I have used thirty-five as an opening activity and while I haven’t done it, I’m sure Cheeks in Chairs would also work well. Thomas, I’d second Birgitt’s reflections on the risks of going right into OST given the timing you’ve noted. Birgitt, Harrison was indeed a man of many paradoxes! The timeline for a Future Search, with set-up and a break, takes about 2 1/2 hours. It was designed as the opening activity of the ~20 hours of a Future Search that is 5 1/2 day sessions spread over 3 days. The purpose of the timeline activity: ● Understand where we’ve been. ● Understand our shared reality. ● Build a temporary community. You start with three 7 meter x 1 meter (24 x 3 feet) blank timelines, one labeled “personal," the second “global," and the third is the focus of the meeting - for example, the name of the village. The relevant span of decades are also noted on the timelines. Usually covering about 30 years. The tasks: ~30 minutes Individuals post their highlights to the timelines. In brief: Personal timeline: Key experiences that shaped your life. Global timeline: Events that have shaped society. Topic focus timeline: Critical milestones and events. (See the Word attachment for more details.) ~45 minutes Groups are formed/assigned to make meaning of the timelines, 1-2 tables of people are assigned to one of the three timelines (personal, global, topic focus). Another table or two are assigned to look across all three timelines to tell a story of the connections. The Word attachment contains the worksheets from when we did this for our opening evening at a journalism conference, Engaging Emergence <https://journalismthatmatters.org/engagingemergence>. ~15 minutes Groups share their reports. (About 3 minutes/group so the timing depends on the size of your group.) ~30 minutes Conversation of the room Unfortunately, I don’t have good pictures of the timelines from the journalism meeting. I’ve attached a picture of what the graphic recorder captured from the reports the groups did and from the whole group discussion. Some examples of times lines from other Future Searches are also attached. In a Future Search, the next activity is to create a mind map of the challenges the topic focus faces. The evening ends by inviting people to put dots on the most critical challenges. The group then circles the ones with the most dots. It leaves people to sleep on the mess, the unfinished business. We didn’t do that for our journalism conference. Instead, we opened the space the next day. Happy to answer any other questions about the timeline or Future Search. I know there are others on the OSlist with Future Search experience who can also answer questions. Peggy   A couple sample timelines   > On May 12, 2025, at 9:30 AM, Thomas Herrmann <thomas@openspaceconsulting.com <mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com>> wrote: > > I am still open to see where we go. I have asked to meet my sponsors tomorrow. > It may be that people are eager to bring topics up in open space in relation to what is happening… > Then I think it would be good for the sponsor to address the actual situation in the welcoming And setting intention. > I actually also Got the idea that we could use the Cheeks in chair, that you shared about, to start with! Asking - how do you feel now?! > > I have done different types of storytelling. Sometimes starting with a transfer in, including individual reflection and conversation in pairs and if a large group, for example group of 10 before gathering in the main circle to share stories with a talking piece/Microphone In the centre. > I’ve been also using the timeline to post Sads glads and mads from the past and then have each person share their stories. > I’m curious to hear about the version you mentioned Peggy. > Thanks > Thomas > > > Skickat från Outlook för iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef> > Från: Peggy Holman via OSList <everyone@oslist.org <mailto:everyone@oslist.org>> > Skickat: Monday, May 12, 2025 5:32:57 PM > Till: Open Space Listserv <everyone@oslist.org <mailto:everyone@oslist.org>> > Ämne: [OSList] Re: Fishing village - changing circumstances > > Harrison always said if you do anything other than Open Space you are working too hard. > > I have found when working with people who don’t share a common context, like an organization, doing an activity that connects, like storytelling, helps create a sense of “we.” > > I have used a variety of activities for this over the years, always related to the purpose for coming together. I often use World Cafe. With a recent Journalism That Matters convening, because we were in Philadelphia where Sandra Janoff lives, she joined us to do the timeline activity of Future Search. It was a terrific way for people to begin to see themselves as a system. I can say more about how it works if it holds interest. > > Peggy > > > > > _________________________________ > Peggy Holman > peggy@peggyholman.com <mailto:peggy@peggyholman.com> > > Bellevue, WA 98006 > 206-948-0432 > www.peggyholman.com <http://www.peggyholman.com/> > > Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity <https://peggyholman.com/papers/engaging-emergence/> > > "An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become > the fire". > -- Drew Dellinger > > Join the Open Space practitioner’s conference - the World Open Space on Open Space (WOSonOS <https://www.wosonos2025.org/>) - in Kenya, November 6-8. > > > > > >> On May 12, 2025, at 5:40 AM, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org <mailto:everyone@oslist.org>> wrote: >> >> Two days left until the first day of the planned open space process. >> The community organisation just got notice that tomorrow there will be a decision in the municipality prolonging the agreement with the developer. This despite that the community organisation had asked them to wait for this dialogue process to be completed. >> I am starting to think about if it will be possible to go into open space directly. Considering if Storytelling will suit better for this first evening. >> I will talk to my sponsors more about the situation and thought I send you a note if there are any reflections you want to share with me/us. >> Greetings >> Thomas >> >> >> >> Skickat från Outlook för iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org <mailto:everyone@oslist.org> >> To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org <mailto:everyone-leave@oslist.org> >> See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org >