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OSI-US Board Meeting Notes - January 27, 2006

[Thank you for your comments, adjustments, corrections.]

Present: Peggy Holman, Karen Davis, John Engle, Douglas Germann Sr., Lisa Heft, Kerry Napuk, Mikk Sarv

Absent: Tree Fitzpatrick, Gabriel Shirley Notes-taker: Karen Davis

The meeting opened with silent time and then sharing of reflections.

1. Annual membership letter and “ask” letter (Peggy and all)

Previous letters, Lisa’s updates, and additions were discussed.

Actions/Decisions?/Agreements?

Based on the discussion, Kerry will develop a draft to be sent out.

Decision: anyone paying over $75 dues will receive a DVD of the USWest film.

2. Michael Herman’s resignation from the Board.

Peggy had a follow-up conversation with Michael.

Actions/Decisions?/Agreements?

Michael will be receiving a gift in acknowledgement of his service [passions and responsibilities] as a Board member, especially his work on webspace.

3. Sponsoring OSonOS US

At the 2005 OSonOS in Texas there was some discussion of North Carolina in 2006. There has also been OSLIST discussion initiated by Harrison for a North American OSonOS.

Actions/Decisions?/Agreements?

Doug will follow-up about hosts for NC interest as well as Harrison’s exploring an OSonOS in Maine.

4. How to make OS stories more visible (all)

There was little response to Doug’s posting on OSLIST.

Discussion included mechanisms for sharing stories, appreciative interviews of someone don’t know, blog, etc.

Sharing stories that have heart and meaning is part of community-building. There are classic/universal stories that are part of the mythos (e.g. Rockport, ATT, 2000+, USWest, 50 Israel/Palestine?, . . .) and that are teaching stories. There are also other stories of passion and spiritual depth (e.g. Tova’s tent, Chris stories, . . .) Both are important to share. Some available sources include: videos/DVDs? (US West), Harrison’s book of Tales from Open Space (text available electronically), and openspaceworld.org (resources/openspacestories/examples).

What are the questions we want to ask to stimulate story-sharing?

Actions/Decisions?/Agreements?

Reflect on dialogue and make decision next meeting about what appreciative interviewing questions to use. Lisa will send some sample questions to stimulate our thinking. Karen will follow-up with Kerry to engage other OS Institutes. Doug will do another post to OSLIST.

5. OS Field Guide (Doug, Lisa)

Doug talked about a guide for people in disaster recovery areas rather than a guide for everybody in every situation.

Actions/Decisions?/Agreements?:

The focus of a field guide will be further discussed at the next meeting. Doug will check with Global Facilitators Service Corp (Gil) about what they have done www.globalfacilitators.org

6. Reflections on the meeting process (all)

The meeting closed with reflections on the meeting process and next time. These included the value of the opening silence and the desire/importance of being on the call regardless of other time pressures.

NEXT MEETING:

Friday, 24 February 2006 at the usual time - 14:00 EST/ 11:00PST/19:00GMT/

BIN for 24 February OSI(US) Board meeting:

   1. Sponsoring OSonOS in US
   2. How to make OS stories more visible (all)

3. “OS Field Guide” (Doug, Lisa)

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