ON ALL COFFEE BREAK CONFERENCING
Written 2008.
Latest update Oct. 2014.
Some flow of
conscious reflecting on what it would be like if a Conference was all coffee
break........
Dominant systems seek to disconnect people
for control....take international conferences...gathering together a large pool
of wisdom and then have them all shutdown by conference process to listen to
the few on high while they sit in silent rows looking into the back of the head
in front of them...and when the speech is finished a few are permitted to only
ask one question that may or may not be answered affording the speaker extra
microphone time.....no discussing among the pool of wisdom...no back and
forward exchange with the speaker...with no consequent further discussing among
the wisdom pool...then the coffee break......and the important speaker
disappears with a privileged few....you familiar with this oft repeated
scenario?
.....and recognising...….respecting...….and
valuing the wisdom in the group…some folk are beginning to set up gatherings
that are all coffee break……and that have emergent themes-based open
agendas rather than fixed agendas….‘emergent’ in that they emerge from the
consensual interests of the attendees.............rather than being
predetermined by gathering ‘organisers’……..whose role shifts from being
‘organisers’ and ‘controllers’ of what happens........to being ‘engaging in
constituting contexts rich with possibilities for attendees to
connect….relate….and engage……and emergent themes emerge from prior connecting
of passion and this contributes to cohesion in the gathering together.....
………..though I have had a couple of
experiences where this format of having themes-based open agendas has really
‘freaked’ people who are locked in the square….....as they deem and feel it is vital for them to ‘know beforehand’
what is ‘supposed to happen’..........and ‘what their role will be’….and
they become very unsettled when things are uncertain….as they crave
certainty…..and hence seek to control through being able to predict and hence
‘know’…
…and if things are left tentative…then……by their definition……it is ‘not
organised’……or ‘not organised ‘properly’……
and I have attended many such gatherings
since the mid 1980’s that are not only themes-based open-agenda…........they
are also self-organising (e.g. ConFest)…….with the nature of the
gathering…..and the rumours passed along networks about such gatherings acting
as a ‘normative filter’ on the social ecology and resonance of attendees….and there’s
a common and shared understanding of the ways of the gathering….
……..for example…......at these gatherings
there are metres of green painted chalkboards showing times and potential
locations and venues for nearby workshops ..…talks….discussions and other types
of sessions for two or more days at a time….for up to seven days of gathering….
...anyone wanting to put on a session……of any
format…….writes it up on the boards in a completely self-organizing way…
...and over the seven days with up to 3,500
attendees there have been over 870 (last Easter) well attended
discussions...…mini-conferences....experiential
workshops….skill-sharing…networking sessions and the like….
.….and on another occasion I was talking to a
very stressed person who had just returned from an international mainstream
conference where she had been in control of organising and scheduling 300
people attending six workshops that were repeated six times over three
days...…..running parallel to the traditional keynote speaker program…
.......and she said organising that set of
workshops was a nightmare..….. and when I mentioned to her about my energising
the self-organising of around 870 workshops for 3,500 people over seven
days …..and being prepared to do this twice a year for many years…..she went
into mind-melt and disbelief….
……….and some people are giving thought to how
we can let each other know before an ‘all coffee-break’ gathering
lasting a number of days... about what we know…....and what we are interested
in…….and how to find us during the Coffee Break Gathering….and what we look
like .......
..…and folk are exploring using processes
that can fast-track discovering each other and networking…….and meeting and
re-meeting each other during and after the gathering……and getting things of
moment starting in a moment…
.…and such gatherings may fast-track the
evolving of themes-based networking….....and with people being imbedded in a
number of these themes-based networks.......…there is scope for passing information and rumours between
networks…..through nodal people…..so there evolves an inter-linked network
of networking networks…….resonant with rumours grapevines discussed previously…
….and notice the different structures within
the three nested networks depicted below…..denoted by being partially enclosed
by striated triangles in the following sociogram…
The Networks before All Coffee Break Conference
…....and notice the subtle differences in the
forms...the integrated network...the dispersed network..... the spider thread
network and the nodal people who link folk to a number of others or to networks
........though there are important
differences between the sociogram above and below depicting the changes in the
linking after say all of these network people meet each other during a large
‘all coffee break’ gathering….
These Networks after All Coffee Break Conference
….and perhaps you can…..sense who the nodal
people may be…...and dialoguing with others about your reflecting may be
valuable…..
......and the hatched ellipses are
enablers…..…and the dark dots may be thought of as people......or as depicting
a network…and the people/networks may be local or geographically spread ....and
the lines….....though linear…are depicting flow of rumours.....rumours of what
works...
…...and there may be multiple aspects not
depicted that are layered.....segmented...integrated....and polycentric...as in
having multiple ‘centres’......the direction of flow…and the
importance....significance…. substance….and value of the rumours...and the
uptake….and adapting of rumours to local contexts….and who may be the vital and
significant folk (Ferguson, 1980, p 207-246)....
...and you may want to reflect on the
significance…….and implications of inter-connected aspects and transforms of
these two sociograms......
And in some
places networks take the form of the cluster on the bottom right of the top
sociogram...and imagine the form of the spider thread line of five at the top
right of the top sociogram being attached to and spreading out as threads to
three of the lower right cluster as depicted below
This adds the
following three threads to the bottom right. The nodal person in the centre of this
cluster is potentially significant as they can pass rumours from one thread
into other parts of the network of networks. The respective person who links
each thread to the nodal person is also significant for without them the
respective thread looses contact with the nodal person and hence looses contact
with the wider networks. Often these threads may be very long with small off
shoots from members of the thread known only to a particular member. Often
members of the thread only know few of the thread...and all of this has
implications for spreading wellness through communities.......
Other Links:
Inter-linked network
of networking networks
ConFest and the Next 250 Years