Still here in the middle of BlawgThink2005, a blogging and tech conference with an Open Space unconference dropped into the middle of it.
The design we’re using here, 3/4 of a day in traditional “tracks” followed by a 4:15pm opening and a first breakout session from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, simply should not work. It should not be possible to have the energized conversations we did at 6:30pm last night. Nor should we have gotten away with a panel talk this morning, followed by three more sessions of Open Space.
There is something about blogging and technology that seems to have reshaped the minds of these folks, mine too. Might be changing what is possible in organization and community. When I look at blogging, wiki, Open Space, mapping and the like, I notice that they all have embedded in them some degree of watching and listening to what’s “outside” while simultaneously not “turning off” what is happening “inside” of me.
Embedded in all of these methods is an active practice and continual refinement of the pulsation between inside and outside, self and other, seeing and doing. I think this refinement of mind makes it easier to move between “traditional” hierarchy mode and the self-organizing Open Space mode. Then again, it might just be because we’re swimming in laptops here, with lots of pulsing between conference and other work.
Either way, I find the ease of meeting, facilitating, documenting and learning here encouraging. For the record, we’re 80-90 people here, posted 30 issues into 4 time slots, documenting everything in MindJet mapping software.
Michael:
An excellent conference and you did a fantastic job as a facilitator. Admittedly, you had an audience that was probably much more suited to the Open Space experience. This being my first experience with Open Space, I was astounded at how simple yet effective it was. Excellent job.
Russ