All Conversations Tagged 'salon' - The Art of Hosting2024-03-29T08:59:57Zhttps://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?groupUrl=salon-hosting&tag=salon&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe Catalyst: questions about an event to help (young) people change the worldtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-10-16:4134568:Topic:858362013-10-16T08:08:17.355ZJelmer de Rondehttps://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/JelmerdeRonde
<p dir="ltr"><span><I adapted this post from a mail I sent to the AoH maillist because someone suggested I might get more answers here.></span></p>
<p><span><span><br></br></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Dear all,</span></p>
<p><span><span><br></br></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With this post I would like to tell you all what a group of friends and myself in The Netherlands are working on. And we would like to ask you some questions since we are very new to the Art of Hosting. It…</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><I adapted this post from a mail I sent to the AoH maillist because someone suggested I might get more answers here.></span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Dear all,</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With this post I would like to tell you all what a group of friends and myself in The Netherlands are working on. And we would like to ask you some questions since we are very new to the Art of Hosting. It has turned out to be a long post, so bear with me. :-)</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I first encountered the Art of Hosting last December and recently I attended my first AoH training in Stockholm (on the beautiful island Ëkskaret).</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>However, already in the beginning of 2013 a group of friends and myself started a series of events to help (young) people change the world for the better. All of us work and live in The Netherlands and up till now all of the events have been in the city of Utrecht. The five of us know a lot of people who have a lot of experience, drive and energy to make the world a better place. But we also see that it is difficult to actually get started on an idea or to actually know</span> <span>what</span> <span>idea</span> <span>to work on.</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>So we started “The Catalyst”. This initiative is meant to bring active people together to:</span></p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Find and meet each other.</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Discuss existing ideas.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Together create new ideas.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Support each other in taking action. Either by providing “brain power” at the events or by helping out.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Gather experiental and theoretical knowledge about taking action and creating new ideas.</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>When we look ahead we envision some sort of regular event/meeting/conversation where people get together to contribute in whatever way suits them best. It could perhaps be a recurring Open Space where (just as an example) the following sessions could take place:</span></p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Tables with regular meetings, people making decisions and getting work done on their current project.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>A table where a group explains what went wrong in their project so that those interested in it can learn from it and perhaps avoid the same mistakes.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>A table where someone is giving some sort of lecture/teaching on a theoretical subject (for example on the economy or something practical like how to start a foundation).</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Tables with (philosophical) discussions and brainstorms about the state of society and what to do.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>And perhaps a table hosted by one of the Open Space hosts to explain “The Catalyst” to newcomers.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Etc…</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The above example is just my idea on how our envisioned future could practically pan out. I’m sure that if you ask one of my co-creators, they would have different ideas. But I thought adding this would help to make it a bit more concrete.</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Since June we did two pilot events, which were meant to determine interest in this idea and for us to learn more about hosting these kind of events. These events were very helpful for us and we got a lot of enthusiastic feedback. However it has proven more difficult than we thought to get a bit of “momentum”. So on to the questions:</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>We have noticed that a lot of people cancel at the last moment for our events. Because we cannot be sure what the outcome of an event will be, the invitations have perhaps remained too vague. We think this is what causes people to cancel at the last moment: something urgent and clear always trumps a vague invitation with an unclear end.</span> <span>What can we do to make people commit to one of our events?</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>One of our ongoing questions is who to invite. Up till now we have chosen for quality over quantity. But we feel that we need more people to get a successful event, so perhaps we need to change this.</span> <span>What are your thoughts about who or how many people to invite?</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>How to “manage” the energy of a group. During our last event we had a very interesting World Café. Next we wanted to move on to an Open Space to try and collectively design the next event. But we noticed that the energy levels of all our participants had dropped very low, so we decided to move on to the wrap-up instead.</span> <span>What are ways to manage the energy of the group so that the day-programme can be completed?</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>We don’t know how to deal with a continuously changing group. Our events will always be with a mix of people: some will already have been to one or more or our events before, while for some it will be the first time.</span> <span>How can we quickly get newcomers to one of the events at the same level as recurring participants?</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span><span><br/><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Any replies are welcome, whether they are answers to our questions, suggestions, new questions, encouragement or feedback.</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With kind regard,</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Also on behalf of,</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Marte, Eduard, Max and Maayke,</span></p>
<p><span><span><br/></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Jelmer de Ronde</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>