Dear colleagues,

after experiencing the first months of ost-facilitation in 1996 (at the
age of 56) and my intention to spread ost I decided to always work with
an ost-facilitation team... and enjoyed it until retiring from my
ost-facilitation work in 2012.
Respecting the mantra that one cannot learn nor teach os... but remember
it, I discovered that the ost-facilitation team is a grand space for
remembering.
The "structure" of the ost-team was simple: one facilitator, one
assistant and one or more helping hand.
Always one facilitator and one assistant and one helping hand.
If more than 30 participants, two helping hands, more than 50, three
helping hands, more than 150 four helping hands... at the ost event with
2018 participants in Würzburg in 2003 it took about a dozen (them were
most seasoned hands, none of us had ever been in such a large gathering).

It turned out that almost all the helping hands I "hired" had never been
at an ost event and they were "young" and took a dive in the os
universe... between 1996 and 2012 about 600.
They were paid for their work and they reflected their practice
immediately during the
ost event... in a 3 day event about 6 times.
Shortly after my ost-work began we produced "Task cards" for the work of
the team before the event, during the event and after the event... and
kept on developing them.

English and German versions see here:

These sets enable a group without any experience to set up an ost event.
All it takes is a short introduction: Set up three pin walls. Post all
task cards on the first. Post all in process on the second pin wall and
use the third to post task cards done.
That always was a phase of experiencing "selforganisation" and molded a
team in just a
few hours.
The backstage reflections very close to action during the event honed
our skills, expanded our facilitation approach,
grew the team and were in the spirit of Harrison Owen: ... "Open Space
Technology has been free for the
taking... But there is a responsibility: to share experience and grow
the knowledge base..."

In the beginning, most of the ost events I was hired for took place in
Berlin.
A large number of ost-enthusiasts emerged in the city.

If you go here

and enter "Berlin" in the "Search field" you see 56 Open Space workers
in that city and if you click on Germany you see 133.

Ok, why do I write this jazz?
In my experience, the best approach to remember os, especially for young
folks, is a dive
into the analog practice.

What also helped were the yearly open space-Learning workshops
(2000-2007) for German speaking colleagues in DACH (Deutschland,
Autriche, Confederation Helvetia) and other countries (4 day events).
Several times we had colleagues from other countries/cultures
facilitating the Learning workshop (all in ost style), grand and fun
eye-openers.

Next time you facilitate an ost event expand your team by taking in a
"young" person.
Be prepared to be surprised.

Greetings from Berlin
mmp

Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
+49 30 7728000    mmpannwitz@posteo.de

See the Open Space World Map with 535
Open Space Workers living in 81 countries
and active in 145 countries worldwide:
www.openspaceworldmap.org

Thank you so much Michael, for this timely reminder, that the head of Hull Libraries, my boss, who is an avid supporter of Open Space and fully supported the recent event I organised and facilitated is also an avid advocate for empowering young people, and in the past has specifically asked me to introduce more young people to Open Space. We even have a week long children's literature festival (more broadly arts and culture) in June , in which it can happen. I guess I now have a mission to accomplish, especially in relation to the conversations recently about more young people in Open Space. Of course, I'll probably be on here seeking more advice and counsel, asking loads of questions and doing loads more learning.
Many thanks!
Isaac

From: Michael M Pannwitz via OSList everyone@oslist.org
Sent: 15 February 2025 17:20
To: everyone@oslist.org everyone@oslist.org
Subject: [OSList] Its simple but not easy: ost-facilitation teams as training grounds

Dear colleagues,

after experiencing the first months of ost-facilitation in 1996 (at the
age of 56) and my intention to spread ost I decided to always work with
an ost-facilitation team... and enjoyed it until retiring from my
ost-facilitation work in 2012.
Respecting the mantra that one cannot learn nor teach os... but remember
it, I discovered that the ost-facilitation team is a grand space for
remembering.
The "structure" of the ost-team was simple: one facilitator, one
assistant and one or more helping hand.
Always one facilitator and one assistant and one helping hand.
If more than 30 participants, two helping hands, more than 50, three
helping hands, more than 150 four helping hands... at the ost event with
2018 participants in Würzburg in 2003 it took about a dozen (them were
most seasoned hands, none of us had ever been in such a large gathering).

It turned out that almost all the helping hands I "hired" had never been
at an ost event and they were "young" and took a dive in the os
universe... between 1996 and 2012 about 600.
They were paid for their work and they reflected their practice
immediately during the
ost event... in a 3 day event about 6 times.
Shortly after my ost-work began we produced "Task cards" for the work of
the team before the event, during the event and after the event... and
kept on developing them.

English and German versions see here:

These sets enable a group without any experience to set up an ost event.
All it takes is a short introduction: Set up three pin walls. Post all
task cards on the first. Post all in process on the second pin wall and
use the third to post task cards done.
That always was a phase of experiencing "selforganisation" and molded a
team in just a
few hours.
The backstage reflections very close to action during the event honed
our skills, expanded our facilitation approach,
grew the team and were in the spirit of Harrison Owen: ... "Open Space
Technology has been free for the
taking... But there is a responsibility: to share experience and grow
the knowledge base..."

In the beginning, most of the ost events I was hired for took place in
Berlin.
A large number of ost-enthusiasts emerged in the city.

If you go here

and enter "Berlin" in the "Search field" you see 56 Open Space workers
in that city and if you click on Germany you see 133.

Ok, why do I write this jazz?
In my experience, the best approach to remember os, especially for young
folks, is a dive
into the analog practice.

What also helped were the yearly open space-Learning workshops
(2000-2007) for German speaking colleagues in DACH (Deutschland,
Autriche, Confederation Helvetia) and other countries (4 day events).
Several times we had colleagues from other countries/cultures
facilitating the Learning workshop (all in ost style), grand and fun
eye-openers.

Next time you facilitate an ost event expand your team by taking in a
"young" person.
Be prepared to be surprised.

Greetings from Berlin
mmp

Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
+49 30 7728000    mmpannwitz@posteo.de

See the Open Space World Map with 535
Open Space Workers living in 81 countries
and active in 145 countries worldwide:
www.openspaceworldmap.orghttp://www.openspaceworldmap.org
OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org
To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org

Dear Isaac,

luckily, I was honored to facilitate many OST events with children.

Some of them were children only but in most cases it was a mix of
children, teachers, parents,
neighbors near the school, volunteers that catered kids in the school,
cleaning personnel and in some
also officials in the school system.

One of the events had participants from various day-cares (before and
after the school hours). The day-care
adults came but only observed.
First of all, the day-care teachers were very surprised how "their" kids
(aged 6 years to 11 years) managed
their breakout sessions. All by themselves, of course. How they
structured their process in the sessions,
took notes, created a report and moved from one to another group (many
bumble bees and no butterflies).
One of my obserations stunned me:
During the phase for posting issues the kids posted and then left the
room (there was a grand playground at
the venue, and they were interested in the buffet which was meant for
later)... eventually, all had disappeared.
After a while I struck my temple bells and they all rushed in.
When I asked them to select the sessions they are interested in and put
their names on the issue-poster,
they all jumped up, ran to the wall and immediately chose their
issues... as if they had never left the space.

In that situation and in many others (one was a series of yearly ost
events on "Mobbing" with 200 plus students
from different schools and everone else involved in the "Mobbing"
"problems") I was impressed on how kids empower each other.
There were no "facilitators" (except for me pretty invisable") which
created space in which selfempowering
could flourish.
I mention this because you wrote ... "is also an avid advocate for
empowering young people"...
Luckily, ost provides the conditions for selfempowering (time and space)
which is the perfect frame without
"empowering interventions".

Have a great day
mmp

Am 16.02.2025 um 00:36 schrieb isaac a:

Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin
+49 30 7728000mmpannwitz@posteo.de