Learning comes to you in unexpected ways. Sometimes whole new worlds open up.
Today I signed up for a webinar on a topic in Information Technology. I noticed that the presenter was a certified facilitator. I got curious, for I had always felt that being a good facilitator was a great skill to have in just about any career.
So I looked it up on Google (I had already left the webinar by then, as my instincts told me I had caught on to something far more important), and came across the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).
In their Training Directory page, I read about a method called “Technology of Participation” created by the Institute of Cultural Affairs International (ICAI).
So I then Googled for “Technology of Participation” and picked one of the links that came up, a wiki by IAFSerbia.
There, I clicked on Useful Links, which gave me what it promised – a set of useful links.
One of these links led me to the Open Space World. This was the Big Bang – a whole new world that I didn’t know existed opened up.
If you are interested, take your pick from the several links on their welcome page.
I started with Harrison Owen’s page on Open Space Technology (OST). He’s the originator. There’s a link on his page that will take you to an overview of OST.
OST is a way for anywhere from a handful to thousands of people, who may be from diverse backgrounds, to come together, create an agenda (usually about something complex and strategic), discuss and produce a significant output in a matter of hours or days that in some cases would otherwise have taken months or years or never achieved at all. Well, this is my summary description. It doesn’t do full justice to the idea, so please go ahead and learn from the masters.
And tell me your story, if you think it’s good use of your time, by posting your comment here.
