From Together to One (the main site, in Deutsch, is here):

What On Earth Can We Do Together In 7 Days? May 6 – 12 in Jericho, Palestine

Imagine an open space where people come together to create a vision of future community:

* A 7 day experiment to explore possible blueprints for civic life.
* A chance to come up with new ideas and fresh approaches.
* An invitation to experts and lay people alike to work on many aspects of community life.
* An exploration of the different layers of community life such as: ecology, economy, education, health etc.
* An opportunity to see, feel and experience the power of deep connection.
* A chance to experience the self-organising principles of the Open Space Method.
* An opportunity to experience different cultures in one of the oldest cities on earth.

From May 3 – 4 local residents and visitors will work together to beautify the city of Jericho. This is a good opportunity for participants attending the Open Space Conference to get to know the city and the people of Jericho prior to the conference beginning.

The Open Space Conference “What On Earth Can We Do Together In 7 Days?” will run from May 6 – 9. Using Jericho as a template, we will come together to find solutions to improve the quality of community life. The information and insights gained during the conference can then be applied to other communities worldwide.

From May 10 – 11 we will put theory into practice. The plans and strategies developed during the conference will come alive. All the events planned from May 1 – 12 will benefit the comunity of Jericho and its people but there is the hope that what we create together could become a blueprint for other cities wishing to improve their civic life.

Together21 founder Susanne Triner invites world-wide participation:

The Together21 project is on it’s way. I joyfully walk my talk with an open heart, with humility and courage. Many years ago I felt a calling deep within that said: “you will be dancing on seven continents”. I could not fully understand what was meant by dancing. Now I know: it was the invitation to express life like a joyfull dance.

Will we dance life together? I am looking forward to meeting you.
Susanne Triner

Together21 (Together to One)
From Humanity to Human Unity
P.O.B. 448
CH – 3074 Muri bei Bern
Switzerland
Phone (CH) ++41 31 952 55 53
Mail: st at together21 dot org

From Catherine Pfaehler to the OSList:

I will be holding space for the Swiss Gay Community together with Florian Fischer April 7 – 9 in Vaumarcus, www.schwulegesundheit.ch or www.santegaie.ch. If you wish, also take a look at our most recent internet posting, www.open-space-konferenz.ch, where my friend Irena and I are offering a week-end for female managers. I am happy if you recommend the latter to women in management positions who speak German (or French or even English), if you know any of those.

John Engle and colleagues have created a program, called Circles of Change, in Haiti which incorporates Open Space and another method they refer to as Reflection Circles. Nice to see their success featured recently at Haiti Innovation, a new Washington DC-based nonprofit which was started by former Haiti Peace Corps volunteers:

In the midst of a national situation that is violent and chaotic, it is indeed refreshing and stimulating to see how Beyond Borders’ small but vibrant alternative to the authoritarian schooling and leadership is taking shape in Haiti.

—Claudette Werleigh, former Prime Minister of Haiti and Director of the Life & Peace Institute

Circles of Change is one of several Open Space Initiatives that invite and encourage your inquiry and support.

A conversation from the Open Space listserv illustrates the power of online communities like the OSlist.

Allison Hewlitt writes:

I just wanted to send a quick note of thanks for the responses that I received from my earlier email requesting advice on whether or not to introduce OS as part of a larger conference. Deep down, I realise that I knew the answer but simply needed to hear it from someone else. So, a big thank you for providing the reassurance and support that was needed.

I also believe, but can’t prove, that the responses increased my colleagues confidence in using OS for half of the conference. Having told my colleague’s about the request that I made to this community and the supportive responses that were received, a couple of colleagues asked to read them. I am quite certain that by hearing other perspectives, they are also getting some of the reassurance that they need to trust me and trust OS.

Chris Corrigan responds:

Alison, you have pointed to a major benefit of this community and other online communities that are supportive of each other. Last year, as I was planning an appreciative summit on Aboriginal youth suicide, I put out a call on my weblog for folks who might be interested in bouncing ideas around. The responses I got, which included ideas from India, Ireland, the UK, the States and elsewhere were a huge boost for my client who suddenly felt connected and cared for in a way they had not experienced before.

“You mean people in India are helping us do this???”

There is so much to be gained by sharing and asking for help…pay it forward!

Is there a project that you are working on or a question that keeps resurfacing in your awareness? The power of opening up, sharing, and asking for help is unlimited… go ahead, try it!

Upcoming on March 21-22, 2006… A quite short gathering, starting at 1100 on Tuesday and finish at 1300 on Wednesday. At THE CHIFLEY at METROPOLE CONFERENCE CENTRE, 44 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, Victoria. Overnight accommodation available at the venue.

PURPOSE: OPEN SPACE on OPEN SPACE is an opportunity for OST users and practitioners to explore and share experience, to learn from other practitioners, and to explore whatever matters and ideas participants see as important and relevant.

You are invited to come and share, especially relating to Open Space in Australia and New Zealand, knowing that others with experience will be present. Hosting the event will be Viv McWaters and Brian Bainbridge.

THIS IS YOUR INVITATION TO BE PRESENT. The charge will be utterly minimal, to cover lunch Tuesday and Wednesday, evening meal Tuesday, room hire, constant coffee/tea, and stationery.

SO, put the dates in your calendar, make the necessary airline bookings, set up accommodation arrangements, AND advise briansb(at)mira.net ASAP of your intention to be there.

A recent gathering of programmers who blend various applications in California used Open Space Technology for their MashUp Camp. The resulting story, published on CNET.com, is a great overview of how Open Space Technology works in the high tech and social software sectors, and shows how spontaneous Open Space sessions can be blended with pre-existing presentations.

Following on the recent story of Open Space at the RecentChangesCamp for wiki users, it is clear that OST is filling the need for social networking conference organizers who are looking for “unconferencing” formats whioch mimic the way social networks work online.

This just in from Andrew from : OSonOSinOZ
Being able to stand the complexity, the intensity, the discomfort and generally being happy with not-knowing takes some real effort.

How opening space spins out into more and more space opening: “Transforming Philanthropy”’ is an ongoing initiative that began with The Giving Conference in Chicago, a gathering conceived of by Phil Cubeta at GiftHub, Chris Corrigan and Michael Herman, which brought together philanthropists, weblog publishers, financial advisors, and community organizers. A core group then moved to the Omidyar Network and convened an O.net members summit. Some of the people at the first of those summits went on to organize Recent Changes Camp: Building Communities Worth Having!, in Portland, Oregon, which connected software technologists and community leaders and activists.

All of these summits have been 3-day meetings, attended by 40-120 people, and run completely in OpenSpace. At least three new conferences are now being planned for 2006.

Chris Corrigan and Michael Herman are hosting a 3-day Practice Retreat on Bowen Island, April 18-20, 2006 to cultivate the essence of Open Space leadership.

In December 2005, Harrison Owen conducted the Practice of Peace Program (PoP) in Berlin. The PoP Program makes a direct, energetic link between one’s life and the practice of OST and open space in life.

Michael Pannewitz, host and organizer of the program, announced in a recent OS list post that the documentation from the workshop is now available online. You can read the documentation and also view photographs of Harrison’s 70th birthday celebration (held after the PoP) here.

New friend of OST, Carol Hiltner (Seattle, USA), and OST facilitator Marina Tyasto (Novosibirsk, Russia) will be leading a Peace-Mapping “Summit” using OST in the Altai (Siberia) right before the 14th International Open Space on Open Space (OSonOS). This event will take place during the 2006 International Altai Expedition July 14-August 3.

This Peace-Mapping “Summit” presents an excellent opportunity to deepen our experience of OST, open space, and peacemaking.

You are invited to participate in the 2006 International Altai Expedition and Peace-Mapping “Summit” July 14 – August 3.

Altai is an extraordinary mountain range along the southern edge of Siberia, recognized as the origin of global shamanism…The Expedition will take you to the very remote Mt. Belukha, the highest energy spot in this high-energy region.

We will be joined there by indigenous Altai people, including shamans, and a Russian spiritual group from Moscow. At this sacred mountain, with this powerful group, we will convene an OST “Summit” with the objective of supporting participants to map out our personal “critical paths” to peace using guidelines (Tablets of Light) that originated in Altai. In conjunction with the Expedition, we have initiated a Clean-Up to take out trekkers’ garbage and install outhouses.

For information, see http://www.altaibooks.com/trekinfo.htm or contact Carol@AltaiBooks.com .. Please feel free to forward this information to anyone whom you think might be interested.

Identity Woman says:

He says flat out…”you know I really don’t like this format where we are at the front of the room and you are out there but we all have ideas to contribute.” It is very frustrating for me to hear this because I advocated that the organizers of this conference including Boris use Open Space as the format.

This from the OSLIST today…

You are invited to the 1st anniversary Convocation of the U.S. Partnership for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development – hosted by the EPA in Raleigh, NC!

In addition to updates on Partnership progress this past year, March 1-2 will be a series of OpenSpace gatherings around issues and topics that participants put on the table ahead of time. EVERYONE WELCOME!

Given this group’s passionate participation and experience, I’m really hoping that any of you interested in sustainability, in any of its myriad forms, who can make it to Raleigh will join us.

For one example, with Raphael Peter of Asheville I’m anchoring an Open Space on intergrating the arts across the sustainability movement. Other areas already on the table include the business community, k-12 education, community-based learning, faith-based and -related movements, higher education – we’d love someone to take a lead on green building, sustainable agriculture, health, marketing/advertising – what else can you creative folks think of?

Patricia Haines
Level Green Institute, Ithaca, NY
Co-Chair, Adult & Community Learning
US Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

John Engle invites us to Haiti Salon 2007 by asking: How can we improve our efforts to support Haiti?

Haiti Salon is an inclusive two and a half day gathering in New York toward furthering justice, peace and democracy in Haiti.
(see the link for more)

At How to Save the World, Dave Pollard is looking at using leading edge thinking on social networks wisdom of crowds and Open Space Technology to find ways to address complex problems. He paints a picture of how a summit leveraging theory produced by George Lakoff, James Surowicki and Dave Snowdon can address issues like global warming:

Conceptually, this seems to me to be an ideal melding of the best of social Complexity Theory, Open Space Technology and the Wisdom of Crowds principles, and bringing in learnings from Lakoff’s Frames theories and Freakonomics methodology, to provide a means by which intractable problems could be addressed in a flexible, constructive, and yet highly disciplined way, so that a broad and deep understanding of the issue could emerge, and where resolutions that might never be revealed in more traditional ‘problem-solving’ venues might be identified and pursued by those ‘responsible’, in a self-organizing and very fluid and dynamic setting.

Visit Dave’s site and join in the conversation.

Christine Whitney Sanchez writes:

Claudia Haack and I are excited to share our report to the Girl Scouts of the USA on the “Open Strategic Conversations” capacity building project which culminated in large events at the Girl Scout National Convention. Naturally, the Girl Scouts have given us their permission to share this with you.

On October 7, 2005, an Open Space on Governance was held for more than 1600 delegates and over the following 3 days Strategy Caf̩s attracted over 3000 participants. These events were eagerly awaited by 100 volunteers Рthe core of the capacity building effort who we had trained in Open Space and World Cafe. They had self-organized for planning and implementation before, during and after the convention to become the logistics backbone for these events.

The “Smooth Operators,” as they called themselves, captured the spirit and imagination of what lies in the future for Girl Scouting and have gone on to facilitate many Open Space events and World Cafe conversations in their local Girl Scout councils and their communities at large.

At Anecdote,Andrew Rixon has teamed up with OSonOS X co-host Viv McWaters in an innovative community of practice exercise. They are running a three month long reflective learning group on the uses of open and closed language among facilitators:

Our focus is on the language facilitators use to encourage or discourage a group discussion. This reflective practice will run over 3 months and for those participating we will provide reminders, feedback and stories from other participants. We aim to share our learnings and findings at a workshop for some upcoming Australasian facilitation conference… If you would like to join in on this reflective practice, send either Viv (viv@thereef.com.au) or myself (andrew@anecdote.com.au) an email and we will join you in to our program.

More and more, traditional conferences are being called to answer for the big wastes of time that many (most?) of them really are. The best parts are always the coffee breaks!

The term that keeps popping up is Unconferencing. Johnnie Moore offers this podcast of a Skype conversation with Chris Corrigan and Rob Paterson, talking about Unconferencing and Open Space Technology.

How can we get away from unsatisfying conferences where the audience is often bored, towards much more engaging learning events? Listen here…

What is earth changing is not the idea that people can change their world, but the actual trying of it. That leads to the discovery. Once people find it’s true, they can.

Do they? I don’t know. They might slip back into the old ruts. It takes energy, enormous amounts, to change things. For me, it is easier to do my old business and keep my nose to the grindstone. So it may be necessary to make special events every so often to keep people’s energy focused. For it can dampen easily and be deflected by day to day concerns, little or big. Keeping the conversation sustained may be necessary. Open space practitioners who invite the conversants to keep on may be central. Events may be the catalysts without which not.

Does that fit somewhere in the implicate order? Perhaps it says if we want to keep something (action, say) unfolded, we must keep our fingers on the tuner.

The trick it seems at the moment is to keep inviting the conversations. What matters now? Do we need actions or understanding or health or the overcoming of fear? We know. We have the ways. We are the ones needed in this hour.

We are the ones for here and now. No others.

:- Doug. Germann
What wants to happen in your communities?

Many practitioners of OST underline that the daily practice of open space in life is more important than the tool called “Open Space Technology.”

Michael Herman together with Chris Corrigan have outlined a brief description of the four practices of Open Space. Michael offered a refined version of these practices recently.

Paul Everett shared his understanding of these practices on the OS list as inspired by the South African teacher, Oz Swallow.

As Paul remembers them:

(Therefore, Fun is results-producing)

Kenny Moore, co-author of “The CEO and the Monk: One Company’s Journey to Profit and Purpose” (John Wiley and Sons, 2004), writes a witty and candid account of his first Open Space event facilitation. Here’s an excerpt:

“I now invite anyone who has passion about the business to come forward to the microphone… Who would like to go first?”

My invitation was greeted with silence. 400 employees looked around for senior management to take the lead. But they didn’t. Thirty seconds slowly ticked by. The alpha-males in the audience were starting to twitch. With no relief in sight, one brave soul stood up and walked to the microphone. “My name’s Bill Kearns and I’d like to host a session discussing the relocation of the company’s call center.” Right on his heels was another employee who took her place at the mic and spoke her passion. Two minutes later, we had exceeded the 5 employees the CIO feared would never materialize. By the end of 20 minutes we had 53 sessions posted.

Something powerful was underway. Something that could never have been managerially orchestrated. It all seemed to get energy from the freedom inherent in a business “invitation.” Employees sensed that they were in charge. And indeed, they truly were.

The whole story is recounted here in glorious detail.

Writer-director of the established British theater, Improbable, Phelim McDermott, is one of the latest people to join the OS discussion list.

Improbable organized a 200 person OST event in London on the topic of the current situation in British drama.

Of course, as many others who stumble upon OST, Phelim notes that he worked in open space long before he worked with the method.

Two articles in London’s Guardian and Observer describe this recent application of OST.

Reading about Improbable’s principles is also intriguing.

The original invitation for the two day OST event, DEVOTED AND DISGRUNTLED: What are we going to do about theatre?, was also posted to the OS list.

Improbable has graciously posted the proceedings from the two day event on their website.

Thank you for the story, Phelim!

An interesting experiment is just starting in the Open Space Sangha blog. It’s called an Inquiry Circle. It was very powerful in person, at the Open Space on Open Space, last year in Halifax.

The hope is that we might replicate some of that in a virtual platform. Here’s how it works: The first person poses a question. The next person (any next person) in answers it and then asks the next question. This continues until it reaches round the circle to the person who posed the original question.

The opening question is: What is your experience of Spirit and Open Space?

You’re welcome to read, comment or join the circle as a posting member, in the Sangha. Maybe we’ll take a short rest here at OpenSpaceWorld.ORG while the experiment runs over there.