust, the more the energy goes out into
the world to the right people and the more readily the right people are
able to show up.  It's like that old saw, often wrongly attributed to
Goethe but which actually comes from the introductino to a book on the
Scottish Expedition (the first westerners to reach a big-deal summit in the
Himalayas) that goes something like this:  until one is committed, there is
hesitancy . . .and then, it goes on, and I don't have it just right, as
soon as one is committed all kinds of things appear to make the commitment
possible, the goal achievable.

If you are committed to having all the right people in the room, I can't
guarantee you that all the right people from everywhere will show up but I
can guarantee that the more your planning team trusts itself and those
seeking to show up, the more right people will show up.

There is no perfect event with 

Re: [OSList] How much Silence at beginning?

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

I offer an example of opening space for one day of the Practice of Peace
conference on Whidbey in Nov 2003. I was one of the planning team and one
of the convenors of the event. We had lots of OS pracitioners on our
planning team and we had 'invited guests' from around the world. We decided
to pair off, one planning team member with one of our invited guests to
open space -- all our invited guests were OS practitioners. It was, after
all, an event held because Harrison had just published his book, Practice
of Peace.

So my big day came. I asked two Israelis, one a Jew, one a Palestinian
Christian, both of them colleagues in Jerusalem, to co-convene with me. I
asked two to co-open with me because of work these do had done at the
conference the day before, work that had galvanized most participants. We
agreed, we THREE people designated to open the space, that I would do
logistics, announcements, ask for some silence (I generally use Anne's
approach and give as much silence as feels right to me in the moment).

For some reason, perhaps because the day before this particular event had
been particularly intense for many participants, including my two, invited
co-convenors, I thought there should be a longish silence. I have never
timed the silence when I open space. It never occurred to me to measure
'how much time to be silent'. I prepare meditatively, as Anne described she
does, and when I step into the role of opening space, I am in open space,
trusting trusting trusting every moment.

So, picture a room packed with about 120 people from 26 countries, I make
my announcements but left out one detail and then asked for silence. I knew
that the fire department was scheduled to come around for a routine
inspection of the fire alarms. As the convenor that day, and the local
on-the-ground convenor, staff consulted me and told me a fire alarm might
go off. They said I could ignore it because it was just a test. So I did
ignore it but I neglected to tell the circle that a fire alarm test might
be heard.

So the fire alarm went off, of course, in the middle of my silence. I held
on, sensing we had not been silent long enough. Until finally, a wonderful
woman (Nancy White) softly asked me if I thought we should check into the
alarm. Silence over. I explained that I knew.

I had been so careful to prepare for that circle. It was full of prominent
os practitioners from around the globe, including, of course, Harrison. I
was very proud to have the honor of opening one day.

I felt some chagrin in the moments when my silence was cut short, regretful
that I had forgot to mention it. I had calculated that the fire department
would be late, for some reason.

Now, in hindsight, that alarm is one of my favorite moments of those four
intense days. Intense and wonderful days. Listen to the alarm, people. Be
on the alert. now is the time for all good persons to work for peace,
emapthy, compassion, love, nature, trust.

More and more, in the romantic glow of my memory, I have come to love that
loud, cursed alarm.

On Sat, Jun 20, 2015 at 7:24 PM, Harold Shinsato via OSList 
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:

  Dear Harrison,

 I love your response in many ways. It's very confrontational towards this
 need in me to have a formula of a specific amount of clock time, and
 laughing it off.

 In many ways, Anne's invocation of the trans-finite seems to invite this
 kind of meditation. Thank you Anne for such an invocation of going beyond
 the finite. How much time do you need for a deep silence? It reminds me of
 the opening stanza to the William Blake poem, Auguries of Innocence:


 To see a world in a grain of sand,
 And a heaven in a wild flower,
 Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
 And eternity in an hour.


 A deep satisfying silence of 10 seconds could be much more impactful in
 certain circles than forcing an 8 minute meditation on them. For myself, I
 have noticed many times my own butt beginning to wiggle considerably even
 just thinking about having to sit still from a command from the facilitator
 to sit in silence. During the retrospective meeting yesterday with most of
 the organizing team and some of the participants (everyone was invited), it
 was quite interesting to contemplate this question of silence. Some balked
 at the idea of an elongated silence. In fact one of the organizers
 hypothesized the opening was already too woo woo for some of her
 University friends, and they walked out after the opening circle.

 And then again - I suspect for many circles - perhaps 8 minutes of silence
 would have only whet their palette for what they needed for a deep
 comtemplative journey together. Maybe they might need 15 minutes before the
 session genereation. Or 30 minutes. Imagine an hour of sitting in a circle
 together for an hour?!? Speak about eternity. I wonder if such a circle
 might be empowered to solve the most difficult of planetary questions.

 Alas - I suspect there is no need for agreement here - or a 

Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

I once facilitated an OS for a board of six people. I opened the space,
then the marketplace. And everyone post topics in the marketplace. then the
group decided they'd have sessions on all the topics proposed and the whole
group would participate in all the sessions. I occasionally reminded people
of the law of two feet, to keep the space open but the group was happy
working through each topic together. I think they were accustomed to being
a great, collaborative team and they stayed a great collaborative team
during that strategic planning OS event.

The group seemed very pleased with the results, felt energized and eagerly
ready to undertake the new action plans made during the OS.

I felt anxious throughout that I wasn't doing anything but, then again, I
was doing something:  I don't read enough about the real work of
facilitation which is inner energy work. I was holding space for the group
and my energy is great and powerful.  Good facilitators are energy shamans,
imho.

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 8:06 AM, Michael M Pannwitz via OSList 
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:

 Dear Kari,

 actually, pretty regularly, much of that which sponsors and the planning
 group envisioned actually did happen in and after the os-events I
 facilitated.
 (This becomes evident in meetings of planning groups after os-events when
 they look at the mind-map they produced in the first planning session
 before the os event to the questions: What is different the Day after the
 Event? What has changed? What is taking place in my 
 workplace/neighborhood/organisations
 on the day after the event? Which perspectives have opened?...)

 Also pretty regularly, there were big (and small) surprises of the kind
 that have been reported in this string (closing stuff down, creating a new
 approach, etc.).

 Whatever it is that happens in an os-event has shown me (and I assume
 participants and sponsor-participants see it, too) that there is infinetly
 more possible to manifest itself than I am able to imagine. In fact,
 regardless of what I (and perhaps everybody else in the event) expect or
 envision of the gathering to come up with seems of no interest to those
 processes that act in an os-event.

 Sometimes I get the impression that my (and perhaps our) goals, visions,
 aspirations, hopes... are just another kind of control in respect what we
 want to occur. This seems to be just another way of looking at not
 attached to outcome. Usually, this is a prescription for myself in my role
 as facilitator. Extending it to everyone in an os-gathering might free up
 more of the selforganisationforce.

 Greetings from Berlin
 mmp

 On 06.10.2014 16:36, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList wrote:

 I love the stories with few people in Open Space. With one or even with
 none, but still a lot of successes. The act of the invitation and the
 provision of space are remarkable and have productive outcome without
 relation to the actual turnout. But be warned, the actual outcome is not
 always within our or ours sponsors prediction, but we have learned that
 the produce is good.

 /Kári



 On 6 October 2014 14:22, Peggy Holman via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 wrote:

 I once ran a two day Open Space with the 5-member board of a
 nonprofit. They got together in every possible configuration over
 those two days. Pairs, trios, solo, whole group.

 It wasn't as dramatic as Gerard's story. We knew going in we'd just
 have five.

 As with any good Open Space, there was passion for the subject.  It
 was an incredibly productive meeting setting the course for the
 organization.


 Peggy
 Sent from my iPad

 425-746-6274 tel:425-746-6274
 www.peggyholman.com http://www.peggyholman.com

   On Oct 6, 2014, at 2:23 AM, Robyn Williams ► via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:
  
   What a great story, thank you, one of those rich and delightful
 learnings.
  
  
   Warm wishes, Robyn
  
   Robyn Williams
   SeeChangeWA
   Western Australia
   Fremantle ~ Geraldton
  
  
  
   -Original Message-
   From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
 openspacedk1 via OSList
   Sent: Monday, 6 October 2014 2:33 PM
   To: Agnieszka Maja Wawrzyniak; World wide Open Space Technology
 email list
   Cc: g...@openspace.dk mailto:g...@openspace.dk
   Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??
  
   Dear Agnieszka,
  
   Smallest I have experienced was with 4, I believe that as lf the
 issue at stake has enouigh energy, it works - and this is clearlily
 the case from what you describe.
  
   As an example, I once facilitated an event for the alumni network
 of a higher educational institution.
   All 

Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

I once facilitated an OS for a board of six people. I opened the space,
then the marketplace. And everyone post topics in the marketplace. then the
group decided they'd have sessions on all the topics proposed and the whole
group would participate in all the sessions. I occasionally reminded people
of the law of two feet, to keep the space open but the group was happy
working through each topic together. I think they were accustomed to being
a great, collaborative team and they stayed a great collaborative team
during that strategic planning OS event.

The group seemed very pleased with the results, felt energized and eagerly
ready to undertake the new action plans made during the OS.

I felt anxious throughout that I wasn't doing anything but, then again, I
was doing something:  I don't read enough about the real work of
facilitation which is inner energy work. I was holding space for the group
and my energy is great and powerful.  Good facilitators are energy shamans,
imho.

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 8:06 AM, Michael M Pannwitz via OSList 
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:

 Dear Kari,

 actually, pretty regularly, much of that which sponsors and the planning
 group envisioned actually did happen in and after the os-events I
 facilitated.
 (This becomes evident in meetings of planning groups after os-events when
 they look at the mind-map they produced in the first planning session
 before the os event to the questions: What is different the Day after the
 Event? What has changed? What is taking place in my 
 workplace/neighborhood/organisations
 on the day after the event? Which perspectives have opened?...)

 Also pretty regularly, there were big (and small) surprises of the kind
 that have been reported in this string (closing stuff down, creating a new
 approach, etc.).

 Whatever it is that happens in an os-event has shown me (and I assume
 participants and sponsor-participants see it, too) that there is infinetly
 more possible to manifest itself than I am able to imagine. In fact,
 regardless of what I (and perhaps everybody else in the event) expect or
 envision of the gathering to come up with seems of no interest to those
 processes that act in an os-event.

 Sometimes I get the impression that my (and perhaps our) goals, visions,
 aspirations, hopes... are just another kind of control in respect what we
 want to occur. This seems to be just another way of looking at not
 attached to outcome. Usually, this is a prescription for myself in my role
 as facilitator. Extending it to everyone in an os-gathering might free up
 more of the selforganisationforce.

 Greetings from Berlin
 mmp

 On 06.10.2014 16:36, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList wrote:

 I love the stories with few people in Open Space. With one or even with
 none, but still a lot of successes. The act of the invitation and the
 provision of space are remarkable and have productive outcome without
 relation to the actual turnout. But be warned, the actual outcome is not
 always within our or ours sponsors prediction, but we have learned that
 the produce is good.

 /Kári



 On 6 October 2014 14:22, Peggy Holman via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 wrote:

 I once ran a two day Open Space with the 5-member board of a
 nonprofit. They got together in every possible configuration over
 those two days. Pairs, trios, solo, whole group.

 It wasn't as dramatic as Gerard's story. We knew going in we'd just
 have five.

 As with any good Open Space, there was passion for the subject.  It
 was an incredibly productive meeting setting the course for the
 organization.


 Peggy
 Sent from my iPad

 425-746-6274 tel:425-746-6274
 www.peggyholman.com http://www.peggyholman.com

   On Oct 6, 2014, at 2:23 AM, Robyn Williams ► via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:
  
   What a great story, thank you, one of those rich and delightful
 learnings.
  
  
   Warm wishes, Robyn
  
   Robyn Williams
   SeeChangeWA
   Western Australia
   Fremantle ~ Geraldton
  
  
  
   -Original Message-
   From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
 openspacedk1 via OSList
   Sent: Monday, 6 October 2014 2:33 PM
   To: Agnieszka Maja Wawrzyniak; World wide Open Space Technology
 email list
   Cc: g...@openspace.dk mailto:g...@openspace.dk
   Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??
  
   Dear Agnieszka,
  
   Smallest I have experienced was with 4, I believe that as lf the
 issue at stake has enouigh energy, it works - and this is clearlily
 the case from what you describe.
  
   As an example, I once facilitated an event for the alumni network
 of a higher educational institution.
   All 

Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??

[Therese Fitzpatrick via OSList]

I once facilitated an OS for a board of six people. I opened the space,
then the marketplace. And everyone post topics in the marketplace. then the
group decided they'd have sessions on all the topics proposed and the whole
group would participate in all the sessions. I occasionally reminded people
of the law of two feet, to keep the space open but the group was happy
working through each topic together. I think they were accustomed to being
a great, collaborative team and they stayed a great collaborative team
during that strategic planning OS event.

The group seemed very pleased with the results, felt energized and eagerly
ready to undertake the new action plans made during the OS.

I felt anxious throughout that I wasn't doing anything but, then again, I
was doing something:  I don't read enough about the real work of
facilitation which is inner energy work. I was holding space for the group
and my energy is great and powerful.  Good facilitators are energy shamans,
imho.

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 8:06 AM, Michael M Pannwitz via OSList 
oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:

 Dear Kari,

 actually, pretty regularly, much of that which sponsors and the planning
 group envisioned actually did happen in and after the os-events I
 facilitated.
 (This becomes evident in meetings of planning groups after os-events when
 they look at the mind-map they produced in the first planning session
 before the os event to the questions: What is different the Day after the
 Event? What has changed? What is taking place in my 
 workplace/neighborhood/organisations
 on the day after the event? Which perspectives have opened?...)

 Also pretty regularly, there were big (and small) surprises of the kind
 that have been reported in this string (closing stuff down, creating a new
 approach, etc.).

 Whatever it is that happens in an os-event has shown me (and I assume
 participants and sponsor-participants see it, too) that there is infinetly
 more possible to manifest itself than I am able to imagine. In fact,
 regardless of what I (and perhaps everybody else in the event) expect or
 envision of the gathering to come up with seems of no interest to those
 processes that act in an os-event.

 Sometimes I get the impression that my (and perhaps our) goals, visions,
 aspirations, hopes... are just another kind of control in respect what we
 want to occur. This seems to be just another way of looking at not
 attached to outcome. Usually, this is a prescription for myself in my role
 as facilitator. Extending it to everyone in an os-gathering might free up
 more of the selforganisationforce.

 Greetings from Berlin
 mmp

 On 06.10.2014 16:36, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList wrote:

 I love the stories with few people in Open Space. With one or even with
 none, but still a lot of successes. The act of the invitation and the
 provision of space are remarkable and have productive outcome without
 relation to the actual turnout. But be warned, the actual outcome is not
 always within our or ours sponsors prediction, but we have learned that
 the produce is good.

 /Kári



 On 6 October 2014 14:22, Peggy Holman via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 wrote:

 I once ran a two day Open Space with the 5-member board of a
 nonprofit. They got together in every possible configuration over
 those two days. Pairs, trios, solo, whole group.

 It wasn't as dramatic as Gerard's story. We knew going in we'd just
 have five.

 As with any good Open Space, there was passion for the subject.  It
 was an incredibly productive meeting setting the course for the
 organization.


 Peggy
 Sent from my iPad

 425-746-6274 tel:425-746-6274
 www.peggyholman.com http://www.peggyholman.com

   On Oct 6, 2014, at 2:23 AM, Robyn Williams ► via OSList
 oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org wrote:
  
   What a great story, thank you, one of those rich and delightful
 learnings.
  
  
   Warm wishes, Robyn
  
   Robyn Williams
   SeeChangeWA
   Western Australia
   Fremantle ~ Geraldton
  
  
  
   -Original Message-
   From: OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
 mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
 openspacedk1 via OSList
   Sent: Monday, 6 October 2014 2:33 PM
   To: Agnieszka Maja Wawrzyniak; World wide Open Space Technology
 email list
   Cc: g...@openspace.dk mailto:g...@openspace.dk
   Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space for a group of 6??
  
   Dear Agnieszka,
  
   Smallest I have experienced was with 4, I believe that as lf the
 issue at stake has enouigh energy, it works - and this is clearlily
 the case from what you describe.
  
   As an example, I once facilitated an event for the alumni network
 of a higher educational institution.
   All