I have just finished posting a collection of 21 stories of Open Space events I have facilitated over the past 6 years. Most of these stories are about community-based events in Aboriginal communities here in Canada, but I believe they have lessons about the practice of Open Space that are more widely applicable in different settings and for unconferences too. I hope you may find the collection useful. [tags]unconference[/tags]
I was trolling through some old emails tonight and I discovered a note I had written to the OSLIST on the birth of my son five and a half years ago. I thought I’d share it here: It’s funny thing. The smallest spaces need the most attention. Sometimes, the smallest are the largest. On Tuesday (and for all of Monday and most of Sunday) I was opening space for my second child, a boy named Finn Sinclair Corrigan-Frost, who entered the world singing before he was fully born — the Elders call it “bringing greetings from the spirt world” — …
Apart from the wedding of Michael and Jill last weekend in Chicago, I had a great time hanging out with old friends, new friends and Open Space colleagues from around the States. But of all the things that happened on the weekend around the wedding the best had to be meeting Al Camp. The wedding took place at Pleasant Home, in Oak Park. The house is situated in a lovely little park and in true Buddhist fashion, Michael had strung up strings of Tibetan prayer flags around the place with the Guru Rinpoche mantra on them. In this little park, …
Finn Voldtofte and friends are convening an interesting looking gathering in Denmark at the end of October called “Moving the Edge.” This gathering is intended to support the emergence of a field of collective intelligence, where the practices, insights, principles, etc., of collective intelligence can be evolved. In addition we intend to create space for engaging the field of collective intelligence for deepening inquiries into core questions within specific areas. We envision that the following areas will attract the interest of many participants: – The possible roles of business as seen from an evolutionary perspective – …
Off to Chicago to celebrate the life partnership of friends Michael Herman and Jill Perkins. I’m looking forward to a weekend of fun and merriment and celebration of these two people. I have had the pride and pleasure to work with Michael for five years now on some amazing projects in Open Space, including an important summit in Alaska in 2002, to co-editing of the Open Space Technology Users NON-Guide, the Giving Conference in 2004 and practice workshops all over the place. I met Jill at the Gioving Conference in 2004 and have rarely laughed so hard with someone. She …