There are conversations I don’t want to have and there are conversations I show up in and where I don’t like how I show up there. How to change these? We are always inside the conversations we don’t want to have. We cannot leave them. We always have to host from inside this place. At some level you can never leave earth. You belong here and to every conversation that is happening here. You are invited to host it all. That is your obligation for being given the gift of life.
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My friend Peggy Holman is about to write a short series of posts on how to manage the tension between hearing from luminaries and hosting participation in gatherings that aim to: Make the most of the knowledge and experience of the people in the room; Support participants to make great connections; Bring the wisdom of luminaries – respected, deep thinkers – on whatever subject drew people together; and Deepen collective understanding of a complex topic. Peggy notes that: A common design challenge with such gatherings is to work the tension between hearing from luminaries and engaging participants. When the mix …
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It had to be an Irish politician that finally suggested this! Ireland has been leading the European Union the past six months, including chairing and hosting the EU’s meetings. Micheal Ring tried a different approach to having all 27 ministers show up and read a speech. Sports Minister Michael Ring might actually have made a difference. At the Council of Sports Ministers in Brussels, the Ringer pioneered a new approach to these meetings. The usual drill sees each of the 27 ministers reading a prepared script outlining their country’s viewpoint. It’s tedious stuff. Minister of State Ring decided to change …
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Last year in Slovenia, a group of Art of Hosting practitioners gatherd for a week at a well loved 17th century manor to be together. I suppose you could call it a “conference” but we all called it a “Learning Village.” And it was a learning village. The agenda we set was for a five day Open Space gathering. there was music and local wine drinking and a learning journey on the land, and the teenagers cleaned out an old stone chapel that hadn’t been dusted for 300 years. We talked about our work, did tai chi and aikido, played …
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How many of you live in communities where community meetings are boring affairs punctuated by outrage? How many of you feel like influencing your local government means showing up en masse with a pettion or an organized campaign to get them to make a small change? How many of you are just plain disillusioned with your local government and have given up trying to help them involve citizens in decision making? And how many of you are leaders that are frustrated by citizens who just yell at you all the time? How many of you don’t actually know what you …