Dear Lisa I want to second your words about the value of indicating the circle in online facilitated meetings. Lately we´ve been experimenting quite successfully to facilitate meetings using MSN and found this to be very useful. Ask each participant to write a circle and place each participant in it (in the same order;-)). Then we´ve been able to use rounds for example during transfer in exercises and closing circles. We have also used a talking stick so we know when a person has finished sharing. Another thing we practiced in MSN meetings is to have break out sessions if you want to talk in smaller groups and/or talk about different subjects simultaneously. Quite a special feeling to bumblebee in different MSN-windows almost at the same time.
At a couple of times I´ve experimented in similar ways during telephone conferences, worked well too. I am right now in a team with colleagues in the Genuine Contact community writing a manual to assist others to have online meetings both as facilitators and participants. So if anyone else has experiences and ideas to share in this area I am very interested to listen. Of course we will share the results of our work too. Best regards Thomas _____ Från: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] För Lisa Heft Skickat: den 18 april 2007 19:04 Till: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Ämne: Re: Ideas Workshop virtuele, online communities, Open Space Hello, fabulous Rob You asked: Do you think it is actually necessary to be in one physical room to do an open space. In my experience it is good whenever possible to meet in-person first to give people a body sense of each other then if necessary to continue work in virtual/on-line settings. Of course that is not always possible. However, I have experienced the most delightful OpenSpace-Online tool of Gabrielas, and I have heard very positive feedback from people for whom that was the very first time in anything Open Space. They still had a sense of connection and knowledge-sharing in a deeper way than other meetings they had previously experienced. Here, I think, is the secret and I believe we talked about this on this list some years ago when discussing physical sites that made the set-up of the room challenging. If you cannot set up an actual, physical circle imply the circle. Indicate it. Show it graphically in some way. In a physical space: set up your principles and law signs in the round, and indicate them either by *your* walking around or your indicating them as you speak of each in turn and gesture towards it. In a virtual space: OpenSpace-Online shows participants the circle in several wonderful ways via graphics and choice of words. I have experienced virtual facilitators pre-sending a sheet for participants to download with a graphic of who is at the table (shown in a circle, ideally with photos but definitely with names and geographic locations). I have also experienced (in our own beta testing of OpenSpace-Online) how when you mention even casually where you are / what the weather is like / what you are eating it brings peoples bodies into the experience. This happened once when some of us started talking in the cafe section of our OpenSpace-Online meeting (During this break as we all hang out in the cafe, I am having a glass of wine. It is freezing and after midnight here in Toronto I am having a hot cocoa. Wow. Here it is 110 degrees F the sun is shining and outside, the dogs are barking. I am having a cool mango drink.). That kind of talk really, to me, both deepened connection and helped bring our bodies into the experience in more ways than reading and writing text. I suppose if I were to set up a video conferencing Open Space meeting between a few sites, I would set up each of their rooms with the principles and guidelines posters in the round, I would remove any tables from the room, and I would seat them in a half-circle facing the camera (other members) again to *imply* the circle. If I could, I would set up multiple screens around the room they each sit in - so they could see each group in the round and feel like they are sitting in the circle together. Online experiences are often quite text-based which makes it harder for those who absorb data kinesthetically, graphically or relationally (interpersonally/working with others). So to me, anything that can enhance those other modalities can better include those other kinds of people. My two cents / rubles / pieces of fruit... Lisa ___________________________ 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 * * ========================================================== 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 * * ========================================================== 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