Dear Friends,
Several dozen open space events under my belt, and here's something new
that happened to me today...
After I did the introduction, a woman participant came up to me and said
that I had to be more careful, as I walked in circles, of people who may
suffer from motion sickness, as she
Dear Friends,
I'm a bit surprised at the reaction to my little off-handed wise-crack.
Do we really think the direction one walks makes a big difference? I have
walked clockwise, counter-clockwise, in a weave, figure-eights, and randomly.
Other patterns, too, I guess. Can't recall e
Dear John,
To a node, from a fringe, thanks for scanning in the NY Times article.
Ralph Copleman
Hello,
I agree with the responses to Ingrid's question that advise no
icebreakers. Participants are not the only ones who have to do a
little-"fright-biting." Facilitators have to do it from time to time as
well.
Ralph Copleman
Re: attachments...
People who run websites for a living tell me that it always makes better
sense to simply include the document within one's e-mail message.
Ralph Copleman
To Kevin, via Peg Holman,
In my personal experience, the number of sessions almost always *exceeds*
the number of spaces and time slots available. People then use whatever
they can find, thereby stretching the space.
Sometimes they use the pool. Or the bar. Or the golf course. Or all of
them.
Friends,
Clipped this from Today's NY Times.
A threat to open space? Or an opportunity?
Ralph Copleman
PERSONAL COMPUTING / By ROB FIXMER
The Melding of Mind With Machine May
Be the Next Phase of Evolution
e humans have been trying to accel
Hi,
I have conducted many open space events where attendance was mandatory.
In my experience, they all worked just fine. Personally I only have a
problem with "mandatory"unless the system is in some kind of conflict or
turmoil. Employees get called to meetings all the time and attend with
no mor
Hi, all
I agree with "never intervene." And I have the following story.
About three years ago I was facilitating an OS event in a community in
Missouri on the theme of the future role of the local hospital there.
Everything was going fine for the 100 or so people there. In the middle
of it all,
Dear Birgit,
As far as I am concerned, you can experiment with all the mass mailing
techniques you want. As it usually is with you, if you're learning
something and you make it public, others learn, too. So keep it up.
My dead moose says she will not be able to make the meeting of the other
dea
Sheila,
There was no group to confront him. We were standing around by the wall.
I felt at the time that he was confronting me and that I simply held the
space for the community. I have to conclude that had I not "intervened"
he would have torn down any number of other posters and destroyed the
No, Mc,
I'm saying I think I did the right thing. I suppose I "intervened" and I
believe in not intervening. Now I think: "never say never" to me
becomes "usually don't say never."
Ralph
No, Denis,
I'm not saying that at all.
Ralph
Chris,
Speakers are death to open space. Put another way, open space is death
to speaking presentations. Others here may put things in more spiritual
terms, but that about sums it up for me. I ran an OS once that had a
speaker at lunch. Couldn't for the life of me convince the client to
drop t
Jay
My feedback: too many rules and structures. I think: either the
presentations of software go up on the board with all the other postings
or they happen before or after the open space.
Ralph
Jay, Karen, Chris, et al,
Looking over the latest postings, I recalled another story from an OS I
did in Florida last year with operations people from a large company.
The OS went from just after lunch one day to lunch the next. The CEO
wanted to come in early the second day and give a brief talk
> Like Leon deKing says, OS
>seems simple until you get underneath it.
Birgitt and all,
I amrminded by the above excerpt from Birgitt's contribution here of a
quotation from the American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes...
"I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I
wou
WAY TO GO, VIRGINIA!!
I guessyou create poetry in many forms.
Love, Ralph Copleman
See you in Monterey.
Ralph Copleman
Dear Birgit and others who want to attach documents to e-mail.
The best advice I've received about attahching documents to e-mail came from a
guy who runs websites and listserves for a living. His advice: don't.
Instead take the few seconds it needs to cut and paste your document directly
into
Denis and all,
Before OSONOS, carry water, chop wood; after OSONOS...etc.
Folks get home, have a billion e-mails to answer, bags to unpack, etc.
Hang in there, good buddy, the Proceedings will probably make their way
to cyberspace pretty soon.
Harrison caught the flu, stayed home, and probably r
Friends,
I've done a lot of open space gigs, but never one quite like this, and I
welcome your suggestions:
A corporate client wants its open space meeting of 110 people done on the beach
in Florida. As in: on the beach. That, of course, means no walls. None. I'm
thinking: why not just spr
Howdy, all
Thanks to the 9-10 people who have to date responded so generously to my
request for advice about conducting OS on a beach. Everybody was quite
helpful, actually, except for Harrison, who suggested I use beachbums to hold
up the signs. Beachbums would that be you, H?
To answer q
Okay,
So now I have two volunteers for the role of
beachbum-holder-upper-of-OS-posters for my ocean-front open space in
February. About 40 more and I'll be all set.
Geez, you guys are so helpful!
Ralph
To all,
I'm now up to four beachbum and beachbum-ette (?) volunteers to hold up
signs. Maybe it's time to produce a job description. Hmm, let's see
1. You have to be able to stand all day with small posters taped to your
hands, tummy and, very likely, your forehead. We could probably prov
Craig,
Don't "sell" open space. Use it when and if it fits. Think purpose.
Ralph Copleman
Dear PKaipa,
Do I understand that you believe that in open space people are
despairing, aspiring, or operating on auto-pilot?
Or is it that in open space we do not have to operate that way? If so,
how then are we operating in open space?
Ralph Copleman
To Chris and others,
I have also been a member of the World future Society from time to time.
I stopped sending them hard-earned money for subscriptions when I
concluded that their ringing predictions about one sector, would be
completely out of synch with their forecasts for another. For futuris
Dear Karen (and others),
Karen, I think you might be responding to my note about open space beeing about
the present more than the future (or whatever I said). Thank you for your
comment.
I am always wary when we try to say what open space is or describe with clarity
and finality what it does
Re: Zen,
I have nothing against Zen, though I will never get my legs to bend like
that, but I wonder if we couldn't attribute the ability to suspend the
need for a desired outcome to something already inside.
Why, when we come upon something we admire, do we often attribute it to
some force or ph
Hi,
Tonight the American president will give his annual State of the Union
speech before Congress. His staff members have said he will make no
mention whatsoever of the trial that is going on all around him.
This guy ought to be elected Chairman for Life of the Dead Moose Society!
Ralph
Steve,
Why not get in touch with Harrison Owen.directly? He'll be able to
answer all the questions you've raised.
Ralph
Hi,
On the question of convening a session during an OS event one is
facilitating. I think it can work, and, of course, it's not always
appropriate. Harrison's remarks make sense to me.
I believe I've done it three times during client engagements, all times
with no deleterious effect, I feel qui
Joe,
Nope, don't agree.
Being an OS facilitator is not analogous to being a therapist.
And no one said anything that sounded like a recommendation to engage in
"intuitive and idiosyncratic judgement on the spur of the moment."
Ralph
Aha!
Hoisted on my own petard! Or is that canard?
Yet another blow to my credibility!
Well, I was clearly guilty of some non-thorough thinking, which probably
proves I'm operating out of intuition even more than I claim.
So it goes.
Ralph
Hi,
Everyone's being so extra-careful, it seems. I wonder if Harrison and I are
the only ones who have ever offered their own session/discussion during an open
space...?
I also want to amend what I have said about this very interesting issue. I
agree that it probably isn't a good idea to off
Wow, this is really juicy, this self-organization/complex adaptive system stuff.
In the interest of clarity, I must say I have not read Jay Vogt's comment with
the David Whyte quotes, but I was moved by what Birgitt said and made curious
by the relative silence on the topic since then (except, o
Doc (and anybody else),
What Doc describes reminds me of the stuff Tom Berry and Brian Swimme
talk about in "The Universe Story," a layman's guide to the last 15
billions years since the Big Bang. They describe some fundamental,
life-governing principles of the universe, autopiesis being one of t
Dear Friends,
I wonder how we are measuring the success of our open space gatherings.
What or who is "violated" by the use of a table in the center during the
opening? How dow we even get to apply a word like "violated" to what
we're doing when decide to use a table or not?
Are we perhaps thinki
Re: ODNet in San Diego
Way to go Chris!
You really pulled the Kloth over everybody's eyes!
Ralph
Hi, everyone,
I'm looking for someone who wants to do a case study of the use of open
space to help a whole bunch of folks decide the fate of a large bridge
across the Hudson River in New York. I'm thinking someone like a grad
student in public adminstration would get a good thesis out of this an
Dear Dylene,
Impressive project. Congratulations on moving forward with it.
Can you be more specific about the kind of suggestions you are after?
I'm not sure I understand your request. Thanks.
Ralph Copleman
Hi,
Open space being what it is, whatever it is, what type could not find its own
way to being comfortable, productive, satisfied whatever in it?
The issue of discomfort would not, in my opinion, be linked to type.
Ralph Copleman
(INFP)
Meta,
I'm not interested in your friend's consulting opportunity, but why don't
you do it?
Love, Ralph
Peg and others,
I checked the website you cited and found the name of John Dicus, which
is a familiar name, somehow. Haven't I seen it here on our list? Can't
be sure, but thought I had.
I have always had a little difficulty with commercial organizations
certifying anything like this, but I sup
Dear Wallace and anybody else to whom this may apply,
PLEASE do not make attachments to e-mails. Whatever you sent would not
open for me.
Why not simply drop whatever it is into your regular e-mail? That way
everyone would always be sure to get it.
Please.
Ralph Copleman
It seems unncessary to assert the superiority of either of these two
approaches, future search or open space, over the other,.
I use both. Happily. If I and my clients are thoughtful about the choice,
then the one they eventually choose will be, I trust the one that works best.
For them. Ho
Karen Tiller's summary of her research was interesting to see here.
I have a couple of immediate thoughts.
First, while OS is certainly flexibly applied with respect to group size,
it would be a mistake to assume only OS can handle very large numbers.
Some future searches have involvede several h
Andrea,
Can you say more about your experience with the religious community, in
particular about being "challenged to notice" some people who tended to
speak for the whole group. I don't understand.
Ralph Copleman
Peg,
I'll take the set of 5, as CD's
Ralph Copleman
Hi,
I don't believe I've ever done a modified open space. I have done, on
rare occasions, things that aren't open space and for which I have
borowed from OS a few tools or ideas, but then, it's clear to me, it is
not open space.
If I modify open space, then the space is not fully open, and what
Hi,
Dylene's and Harrison's tales of small groups remind me of a time in 1990
when I spent eight days in open space at Findhorn in Scotland. I think
there were only 24 of us. But after four or five days, the group seemed
much smaller! It was a week that has continued to affect me and my work
de
Dear Open Spacies:
And now for something completely different
It's a contest, right here in the open space and you may help select the
winner, as well as enter as many times as you wish. Read on.
As some of you know, I dabble in poetry. One exercise that poetry teachers
often assign for youn
Well,
The Open Space A to Z Contest is off to a rousing start: six entries on
the first day alone!
The prize, John Adams new book, "Thinking Today as if Tommorrow
Mattered," is a thoughtful presentation of how what we've learned about
changing consciousness in organizations can be applied to larg
Hi,
So far, eleven different people have entered the "Open Space A to Z
Poetry Contest." I think there are actually thirteen different poems
entered.
I will close off the entry period one week from today, at the end of the
day, Friday, October 15. Then I'll put all of them up here again, and
pe
Hey gang,
If the Open Space A to Z contest has done nothing else, it has sent some
of us running to our dictionaries, especially to the Z section.
Still no takers on the Z to A option. Try it. You can do better than
this:
Zelda, your x-citement wins victories.
Utilize these spaces,
Restore qui
Hi, Open Space Cadets,
Time to pick the winner of the A to Z Poetry Contest!
Here are all the entries. Please vote for only one. They're numbered
for reference. I have dropped off the names of the authors so you won't
be swayed by emotion. (Right.)
Some additional "rules."
1. Vote by letti
Howdy,
Please remember to get your vote in for the Open Space A to Z Poetry
contest.
In case you think your vote does not matter, I can tell you that I have
received five votes so far, each one for a different poem. So, at this
point, it's a five-way tie!
Ralph Copleman
Dear All,
The winninng Open Space A to Z poem is No. 13, shown below. The winning
poet is CHRIS CORRIGAN of Vancouver, BC, Canada. His poem, "Holding the
Space," received three times as many votes as the second place finisher.
For good measure, here's his entry one more time.
HOLDING THE SPAC
Hi,
Nobody, but nobody, can unlurk like my dear friend Florian Fischer.
WEY to go, Florian!
Ralph Copleman
To Peg and all,
I have also noticed some folks disappear before the closing circle. From
feedback, I have collected over the years, I think some or all of the
following circumstances may operate.
1. Some folks do not like open space for reasons they never make plain,
and they leave.
2. Some c
Denis,
My advice: have a good time.
Ralph Copleman
Hi,
As I ponder the e-mails on drop-off once again, I realize the following...
1. I admit that when the whole gang that was there at the start is not there
at the closing, I am disappointed and still sometimes think it is somehow my
fault even though I know it probably isn't.
2. Part of me
Hi,
Just been struck by a notion...
I wonder, when we humans talk about being appreciative in our inquiries,
having true dialogue, and opening space for spirit, do we include only
human beings, or do these apply to other species as well?
And if we answer "yes," then, beyond our intentions, what'
Re: Peg Holman's friend who has 1 1/4 hours to DO open space for a group
of HR execs. I agree with Harrison: don't do it. I felt uncomfortable
justreading about it.
I am remembering occasions when it was much sexier to almost have sex
than to actually have it.
Faced with an hour and a quarter,
Patrick (and others),
I once did a two-site OS, one in New York and the other in Indiana. A
facilitator was present at each site to open, hold, and close the space,
etc.
We offered the client a range of suggestions for electronically linking
the two sites, and to my surprise, they chose a simple
Terry,
I'm not sure what your question is, but I can tell you this story.
The very first OS event I facilitated was for 75 engineers and
construction execs. I think there were two women present. Worked like a
charm. Will engineers do it? My experience says yes.
Will people used to top-down st
On Chris's discussion about intervening in groups...
Chris, I think your technique of having your client sit down with you to
observe a group from a small distance is very clever. In my opinion,
you're defintely barking up the right tree.
And I think there's a good reason for that. I once had a
Hi,
For those of you who keep my personal e-mail address in your records,
please note a change.
The new one (affiliated with my website): ra...@earthdreams.net
The current one (ralp...@eartlink.net) will continue to be available for
a while, but please make the switch as soon as you're able. Th
Hi,
How interesting to read the comments about preparation.
I have no disagrements to offer, just a slightly different way of doing things.
This is not about the time I spend preparing the client, but the work I do,
more precisely *don't* do, with myself.
For years I have listened closely and
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