Micheal Herman posted a cool cafe design to the OSLIST today. It marries the best of Cafe and Open Space: i just facilitated an afternoon program with 120 “high potential” high school seniors as part of a final selection process for full-ride scholarships to two excellent universities. it was a cafe format, but the first session was used to write questions that these young leaders thought they and other young people should be addressing. then we did three rounds in which table hosts picked the questions and raised them with whoever rotated to their table for one …
We’ve explored very interesting, extremely challenging conversations using amazing tools, related to climate change and what we are to do about it. But the most engaging and mind blowing of all conversations was in a small circle, with the right people, sharing in an intimate and trustful environment, our dreams and expectations of this journey, sharing stories (Oh! The power of stories); and preparing ourselves, yet once again, this time as a collective, on what awaits us, an experience which will significantly have an impact in all of us as individuals, in our collective consciousness. And while connecting with words …
I am not talking about the bailout here. I am talking about a serious rescue. Abousifian Abdelrazik is a Canadian who has found himself in a big pickle. He returned to his birthplace in Sudan in 2003 to visit is ailing mother. While there, the CSIS, our spy agency, apparently had him arrested. He was later allegedly interrogated by CSIS, the FBI and Sudanese intelligence officials about ties to Osama bin Laden. He was in and out of detention for years in Sudanese jails, where he alleges he was also tortured. In the meantime, …
A light week of blogging as I have been in a deep Art of Hosting, but here are some things that grabbed my eye this week from the newsfeeds in my life: Nancy White on why Sharepoint is NOT the solution you’ve been looking for (and I agree). Ria Baeck on Collective sourcing for living wholeness.
For many years on this site I have kept a page of facilitation resources that is my working library. I haven’t updated it for a long time, and so today, I went through folders and bookmarks and old emails and blog posts and revised the page. For your edification, my renewed library of Facilitation Resources, free for the taking. The best links and site to partcipatory process I have found. Enjoy.