Peggy...the way that I have chosen to handle these kinds of OST meetings is
to have everyone be in the online environment. Everyone experiences
inclusion and belonging in the same way.

in genuine contact with you,
Birgitt

Birgitt Williams
*Senior consultant-author-mentor to leaders and consultants  *
Specialist in organizational and systemic transformation, leadership
development, and the benefits of nourishing  a culture of leadership.
www.dalarinternational.com

Upcoming Workshops
Holistic Leadership Development | January 5-10,  2026 | Online

https://www.dalarinternational.com/register/hld-2026/ for any of these
workshops here.

Go to www.genuinecontact.net http://www.genuinecontact.net to see the
public Genuine Contact training and mentoring options by Genuine Contact
trainers internationally. If you wish to schedule an "in-house" training
for people in your organization, please contact me, Birgitt Williams
birgitt@dalarinternational.com, via email to set up a consultation to
discern what is the best option to meet your development goals.

16 Sunny Acres Dr., Etowah, North Carolina, USA 28729
Phone: 01-919-522-7750
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On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 1:39 PM Peggy Holman via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

I would like to offer a different view about this. There is an assumption
here somehow that we have to get all this tech right.

At devoted and disgruntled, the big open space gathering organised by
phelim and improbable theatre, we are usually in a huge room and there is a
lot of noise. There are often well over 250 people in the room at the same
time.

I find the cacophony beautiful. There is a separate room if people need
accessibility and have their own needs.

But overall the joy of this is that people self-organize. People lean in,
adapt, experiment and learn to love imperfection.

I would suggest the same with the tech. Just create an awareness from the
start that this tech is happening so people can come into the room but
ensure everybody knows that it's not perfect and that we will just find a
way to make it work which could involve a really close huddle, a bit of
tinkering, and sometimes it might not work ideally but we'll all share in
that approach.

Common sense says there are some better microphones that noise cancel, and
there are definitely more expensive microphones that use things like AI to
optimise the sound.

But overall let's just embrace it.

Paul Levy

On Sun, 18 Jan 2026, 20:10 Kathy Minardi via OSList, everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

Dear friends and colleagues,
I realize Peggy asked a very specific question and yet with Paul's reply, I
choose to speak out about disabilities too. I have a vocal cord disability
recognized by the American Disabilities people. I am not able to
participate in OST meetings that have a cacophony of sound with everyone in
the same room for the small groups. When small groups are in private spaces
and there is no background noise, I can participate and enjoy doing so. Is
inclusion for people with vocal cord disabilities considered?

Likewise, there are a lot of people that wear hearing aids. They also need
separate spaces with minimal background noise in order to hear what is
being said unless they have a specialty hearing aid that can block out
background noises.

I encourage us all to do our best to meet the needs for vocal, hearing, and
other disabilities. We facilitate a method intended to be inclusive and
provide the conditions for belonging. Let's make it so.

Birgitt

Birgitt Williams
*Senior consultant-author-mentor to leaders and consultants  *
Specialist in organizational and systemic transformation, leadership
development, and the benefits of nourishing  a culture of leadership.
www.dalarinternational.com

Upcoming Workshops
Holistic Leadership Development | January 5-10,  2026 | Online

https://www.dalarinternational.com/register/hld-2026/ for any of these
workshops here.

Go to www.genuinecontact.net http://www.genuinecontact.net to see the
public Genuine Contact training and mentoring options by Genuine Contact
trainers internationally. If you wish to schedule an "in-house" training
for people in your organization, please contact me, Birgitt Williams
birgitt@dalarinternational.com, via email to set up a consultation to
discern what is the best option to meet your development goals.

16 Sunny Acres Dr., Etowah, North Carolina, USA 28729
Phone: 01-919-522-7750
Like us on Facebook
https://dalarinternational.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35ed818c946a88ba7344da05f&id=6677c35b38&e=e7zyhHfiqG

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On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 3:34 PM Paul Levy via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

I concur about going all online. Open Space works so well on Zoom. I've
done it many times with much success. And as much as everything is better
in person, every hybrid meeting I have ever been in is worse for everyone.

But that last comment got me thinking. Has anyone ever tried an Open Space
in the Metaverse? The headsets would be an investment, but they are much
cheaper than travel. And it would give most of the benefits of both...

On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 9:22 AM Lisa Fain via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

I have done a conference or two in the MetaVerse.  We used a platform called spatial.io. This was back in COVIDtide.  This was with a group that was generally very technically savvy.

I did work.  It was a novelty.  However, the headsets run for only about 2 hours.  And then you had to re-charge.  Getting everyone into the same was space more of a challenge than getting them into Zoom.us. The avatars did not look like the participants.  (Apple Vision Pro is better, but those headsets are $3,000 each.)

I did create a Art Gallery for my work in spatial.io you should be able to find a links on my art web page https://www.41xrt.com/art.  In the side gallery there are/were links “portals” to other spaces.  This would be the way one would create breakout rooms.  Shared agenda on the wall would have been challenging in the past.

Hope this helps.  Glad to experiment with this with anyone who would like to try.  But, I’m not clear that this approach is quite ready for use as the environment for Open Space Technology.  Unless all of the participants already regularly use VR headsets as part of their normal life.  I’ve got imagine that there are some communities for which this would be true.  So this might work for those folks.

-- Tom
On Jan 19, 2026 at 1:53 PM -0500, Patrice Pederson via OSList everyone@oslist.org, wrote:

Wow! Many thanks for all the responses. It has taken me a few days of sitting with them to respond. I’ll be sharing my thoughts with the option to see your comments with the team in the organization that hosted the meeting.

The range of responses excites me because it means we are still new enough in this realm to be experimenting and learning from each other about if, when, and how we work with hybrid gatherings. Below are my thoughts based on what I took from your responses. Below my signature is my summary of what I heard.

My thoughts:

I was surprised by how many of you said don’t do it. I appreciated Michael Wood’s acknowledgement that perhaps I had a good reason for choosing to do so. I did. Michael Herman spoke to an aspect of why the team and I chose to do a limited hybrid event: “it doesn't make sense to take away all the chatting and connecting of in-person because three can't join.  why limit all those who can?”

The organization’s staff meetings are normally online. They had a strong desire to be together in person. As an intact team, they are already committed to working well with each other. It was a serious commitment to rearrange schedules so it could happen. Still, the logistics were time and cost prohibitive for the 3 remote staff members to come. Without being online, they would simply have been absent. Something no one wanted.

What has come clearer to me from your comments is that because the whole focus of the gathering was to help grow a more engaged workplace, having three remote members might have actually been a positive. This is a group already committed to each other. While the online three each had a buddy, they were also left with others if the buddies wanted to go to different breakout sessions. So everyone in the room was involved in making it work for the remote people. Birgitt’s disability metaphor strikes me as apt. I have read stories of how having a disabled student in a context where the class is invited into supporting that person in belonging is uplifting for everyone, with lifelong benefits for everyone involved. That seemed to be the case at the gathering. People were there for each other.

As Paul suggested, we framed it as an experiment that would be messy. Everyone engaged with that, even when frustrating. My question to the list was prompted by wanting to do it better in future meetings.

I was surprised everyone saw Zoom as the technology to use. My hunch was having people on different FaceTime connections might be more flexible. Perhaps Zoom is a good way to go with someone dedicated to managing the tech. I hadn’t thought about having a Zoom room in each breakout space rather than people each in their own Zoom breakout space. My hunch is sticking with the people being in their own space with a buddy in the room ultimately keeps everyone engaged and the experience more relational. Still, separate Zoom connections for each room is an option to consider.

A number of you spoke to having good tech and dedicated tech support. That sounds like the area were we have lots of room for improving the experience.
Kathy - thanks for the offer for your tech person to talk with the team. I’ll follow up if they wish to do so.
Tom - I appreciate the suggestions for specific mikes and cameras. Super helpful!

We were fortunate to have a decent physical space for the breakout rooms, where people, including remote people, could hear each other. Some of the tech suggestions can hopefully improve the main circle experience.

I would also stick with using a buddy system. My sense is that it helped with minimizing the feeling of being left out by online participants. I would also approach it as we did - in a messy-ish way where in person buddies could pass their online person to someone else if they were going to another breakout space. I think it keeps everyone aware of and committed to a good experience for all.

The team, which usually all meets online, does plan to meet again in person, probably in 3 or 6 months. My hope is they run it themselves, with some coaching from me if they wish. If I’m involved, I will let you know how it goes.

In summary…
What I’d do again: buddies, a good physical space, enlisting everyone in being there for each other.
What could improve things: a dedicated tech person, good mics and cameras, and big screen in the main space.
An open question: Continue with Zoom? Organizing online by rooms or by people?

Thanks again for your thoughts. My summary of what people wrote is below.

Appreciatively,
Peggy

What I heard:

• Birgitt, Michael Wood, Ian, and Patrice spoke of being on-line or in-person being only. Don’t do hybrid. Michael acknowledged there may be circumstances where there’s a good reason to do so.
  Birgitt extended this hybrid question to being aware of disabilities and preparing conditions for inclusion and belonging.

While no one had a “perfect solution,” many had suggestions of things they’ve tried or could imagine helping:

From Kathy’s experience:
* A dedicated tech person
* A large screen so Zoom people and in-person people can see and hear each other.
* A group microphone passed around the circle
* Separate screens and zoom links tied to breakout rooms.

Paul said embrace the messiness. Set an expectation that it won’t be perfect and invite people to adapt and experiment.

Michael W added some ideas he would try:
* He seconded using a microphone passed around the circle and good sound from online participants.
* A traveling laptop and Zoom buddy (as we did).
* Good acoustics in the space
* Using a “talking piece in the breakouts"

Ian, who has done multiple hybrid experiments reinforces solutions are heavy on tech, with an online and in-person host, though concluded having everyone online rather than hybrid to prevent an inevitable feeling for some of being left out.

Michael H imagined an approach where everyone used tech even though they were in person to keep the benefits of face to face while everyone can be together online.

Tom acknowledged the challenges from personal experiences.
* Affirmed the buddy system and equated it to having caregivers.
* Liked the idea of thinking about it as a disability accommodations.
* Seconded a big screen for the main circle
* Setting up different Zoom locations for each breakout space so online people can move themselves
* He suggested some specific technologies:
* Throwable mics:  https://catchbox.com/.
* Meeting owl - a stand in the middle of a circle to better see and hear: https://owllabs.com https://owllabs.com/. And they can be rented: https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/owl-labs-meeting-owl-pro-360-1080p-conference-camera

Lisa affirmed having someone dedicated to supporting those in the online space.

Patrice proposed trying Open Space in the Metaverse.
Tom spoke of trying it a couple times with a tech savvy group on a platform called https://spatial.io/. While it worked, the headsets have a 2-hour constraint. And they are expensive. He shared a link to his art gallery with links for creating breakout spaces: https://www.41xrt.com/art