2009 WOSONOS in Taiwan

Dear All,

The final date has been set. We invite you all to the 2009 WOSONOS in Taiwan 14-17 October 2009! The event will take place in Taipei at the Tien Mou Convention Center in the northern part of the city located within a few blocks of Yang Ming Shan Mountain. In light of the chaotic economic situation, we are working to keep the expenses as low as possible and will let you know when all is finalized.

We encourage you to make your time in Taiwan an extended trip in order to visit our lovely, unique island, Take full advantage of hiking in the mountains, enjoying the seashore, museums, temples, aborigines villages, hot springs relaxing, the people, the food and more..........!

Our Conference website is in the making, thanks to the support from the San Francisco 2008 team, but you can find useful information on Taiwan by looking at the linked websites one of our current blogs or just google it:

We've had Open Space Technology events before.More pictures.

Images I am savoring from the WOSonOS -From Lisa

Seeing Harrison walking in a circle of thoughtful, systems-thinking folks as everyone was kissed by the light of the sunset beaming through the Golden Gate Bridge

Seeing little clusters of folks sharing food and conversation on the sunny lawn surrounded by a eucalyptus grove

Walking into the Quiet Room to see silent thoughtful art in progress

Coming out into the sun to (literally) fall into a group of colleagues exploring movement and relationship

Feeling 'groovy' with everyone dressed up as 'hippies' for the evening dinner and party. Sampling from our International Suitcase Cuisine (items people brought along in their luggage to share for the evening social - everything from pistachio candy to caviar in a tube) - with peacock feathers and peace symbols adorning the tables

Listening for that sound of a rippling river -the sound of 100+ people engaged in conversations that matter

Colleagues from 15 countries singing folk songs together at the end of an evening in a lovely room overlooking the sailboats in the marina

A great little international morning walk group from the hostel to the event site - sharing thoughts of open space, holding space, and opening space in self and in the world

Áine Corrigan Frost energizing shoppers to browse and buy tantalizing items in the Silent Auction, her voice ringing like a clear bell across the meeting hall

Finn's bear falling...up....

'Be the Change' shoes, Taiwanese Aboriginal fabric, lovely painting of a pagoda, folk art from the Philippines and Russia, a sash from East Timor, prayer garland from Tibet, little tiny two-feet pins from Korea, chocolates from the UK, jewelry from Sweden and the US, shirts saying 'Embrace Your Grace' and 'Imagine' (on the front) / 'Opportunity' (on the back), cd's of music by our colleagues and books written by them as well, Aboriginal art shirt from Australia by way of Hong Kong, massage table, even a lovely box of condoms ;o) - all generously offered and bought at the Global Village and Silent Auction tables raising funds for the Access Queen Project

Host Team doing amazing work behind the scenes to help our welcome travelers with visa letters, home stays, room reservations, rides, special food for special needs, , welcoming buddies and more

Russian translators moving through the circles, graciously offered and thanks to Raffi for working so hard on outreaching to help us include this access

Noticing that the compostable utensils did not change shape when used with the food ;o)

Drinking in the beauty of a Closing Circle with flowers, peacock feathers, Tibetan bells and talking stick surrounded by a circle of richly diverse, happily talked out and peacefully listening old and new friends

Savoring the nutritious silence as 100+ people passed the talking stick - in complete silence - around the Closing Circle - and using that moment to appreciate each person as they held it - appreciative of how marvelous each individual was and thinking how glad that they were able to join us

Fortune cookies and descriptions of the beauty and community of Taiwan for the 2009 invitation - and a whole little table set up with folk craft and photos, fabric and images of Taiwan, plus a silk banner with the lively logo for WOSonOS Taiwan 2009

A walking international human billboard of the joys and culture of Berlin for the 2010 invitation

The San Francisco Host Team passing the WOSonOS talking stick to the Taiwanese Host Team - with some lovely wishes from us to them - shared in Chinese (thanks to our lovely Host Team member Erica)

Ahhhh. Like a good rich meal.

As I slip back into post-event work and client work, I just want to say thank you to you all for your warm support - both in person and virtually - for our work and for the World Open Space on Open Space in San Francisco.

Stay tuned for that Book of Proceedings....

Future WOSONOS 2009, 2010, 2011... and so on

Following is the note of "Future WOSONOS 2009, 2010, 2011 ... and so on" which was dicsussed in WOSONOS 2008 in San Franscico.

Convener: Jessie Hsiao
Notes-Taker(s): Elisabeth Tsai, Jessie Hsiao
Other members: Jay Hung, Gail West, Shufang Tsai, Franklin Quijano, Eden

On behalf of WOSONOS Taiwan host committee, we invite you to share with us you’re your ideas, insights, experiences on following and please continue to communicate with us and send your emails to:
wosonostaiwan@gmail.com

• What attracts you to come to WOSONOS
• What things, images you have, impressed you till now
• Personal experience you have up to date
• What you’d like to pass forward to future: things, activities, traditions, spirits, on going discussions, and etc
• Global funding support – what/who do you know
• What do you need to know in order to help you make decision to come to WOSNOS

Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:

Group wisdom on 2008/7/26

• Having plenty of water (incl. hot water) available
• Personal referral (i.e. Gail introduced OS to Pilipino in Japan
• Friends introduction
• Words of mouth
• OS tries to tap energy w/the culture
• Useful in Asia culture, it brings out the energy of people (who usually wait for the leader to instruct
• Listen to all points of view (OS)
• Hope to influence people to appreciate OS
• For Asians to release themselves from the mental models, for example, this is the state of OS (a point of departure for the WOSONOS
• Open up, not exactly a keynote speaker, but something like that.
• How can we improve OS as an organization? Now we are just approaching it from OS points of view
• Some new things, some branding of Taiwan’s WOSONOS (packaging it into a whole TWN experience, advantage of TWN reasonable priced computers, electronics products for participants to develop future business opportunities,…
• Trade show schedules in TWN at that time included
• Exotic things in TWN (something rare wonderful and only can be found in TWN
• "Come to TWN,” free accommodations,… just need to pay fare"
• Stay with local families, more interactions with the locals, (e.g. the sharing of Japanese summit – stay w/locals homestay
• You make it very comfortable to go there
• 1/2 day tour of the place – included with package can have OS w/people in Taiwan & government to come out w/ways TO BE Taiwan’s diplomats
• Interpreters in the process
• List of masters from past WOSONONS – invitation to them => your presence can make a difference in ASIA!!
• Use of technology – impress people with that in WOSONOS
• "Taiwan is a land, full of affordable products & electronic gadgets"
• Some software that factor in OS, say for note taking, like OS for strategic planning, action planning… etc.

Create our city~Taichung

Sponsored by the Chionyuan Foundation (Juvenile Welfare Center), forty junior and senior high school students and Center staff met for 2 1/2 days in Open Space.

They were invited to give input to the Taichung City Government for what's possible over the next few years for the city's future as well as to form their own action groups: "Creating Our City - With Space That Belongs To Us".

The space was filled with high play, deep conversations and forming of new friendships.

The 40+ topics included: care for the environment (ecological, beautiful, safe, healthy, and with convenient transportation), a game-zone for teens, responsible money management, growing gap between rich and poor, gender education, drop out students, cultural activities, encouraging and supporting volunteers, individuals taking responsibility (for noise, clutter, clear sidewalks).

Action groups created symbols for their intentions, dramas were performed for the story they want to communicate, and the reports got entered into computers.

Lots feedback in the closing circle : having fun, feel connected, ready to involve in new things, learn to listen to different opiones...

Taiwan Touch your heart

2009 Flag for WOSonOS

2009 Flag for WOSonOS
Originally uploaded by Open Quest Laura.

Draft graphical image to welcome people to WOSonOS in Taiwan 2009. Designed by Laura.

Open Space Room Setting (Taipei)

Open Space Room Setting (Taipei)
Originally uploaded by Open Quest Laura.

Since 2000, my colleagues and I have been applying Open Space in the Organizational Development work that we do in Taiwan and Asia. Great results were seen in not only government sectors, non-profits but also companies facing various challenges. This is the pre-open space setting for a session that I did for a high-tech company and their external vendor trying to come up with a win-win solution to break through performance. In this session we combine other facilitation methodologies (ICA ToP method) and OS is the key component of this session The group reached unprecedent sense of alignment and togetherness to move on.

I opened space at Int'l Coach Federation, Taiwan Charpter

On the Sunday evening January 27, 2008, I was invited to facilitate a planning meeting for a group of coaching professionals in Taipei, by the group chairperson, which would be held on January 31.

This meeting was to be the second preparation meeting for formally establishing the organization. Over the last 18 months, there were lots of discussions and workshops conducted to talk about the future of this coaching group, but no solid implementation resulted.

I recommended they use the Open Space process. Just an hour before the meeting, the chairperson decided the theme for that evening: ICFT 2008 Development Focus and Action Plan --- I Want To Do. At 6:45pm, the meeting started with 13 participants, three brand new comers included, and worked focuse around their development and action plans for 2008.

After a very brief introduction by the chairperson, I quickly explained the principles of OST then invited the topics for the evening’s discussion from the group. There were six topics brought up and the members self-selected to discuss them. Then the five actions plans emerged – all within the next 90 minutes!

The discussion and action topics included:

• Book study groups
• Collaboration model between coaches
• Certification programs
• Publishing – successful coaching stories
• Effective marketing strategy of Coaching
• Enhancing images of Coaching --- combined with #5 into one action plan
  

During the closing circle, it took 40 minutes for the five action group reports. All the action plans were very aggressive and need more discussion and involvement of other group members. However, the energy and commitment was so great. It was 9:45 when we all headed home in the rain.

The following day, the chairperson called and told me that the action plans will be announced for the first time to all their members on Feb 24. She is expecting more people to join the efforts of making this self-organized group be successful in 2008!

Jessie Hsiao in Taipei, Taiwan, 2008/2/10

---- a similar Chinese article could be found:

http://space4break.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_08.html