Symposium

Meeting on the Internet, Then Meeting Using Open Space

The setting:  Fall Creek Falls, a large state park in the rolling hills of eastern Tennessee.

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?