Tuesday, June 29, 2010

FACILITATING A CREATIVITY WORKSHOP: SHORT REPORT


Last month I first time facilitated a 15 hours in-company creativity and mind mapping workshop. I had last summer offered two courses in a "summer university" (one on mind mapping; the other one titled "creativity in Open Space") and Topagunea (an association that organizes cultural activities to support Basque language in our region) requested me to organize and facilitate a workshop for them.

First of all I wrote a message to the CREA-CPS list and I soon received help from Raúl, Alan, Marc, Jeanne and others. A big thank you for all of you!

The workshop took place in Bilbao on the 21st and 28th of May and I find it was a (big) success. Let me tell you why I feel it:

1. The feedback from the group (7 people) was really positive. They liked the set and the organization of activities I designed for them (after some preparation conversations to listen to their needs), the techniques we used, the ice-breakers, learning about mind-mapping, the opportunity to speak many unspoken subjects of their everyday work-life, the topics that arose, the amount and quality of ideas generated and the action planning. Of course there are things to improve, but it was overall a very positive evaluation.

2. I could sense it during the workshop. It was also first time for them in such a workshop, they were, maybe, quite skeptics beforehand, but they felt comfortable, they let go, and I could let myself go, try things I had never tried and feel comfortable and helping.

3. From 0 to 1 is infinite. I find that just doing it (and not getting a soon and strong feedback against it, some stones thrown on my head or so :-) would have been a success for me, as far as I think that one must try first time and then get improving. I'm yes experienced in training and facilitating in other subjects, but it was sure my first time facilitating a creativity workshop. Now I know I can do it well and I can and shall improve my creativity facilitating skills.

I'll share some facts about this experience, specially in case someone who is starting in the field coud find it helpful:

The process: After the list messages and the first great advice for the general design from Alan Black, I received a big help from lots of e-mail conversations with Raúl Collado (Argentina) and other creativity facilitators in my area (Ixiar Garzia from Pink Gorillas and Leire Gandarias from Sumas_y_musas, mainly). I also reviewed during those months some creativity books (Julia Cameron's “The artists way,” Michalko's “Thinkertoys”, Mattimore's “99% Inspiration”, Osborns ”Unlocking your creative power” ...) and took notes from them. I kept a mind-map for the course, where I all the time was adding small details that could help do a better workshop. The week before the workshop I reviewed this mind-map once and again till a sketch ot the workshop was more or less clear.

The Spirit: as Raúl put it, I had to try to get the group to a playful spirit during the workshop. I selected some activities that would from the start break the ice and it really worked. People played, laughed, relaxed and let go. They also got to propose games or videos to watch and made the workshop more open. This helped me feel more relaxed and fearless also.

Some techniques: we just used some basic techniques, and they helped a lot: making a map to explain what each participant faced everyday at work and the main challenges for the organization, brainsstorming, brainwriting, multivoting, cutting and pasting pictures from magazines, forced relationships, mind mapping and open space-like action planning.

There could be more points to write about. Feel free to ask whatever you feel curious about or say your opinion on this (or your) facilitating experience.

Best wishes!

Eleder
BM
31_ BILBAO: Mind Mapping-
Open Space Technology-Sormena

Twitter: @Eleder_BM

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

BERLIN CHANGE DAYS


TRANSCRIPTION OF HOLGER NAUHEIMER'S INVITATION (2010-VI-23)


Dear colleagues,

we are excited that our first announcement to the Berlin Change Days received so much attention (
see the programme here). Many people have already registered or indicated that they will come. With this email, I would like to alert you that the very early booking period ends in 8 days. So, if you have made up your mind already - this would be a good time to register.

The Berlin Change Days were launched in November 2009 with the aim of bringing together consultants, managers and other practitioners who are passionate about positive change in individuals and organizations. Keynotes and workshops deal with very different aspects of change, e.g. new, unusual approaches, methods and tools. We use an open format which allows for different, creative ways of presenting the topics.
Our vision is to contribute to people's learning about how to start a positive change process in their organization, community, and maybe in their life.
Accordingly, the profile of participants varies, from consultants to HR and other managers, representatives of NGOs, students and scientists, etc. There will be an English and a German track. Whoever is interested - be welcome to the Berlin Change Days 2010!

With best regards
Holger Nauheimer

If you were looking for a good learning and experience, this is a goo choice, sure!
Best wishes,

Eleder

BM31_ BILBAO: Mind Mapping-Open Space Technology-Creativity

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

OPEN SPACE AND THE ART PERFORMANCES

Last May WOSONOS (World Open Space on Open Sapce) took place in Berlin (you can watch some photos here). We convened a meeting with this subject: "Open Space and the Art Performances". Last week we uploaded the proceedings to the Wosonos 2010 proceedings website. And you can now read them here.
My main concerns regarding the subject:

Art performances (music, painting, dancing, singing, playing,...) help us have a really better world. But, how are they mostly taking place nowadays? Is it usually a decentralised and self-organised experience (think about a music concert, for example)? How could the experience be more enriching and "productive"? More empowering and self-reassuring? How could an art performance be designed to give the participants a more "ost-like" opportunity to enjoy and grow?

Another point: how could art performances enrich OS meetings? Would it be interesting letting a specific place for them in OS meetings? Would art be a good way to promote OS and get what an OS meeting is visualised?

Do you know any art demonstration that more or less fits the OS spirit?

Those are some of the questions that from time to time come to my mind and drove me to convene a meeting on the subject.

Harold showed me his interest soon and he gave us some examples related to the subject before I convened the session:

1. Grateful Dead - They used to have a very open way of letting people record their music, even jacking right into the amps, so there were many "bootleg" copies of their music going around. They would play for long jam sessions. And at concerts, there tended to be drum circles outside the event, so it became a kind of self-organizing festival.
2. Rainbow Gathering - These are extremely self-organized events in the woods which got started as a peace gathering and has a very strong spiritual bent - but everyone is invited 'who has a belly button'. People set up camps, kitchens to feed people, water lines, all the infrastructure goes up without any explicit control processes, and drums and music happen practically non-stop in the different camps. Some camps go much further in their arts and performance orientation, and set up theater spaces for performances with ample seating. And the main meadow of the event usually has a fire pit for a large drum circle.

3. Burning Man - This is a more organized event, but you see some of flavor of the open space principles in their 10 principles, which includes "radical inclusion", "participation", and "communal effort".

Ingrid Ebeling was first to appear and she shared some of her experiences:

Multisense Group: Ingrid does usually visual work in her Open Space meetings: repp-songs, sketches, painting sheets,...

She has also experienced using arts in opening breaking up and closing OS meetings.

Then Johanes Ponader joined and told me about some OS-like art performances: Open stages; Open mikes and poetry Slams.

_________________________

Before WOSONOS in Berlin I had written this message to the OSLIST and Suzanne Daigle had given her view.

_______________________

Finally, yesterday (2010-VI-15), Harrison Owen wrote some lines (and I put in boldface some of them) on a special OS event full of art, answering to a question by Sarah-Jane Rawlings (from Improbable) on the OSLIST...

"...Some years ago a large group of American Community Arts Councils did an OS on their work – just like you all. But it was an Open Space unlike any other I have ever seen. The participants were a talented crew, to say the least, with an inventive passion that seemed to know no bounds. Right from the start when they announced their sessions it was a new and different ballgame. Session announcements were danced, mimed, sung, drummed and just about every other artistic medium you can think of. And it went from there all through the two days. When they got to the end, I guess you could call it a “closing circle” but improve dance would be more accurate. Anyhow I would presume that you will be hosting a similarly talented group, and my suggestion would to invite them to brings anything that they feel might contribute to the party. Instruments for sure, but that might be just the beginning. Who am I to tell you and Phelim how to “do improv” – but I think you will have a lot more fun if you think of the gathering not (just) as an Open Space but also as a wonderful improvisation with 150 participants. And for sure the 3 year olds will be the stars!

Harrison

Sarah-Jane and the people of Improbable invite us for WOSONOS 2012 in London and this will quite sure be a very artish Wosonos, like it'll also be, sure, WOSONOS 2011 in Chile to which our "big boy" Juan Luis Walker so gracefully invites us next year :-)!

Convener

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Eleder Aurtenetxe Pildain

Other participants

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Harold Shinshato, Ingrid Ebeling, and Johannes Ponader



Eleder

BM31_ BILBAO: Mind Mapping-Open Space Technology-Creativity

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Thursday, June 3, 2010

WOMEN in MOVIES: The BECHDEL Test



Alison Bechdel's autobiographic comic book Fun Home.

Love!

Eleder

BM31_ BILBAO: Mind Mapping-Open Space Technology-Creativity

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