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Meeting on the Internet, Then Meeting Using Open
Space
By Barry Owen and Birgitt
Bolton
To see pictures and a web-site which was built during this event, follow
this link and click on the "AUGUST" link
AUGUST Open Space
The setting: Fall Creek Falls, a large state park in the rolling
hills of eastern Tennessee.
With both trepidation and excitement, Barry Owen extended an invitation
to forum participants on the Deepak Chopra forum and to the Open
Space list serve to an Open Space Symposium to discuss the seven
spiritual laws of success documented by Deepak Chopra, kind of like a
fisherman casting his net to see who might come in.
17 brave souls committed to joining the gathering, having never met each
other face to face despite several having been in conversation for some
months on the forum where intimacies were exchanged with no concept
that a face to face meeting might happen. And absolutely no expectations
of what would happen in this thing called Open Space. And what was
Open Space anyway?
Several people started arriving a day or two ahead, meeting for the first
time, still not sure of the process but relieved to find that everyone
else
showed up. And then the fear about Open Space began as they awakened
to the fact that it was still unknown. As questions were posed to Barry
about it, he smiled and walked away. And continued to chant the four
principles of Open Space. Anxiety was not alieviated, but folks muttered
under their breath that it seemed like they were going to have to trust
Barry.
To Barry it felt like the space really opened when the first people arrived
in Nashville (two days ahead of the opening), because the journeys had
already begun.Birgitt Bolton from OSI Canada attended to lend some
support. Some folks arrived giddy with nervousness, with hopes,
and
expectations. There were many different levels of those expectations.
Having met on the internet, people were hoping that they would find that
others really did act and talk as they did on the internet. A virtual
community coming together to see if community still held in real space
and place. There was no better vehicle to help them test this ground,
than
Open Space.
Barry had been preparing to Open the Space for several days prior,
intuitively knowing that he was already to be holding space for the earliest
arrivals. Barry's apartment showed the results of his efforts(dishes in
the
sink, a hungry cat...) filled with flip chart paper taped to the walls
and a
path worn into the floor of his sunroom where he had been practicing
"the walk". Fortunately for his neighbors (and his cat) he didn't own
temple bells at that time.
As he actually opened the space for the Symposium,Barry was aware of
the sheer astonishment and disbelief on the part of the participants
that
Open Space really was what it was..The circle was bounded well by
Barry (no surprize to anyone but Barry). And then there was the gut
wrenching thirty second period of silence and inactivity before the first
person got up to write her topic.It was that thirty second period for Barry
that helped him understand about holding the space because in those
seconds he realized that letting go was the only way to do it. 20 topics
were posted in about 15 minutes.
And then the wonderment of the marketplace started to unfold. Barry's
feeling was that 90% of the group started to come to him for permission
for nearly every aspect of the marketplace. He turned them to their own
devices and when they realized that it really was their responsibility,
frustration seemed to prevail. And no surprize, this was followed
immediately by self organizing behaviour as the group attempted to make
it possible for every person to attend every session including
horsebackriding and hiking the local trails. And again no surprize, they
found despite valiant efforts to achieve this, and much time consumed in
the process (with people being in a heightened frantic state as the time
for
the first session neared), it just wasn't possible and they were really
going
to have to take responsibility for their choices.
The first session did in fact have the entire group (they had achieved
this
by putting three unrelated topics together). But then they were ready to
let
go and let whatever happen be the only thing that could have.
Barry had made a decision to keep a suite including a communal room
with kitchen and an enormous outdoor porch and it became a gathering
place for evening stories and songs, community, and communal cooking
(the group realizing it had a stove and such at its disposal, trecking
to the
nearby town for its limited selection of groceries and yet creating meals
for all). This space added much to the richness that was achieved in the
event, as far as Barry was concerned.
Because the group that was meeting was originally a "group" only
via
internet, they set up an internet connection in this communal room,
and
the participants organized two meetings on chat sites to talk with people
who couldn't make it to the event in person. So the space that was being
held open was already being extended out into the world by cyberspace.
As always, whatever happened was the only thing that could have,
whoever showed up was exactly the right people, when it began was
exactly the right time, and when it was over it was over. Learning and
play
were high. In holding the space, Barry of course had no concept of
what
the learnings for people would be and probably would never find out, but
he had a sense that there was much being achieved on both a group level
and personal levels. For him, the whole experience was validation
that
Open Space always works.
At the morning announcements,Birgitt noted to the group that she would
be leaving before the closing to get back to Hamilton to launch a three
day Open Space meeting for the faculty of business of the local college.
She noted that they were in difficult times and was pleased that the Dean
had the courage to have their academic year launched using Open Space.
Peggy, a participant in the group asked the group to send the energy
from this Open Space to the next one that Birgitt is doing in the morning
and in essence continuing the space that Barry had opened and was
continuing to hold. It seemed that in the morning the same space from
this event would be further opened by Birgitt and held for another group
of people. Instead of the space being really closed in the closing, there
was an awareness of the simultaneous closing of the one space while it
really wasn't closed at all in the greater scheme of things, almost as
if all
of the participants in this Open Space were helping to hold the space in
the second.
Barry's biggest learning in this: the sheer responsibility of holding the
space beyond the mechanics of opening the circle is powerful and truly
requires being grounded and centred throughout the event to be that
guardian of safe space. "I had to let go of my expectations to allow
folks
to have their full experience."
Birgitt's biggest learning: the sheer joy of taking the continuum of the
energy from one Open Space being held by many, to another Open
Space, knowing that although she was the facilitator for the second, the
space was really being held by the many folks from the first Open Space.
(Note that when she opened the space for the college, she was highly
aware of this energy and believed it contributed to the high success of
the
meeting with the Faculty of Business).
Closing?
So the space of the event is closed but the space will continue to manifest
in many ways. In the individuals as they go forth, in the support to the
Open Space that Birgitt is doing, via the internet on the chat site, and
on
the homepage at the following address:
http://geocities.datacellar.net/hotsprings/6161
© Barry Owen and Birgitt Bolton, 1997 |