Open Space
Posted August 11th, 2007 by Christine
in
Soo, our first "Open Space" experience at the Leadership Meeting last night - and it worked! I've heard of "Un-Conferences" before and as an anal meeting planner have tried to stay as far away from them as possible - not enough structure. :-) Well, I have to say that my first Open Space experience has made me reconsider... amazing how the freedom of speaking to topics that are truly important to you sparks such interest and passion. And who would have thought the person sitting next to me was having the same thoughts as I was, and had some even greater ideas on the subject than I could have come up with! It's risky and exciting business to put this into action during a Sunday Experience - but being involved on this Journey together has always been risky business, so let's go for it! :-)
It worked... how can it work better?
Christine, I loved watching the dialogue and discussion too! It took a while for people to free to express their idea or opinion... I'm wondering if there are ways to improve the "flow?" One idea... have everyone write one thing they love about The Journey currently... and one thing they could change or improve. Then invite them to consider starting a topic discussion on HOW to increase the positive they just wrote... or asking them to offer the change/improve topic. Might help... and then EACH person has to wrestle with the question - which is good. Some just sat back and waited for others.
Thoughts / responses?
Hey Jeff, Well, considering
Hey Jeff,
Well, considering that this is probably the first time an Open Space Forum has been tried, doesn't surprise me that it took a bit to get things flowing. Once people have experienced it and know what to expect, I think next time it'll flow that much easier. BUT, implementing this in a Sunday Experience setting will be trickier than in a small-group setting, I am sure! Having some catalyst ideas or exercises is probably smart for starters, but would love to see us grow to a point where totally random and spontaneous ideas are discussed! But, I agree that a little bit of structure would help as people get used to the concept.
Also, maybe sometime we could try it where you can only stay with the same group for 10 minutes or so. I wanted to join a number of the discussion groups, but got so deep into the topic I was on, that I never used the Two Feet Principal. :-)
Last thought- at some point it'd be great to transition from what will improve the Journey, to what will improve our personal spiritual growth. A little touchier, but ultimately focusing on personal needs/goals will roll up into the Journey, anyway....
getting started
What about posting 3 questions right before opening up the floor? First off, let people know that they are here to brainstorm how to make the Journey the most relevant, spiritual, relational, etc. Christ honoring church. Then post (through some cool media) something like the following...
If you don't currently regularly attend a church- what specifically would effect you most at a church experience? What would you be intereted in doing midweek? What have you liked about othr churches? What have you not?
Journey folk- Jeff's questions from above.
Give people a few minutes to think and a few examples and then start the forum.
Open space ideas and links
Ran into a little web content with ideas for our upcoming Open Space… thought I’d share:
One last note: If you haven’t seen my mention of the Bay Area Church and Technology gathering, be sure to check it out. :-)
Tanya Reynolds
http://www.tanyamreynolds.com
http://tanyareynolds.blogspot.com