May 5, 2009

Bring people together & give them something to do

Over at Faris’ blog here, he writes about a company that brought loads of people together and gave them something to do as a part of their branding . Watch for yourself.

Faris writes …

Let’s apply this principle to all Sustainability Projects, Conferences and Gatherings in the future. For me, the key here is that the ‘crowd’ are given the power. The crowd can contribute to the outcomes and they are not treated as ‘consumers’ or ‘spectators’ (even though the whole thing is staged an is about selling stuff).

An event like this also creates Word of Mouth (WoM) about your ‘thang’. People talk to other people about stuff that inspires them.

Open Space Technology is an approach to running workshops and conferences. When people come together in Open Space, the people/crowd/delegates create their own agenda and are responsible for their own outcomes. The participants are supported to self organise and contribute fully. An attractive and provocative theme provides the direction and reason for being there and our social instincts take over from there. It just works!

Faris Jakob can also to heard here in this Slidecast presenting about Social Media …

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June 15, 2008

Space 2.0

A client of mine just sent me an email and wrote …

“Some of the research on the history of Bell Post Hill seems to show how important the local churches were for meeting up with people and discussing community issues – we’ve kind of lost that ’3rd place’ between work and home to catch up with our neighbours I suppose.”

Without thinking too much I replied …

“Maybe we have lost some of those “spaces” … and maybe that’s the space that Web 2.0 is re creating, in an  artificial and somehow very real kind of way!? At the moment not everyone can see the space … some can see it but not gain access to it (like staff at organisations that resist Web 2.0)  … some can gain access but don’t have the bandwidth to talk to everyone. The Church as a community space is a nice metaphor.”

And why are many government agencies & corporates still resisting Web 2.0? Euan’s post “Most companies who try to do Enterprise 2.0 will fail” provides 8 reasons why.

Geoff

 

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May 17, 2008

A SIMPLY great space

This little piece of artwork caught my eye today from the beer garden at Hotel Brunswick (in Brunswick Heads, northern New South Wales).

At a glance, the bust of the singer appears to be suspended against a blue sky backdrop. Below him is an outdoor stage where weekly gigs are held. 

Stripped Back and Simple … 

Hotel Brunswick has recently been refurbished. The final result is a space that makes me want to return again tomorrow. I have already “remarked” to many about our experience … I suppose this makes the space “remarkable”.

During our second visit I noticed how “uncluttered” the space was. There was not a single chair, table or sign that was not needed. Like in this post by Garr Reynolds (Presentation Zen), he explores design by reflecting on a “Bento” purchased from a Japanese train station. 

Garr writes, “An ‘ekiben’ contains great content which is arranged in the most efficient, graceful manner. The bento is presented in a simple, beautiful, balanced way. Nothing lacking. Nothing superfluous. Not decorated, but wonderfully designed. A delicious, inspiring way to spend 20 minutes.”

Well, Hotel Brunswick is the ‘bento’ of pubs! Beautiful, balanced, nothing lacking and a truly wonderful space to experience food, music and conversation.

Geoff … still in Byron Bay

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April 28, 2008

Space Invaders, Holding Space and Improvisation

Today is Sunday and I was involved in a community engagement event with a government department and a community adjoining a newly announced National Park. The draft plan was the focus and topic and conversation.

Learning #1 – The surf was pumping … the surf is always going-off when I accept weekend jobs! Note to self … say no to weekend work in future

I was involved in 3 of these Community Engagement events which were wonderfully orchestrated by Carla Rogers using her version of the Open House (aka iForum) event. I was in the wonderful position of being a co-facilitator … a hired-gun … a second pair of eyes and a second voice.

Learning #2 – Work more often with others facilitators & encourage clients to go the extra step and employ 2 facilitators for BIG events. I learned heaps about a new way of engaging with communities. I learned much by watching Carla. 

The Space Invader part of the story …

We (Carla, me and 12 staff) arrived at the venue to set up for the Open House. An organised protest-group were there to greet us with a tent, placards and protest forms. They (somehow) managed to “hire” 2 rooms within our venue and secured the main 2 entry points to the inner sanctum of the Open House. What to do? Improvise! 

Carla and I rallied together the troops and called for calm … in fact we put on our hats of compassion and continued to smile through it all. We found a rarely used rear entry point and threw our resources at getting that functional. We continued to Improvise … all our plans, in the heat of battle, had the be altered.

The protest-group (aka Space Invaders) slowly self imploded as the day wore on. Our invisible entry point became the community’s sole focus and their protest became silent. Within, their ranks became embarrassed as they realised that our engagement process was working. By 2pm today, their leader had lost his power and the term “losing face” was overheard.

We had over 200 people through the door and ran an outdoor workshop with around 80 people in the final 2 hours … on the grass in the sun – whilst the Surf was pumping in the background  

Learning #3 – Improvise. Ensure you do enough planning (eg. resources in place … know your message) BUT always be prepared to throw out your plan on the day.

Learning #4 – Accept all offers (even the Space Invaders) – Once it was clear we could do nothing to remove the Space Invaders, we quickly re framed and said in a very Ben Zanderish kind of way … “How Fascinating!!” Once we let go of our control of the venue … we just got on with it and did the best we could. And we did good!

The Holding SPACE part of the story … Like the Aireys Inlet Music Festival, Carla’s Open Houses pay close attention to space. The Open House allows conversations and engagement at a wide range of levels. It feels like a community market place with a Cafe area, Graffiti Wall, Information Tables with maps/info and staff to answer questions about the topic. At the front end everyone gets an overview/tour and then participants “self organise”. In some place it feels like an Open Space workshop where people take responsibility and use their feet to go where they feel most engaged.

It wraps up with a 1 to 2 hour facilitated workshop for those want a more in depth discussion and a chance to engage with other’s in their community.

Learning #5 Self Organising Spaces work! - The Open House Space is interesting and it allows people to explore a topic and behave like they do at a community market, or in a coffee break. It allows people to self organise and take responsibility for getting the most out of their time.

Learning #6 Be prepared AND respond in the moment - Carla and I drew up simple workshop plans for each Open House event. We really liked each plan too. When the workshop time arrived … we changed it! We responded to the weather, to the space and to the size and general mood of the group. Our planning gave us the freedom to move and improvise in the moment.

I’d love to hear about moments in facilitation where improvising worked for you! 

Cheers

Geoff

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April 14, 2008

A story about open space & a local music festival

Once upon a time … I was asked to help stage a local music festival called the Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival. Marty Maher (a local businessman who really knows how to contribute to community) asked me to get involved … I love music festivals and I could not refuse! Marty said the essence of this festival is simple … It’s all about the music.

Marty did most of the grunt work behind the scenes and I had the pleasure of performing with long time friend (David Jurianz). I donated my PA system and my time as MC for the outdoor gigs at a local cafe.

Then one day (Friday 11th April 2008) … the musicians arrived, guitars were tuned and music lovers gathered to listen in their favorite spaces.

What followed … The music was local, raw and had an appealing rough-edge that was both refreshing and inspiring! Musicians had to be ready to just turn up … plug in and start playing. No fancy sounds checks and, for the bands, guitarists had to settle for the guitar amps that we supplied. Most acts had 30 minutes to strut their stuff and where gaps existed in the program … walk-up performers were welcome to perform. 

Here’s a short video of just a few of the acoustic acts that performed on the Saturday and Sunday afternoon. 

Until finally … the music stopped playing, bags were packed and spectators & performers were nourished by their shared experience of the music, intimate spaces and conversations.

The Moral of the Story … my learnings from the festival emerged whilst I explored the metaphor of Open Space (Note, my inspiration for drawing this Open Space metaphor came from admiring Nancy White’s Blog)

Open Space …

The Aireys Inlet “Open Space” Music Festival … my learnings through an Open Space lens:

*The power of the Theme - It’s all about music was the theme. That meant no poetry, storytelling or art. No frilly markets or selling of products on the side. The whole festival was about 1 core thing … music. This simple principle was applied to all invitations (to musicians & music lovers). The theme resonated loudly and people came. 

*Passion bounded by Responsibility – Without responsibility … passion is all hot-air. Without passion … well who really cares? From the theme [Its all about music], the passion-meter was running high.

Within a few weeks, our ‘word-of-mouth’ invitation campaign filled 50+ music spaces on our empty festival program. When their time arrived to perform, all the musicians were tuned up and ready-to-go. They took responsibility for being present & making it work! 

Within the small festival organising group, individuals took responsibility for the things they were good at. Their passion + Their Gift = Sense of Purpose. As a result stuff got done and done well! We had one face-face meeting and a few informal emails. That was it! It worked. It rocked!

*Starting with a blank agenda – A month before the festival we had ideas, a theme and a couple venues. When we opened the space and invited musicians, our blank agenda filled quickly with a diverse range of acts. Bands, duos, trios and soloists. Blank spaces were offered for anyone to spontaneously get up and perform. One guy travelling through from Western Australia seized the moment and did his first ever live performance. His guitar playing was basic and he struggled to sing in tune, but the audience just loved him and he was moved to tears.

*The importance of Letting Go – In Improv Theatre, letting go of control and outcomes is a core principle. In Open Space its the same. At the festival, we had to trust ourselves, the musicians and the audience, and let go of preconceived ideas of where it would end up. We also had trust in our theme … Its all about music.

There is also something in here about “Whoever comes are the right people.” We were not worried about the people who didn’t come, or about the numbers. We engaged with those who came and they were the only ones.

*Beware the Space Invaders – “Often in the run-up to an Open Space (or a music festival), these folks try to suggest little “improvements” to the process (eg “to make sure success happens”) which nearly always are ways to remove time from participants and replace openness with predicatability. They claim they are introducing more structure, but really they are preventing the emergence of organic structure. This is usually on the unconscious assumption that they know better than everyone else what should happen. Nancy’s term for these folks is ‘space invaders’.” Johnny Moore’s Blog.

I encountered 2 Space Invaders. Both of them were musicians who had run events like this one before. Both struggled with the small audience at the 12 noon kick-off on both Saturday and Sunday. They suggested ways of getting people to come (eg. putting up more signs) … like there was some sort of “lever” that could be pulled and magically people would arrive. 

I said, “let’s just wait and see what happens when the music starts.” (In other words, I just honored the Theme and allowed stuff to emerge in the space). On both days, the sound of acoustic music rang out in Aireys Inlet at 12 Noon. On both days, a very healthy audience assembled by 12.30pm. On both days people stayed until the final song at 5pm. 

*The 2 daytime Spaces were engaging and supportive – The Cafe attracted the latte-set and the Beer Garden the pub go-ers. On their own, these spaces attract people into conversations anyway. Add some great local music and they take on a life of their own.

As the facilitators, we paid attention to the quality and volume of the music. Musicians had 1 less thing to worry about and were able to focus on their music and story. The audience were treated to a great sound without being too loud. After all, people want more than just musicians and music. The real reason people attend festivals is to spend time with people they love, meet new people and share conversations and stories. 

*Butterflies, Bumblebees & The Law of Two Feet – By design, many of our musicians were bumblebees as they buzzed from the Pub to the Cafe and back again. The music lovers were free to come and go as they pleased. A few travelled between the pub and the cafe … most found a group of people and just sat (like butterflies in Open Space), chatted, drank coffee or beer and soaked up the music .

*The musicians were engaging and the audience were involved - I can only speak for the Cafe venue here … if this music festival was a conference, then our keynote presenters were facilitators. They told stories, they listened and read their audience. It was a 2-way process and everyone was learning. The audience and musicians chatted and hung-out in between acts. No one was ‘the expert’ at this conference. We were all in it together.

6 Blog posts in … I now understand why blogging this stuff helps with your own learning and growth

Geoff

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April 8, 2008

What SPACE are you in right now?

What interests me is the SPACE that you’re in right now … the SPACE you stumble upon tomorrow … future SPACES that we co-create to build relationships between people and to bring about change. 

I’ll be exploring all sorts of spaces (both physical and metaphorical) on this Yes!And Journey. When I look back at the key turning points in my life … when transformative change happened … the SPACE I was in always played a lead role.

As a dinner date with Vic McWaters and Dave Pollard draws closer, let me share some of my favorite spaces with you. These are spaces that “nourish” me and allow me to clear my mind. In these places I am not concerned about the past or the future … I am mindful only of the present moment. 

The Vege Garden - The best place to “notice” what is really going on!

The Deck with my guitar - to let go and clear the mind

The Bloggoshpere – to learn, share and co-create

This space to be continued … Geoff

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