Now what?

First off, thank you all for a wonderful, informative, memorable conference! I enjoyed meeting so many new folks and seeing so many familiar faces. This year, I dared to set aside my judgement and discomfort with some "woo-woo, new age, funky stuff" and was surprised at what I learned. I didn't like it, but it was valuable--and everyone of you deserves to have your name chimed to you. Amazing.

Last year, I was a newbie to the group. The conference was amazing. I was moved, exhausted and there was a sense of being filled with possibilities. I felt centered and in-the-moment. Awed by the folks I'd met, songs I'd sung, things I'd learned. I arrived home charged, satisfied, energized.

Try as I might, it was hard to leave last year's experience at the door. Logically, I knew I shouldn't compare, etc. but realistically it just wasn't happening. So this year was, appropriately, different. I still laughed, I still cried, but I was uncomfortable, agitated, even annoyed at times. I heard several people express a sense of 'now what?'. Actually, one person I spoke with said 'so what?' kept coming to his mind.

We laughed, cried, played and brought some joy into the world. We argued and made up. We lived in the moment. Now what? So what?

Are we lacking a collective sense of specific purpose?

I'm curious to find out what people thought about Open Space. We tried it last year and loved it. We added a greater component this year, so what next? Is next year's conference all Open Space? No Open Space? The same split?

I wish I had a specific opinion to share, but I'm still pondering this one. I liked the Open Space sessions--but I like the scheduled sessions as well. Open Space speaks to group need and being in the moment, improvising, but I also like to "get stuff done" by attending the set sessions. It addresses a practical need of knowing I'm going to be productive.

So I have no answers, just questions. No epiphanies yet, for me.

Dana KellerPosted by Dana Keller on October 3, 2005 11:06 AM in Annual conference
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Hi, Dana. I was in a group discussion on Sunday morning that touched on many of the points that you raised about the future of Open Space for our community. The notes should be forthcoming shortly, but as a preview, we observed that there may need to be a balance struck between an internal focus on the needs of the community members (both current members and self-selected future members) and an external focus on appealing to the greater business and organizational world. Such an external focus may mean developing a clearly stated sense of mission (i.e., the answer to "So what?") and perhaps evaluating the Open Space format through the eyes of a newbie and saying "Are we serving everyone's needs here (extroverts & introverts, people who act off-the-cuff & people who need structure, people who like discovery & people who like predictability, etc)? If not, do we need to? And how?" Well, more to come.

Posted by: Jerry Kail at October 4, 2005 08:56 AM Permalink for comment