Notes from most recent teleconference for ES3

EvoSalon 3: Feb. 23rd hosts/planning conference call.

Next conference call for Evolutionary Salon 3 will be Thursday, March 2nd, at 2 p.m. West Coast Time.  Dial 413-461-0333  and enter pin code 408.

Present: Dana, Peggy, Tree Fitz, Stephen Feig, Susan Cannon, Halim, Michael, Tom, Margo

Tree agreed to act as scribe.

Agenda suggestions:  
Halim: I would like more clarity on which work this large group is holding responsibility for, versus which work has been trusted off to small groups.

Halim: I am specifically concern about what amount of money we are going to ask.

Michael: I like the idea of more body metaphor, with cells and tissues and organs all within body with smaller groups taking responsibility, getting feedback so whole group doesn’t have to decide everything.  Specifically, piece I feel most called to be in conversation, five people or less, to work with question both what is unique about evo salon but also how do we for evo salons create and maintain an evolutionary context.  At first salon, half people there were leading experts in evo, at second salon, a lot of people felt the evolutionary understanding was missing.  How do we suggest guidelines, contextual markers?  Replicable, that does not demand an individual or group of experts but a context can be grounded in that. . not one way to do it but some guidelines.

Peggy: Where are we with invitation?  Anything else needs to be done?  Who it goes to?  What is inviting strategy?  Registration approach?  And if any other roles need to be identified and defined.

Dana:   Bring forth the right relationship with 3.5 salon.

I.    How will we work between small and large group work?

Tree began, asking the group for clarity about large group work and trusting-off small group work.

Peggy suggested that we go on listening to the middle.  That when work needs to be done, those who feel called to do it can move forward and do it.  We will trust that the person felt called and is working on behalf of the whole.  Small work groups are empowered to make decisions as needed.  When a small group reports to the larger group, the larger group will be invited to give some input and then the work will continue to be entrusted to the self-identified work team.

Tree had asked for some clarity because one of the small work groups had made, via teleconference, to decide how to manage the invitation process.  While doing its work, the group had some questions about whether or not they were empowered to make decisions.  Tree pointed out that it felt to her like this particular small work group thought it was only empowered to talk, as opposed actually setting policy.

Everyone on the phone call warmly agreed that small groups will be created by people who feel called to the work and the larger group will trust the small group work.

II.      Proposal from ‘managing the invitation’ work group was reviewed and adapted.  Here is the proposal created by this small work team:  

Four people will attend the salon as a core hosting team:
                * Tom, Peggy, Michael, Registrar (Tree)
This leaves 61 spots to be filled. (Whidbey Institute has agreed to total of 65)

A first wave of invitations will be sent out to the waiting list of 85 people. The invitations will specify that:

                * There are a limited number of spots available
               * To reserve a slot, they have to send a payment within 2 weeks
                * Slots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis

We will hold a maximum of 35 to 40  slots for people from the waiting list. The remaining (21 to 26) spots will be distributed between returnees from ES1/2, and new people invited with the intention of expanding the diversity of participants — or however else we might decide to handle them.

We’ll continue the planning conversations and determine how to proceed as needed.



Warm, strong endorsement of our proposal

III.  Review and adopt Susan’s invitation draft: with a few tweaks to language, Susan’s work was warmly accepted.  Susan will incorporate the feedback and we are ready to issue the invitation!

Peggy suggested . . . and all agreed, that everyone on the planning team would be on the invitation.

IV.  New subteam:  placeholder for a design team that really thinks into the specifics for salon 3, it could be a by-product of larger conversation that Michael was naming earlier. . . .

Michael’s thinking:  the conversation I was naming earlier is narrower who are focused only on how, both content and process of the beginning for creating an evol context and maintaining throughout.  My request who are immersed in thinking about the evol context for this salon and something easily replicable so that future salons can have a solid e

Tom, Michael, Peggy, me, Margo (doesn’t need to, available), Dana & Susan

Michael called this new subteam and he thought this would be too many.  He’ll decide what to do.
 

 

Dana: I’m interested in the evol of evol salons.  All the different varieties.

 

Susan:  I feel you in this conversation.

 

Michael:  My desire is to empowered, come back to the larger group.  7 feels unwieldy.  My real desire is, there’s a level of interest in the topic but people who have some gifts and skills, we come with, I’d love to interview for this…especially, people who came to the first salon.  My hunch is 1-3 people who have a passion for this.

 
This cell group would be focusing on:

a)      how to effectively create and maintain an e context at this salon

b)      doing some serious thinking about how to make it self-replicable not requiring an expert.

 

I want to field test at next salon but don’t want to do it alone.

 

Tree:  sounded it might lead into design piece.

 

 

 

Opening design:  Michael, Peggy, Tree (I feel deeply called), Tom, Susan – called to evol context (b), Dana (b), Margo (both)

 

Michael:  What’s your suggestion around communicating to a larger potential knowledge base.

 

Tree:  I got a strong hit, if someone is coming to mind to you, that you feel you want to have as a part of this conversation, invite them,  I don’t think you have to put it to anyone else.

 

Margo:  I have a call to be part of the design of this in some ways, I think this is important, I have skill on how to replicate, I also feel I understand the dynamics when it gets larger.  I am happy to be of service, I can be back up support.  I want to give some space for that.  I’m happy to participate, I’m happy to see what we come up with.

 

Dana:  the spawning issue and how to handle.  Where it spilled into my world.  When Kenoli said, let’s do it in CA.  What is the ONE?  E salon has taken on a lot of different things, it has a history.  I go back to what tom outlined on evolnexus, an ecology, an evol niche of salon.

 

Go to the page…and what happened, there was a flurry of emails, perception this is too much to follow in email, let’s post on the web.  I just noticed it went a little ways and froze.  Went to quiet.  When this conflict came up, the guests fell off.  No one wanted to look at the site for a while.  I feel like its up.  There’s an energy that ants to flow out and keep moving and evolving, and gestation and delicacy, I don’t have answers, I have questions and noticing its happening, what we’re doing is very real.

 

Michael:  I’ve been outside the loop, catching through conversations with other.  Tom, Peggy and I are in a process to come up with a set of guidelines, what is an e salon, what’s its’ core and putting it on the wake so the world can improve. Do our best thinking for this lineage of what we’re thinking.

 

Dana: the creators.

 

Tom:  we didn’t articulate.  It had energy, now there’s energy, what were we talking about, how can we frame that contains it, makes it not just any conversation about anything, runs with the energy, we’re doing our best thinking.  We aren’t ultimately in charge.

 

Peggy:  the weave of our voices is an important starting place for the conversation.

 

Dana:  can I read what tom wrote; an initial collection of salon types – from wiki.

 

Conversation technologies…broad term for OS, AI,

 

Tom:  hopefully the wiki will be a place to discuss this

 

Tree:  energy died down with Kenoli….I put a block on that energy.  Inwardly, I thought we have to get the invitation out.  My other thought is that, I’m carrying in my heart and put it out to Mark and Mark put it out to Kenoli.  I would love to be able to tell people when we turn away from salon 3.  Mark

 


 

Dana:  I’m a little, emotionally, I feel caught here.  I’m enthusiastic.  I’m going to cry.  I feel enthusiastic about wanting to be a part of what is spreading and growing.  I feel respectful of my elders for the people who brought me that experience.  I feel unclear what that place I’m supposed to be in.

 

Michael:  there’s no conversation that’s not including you.

 

Dana:  my energy creates things fast.  I got the message to stop.  It wasn’t helpful to es3.

 

Michael:  that may have been the case, let’s get the invitation out and bring.

 

Tom:  I want to note, we are in untraveled territory.  Your voice and Kenoli's are important voices in the field.  Expansion creates tensions and frictions because we’re moving into new territory.  That voice needs to come up over and over.

 

Dana: thank you.  I feel good checking on that.

 

Margo:  I’m making noise.  Good bye.

 

REFLECTIONS ON OUR WORK TOGETHER

 

Peggy:  honor

 

Stephen:  I’m noticing the nature of this call feels slightly different from previous call.  When ideas surfaced through the middle, people rose to claim them and took them to their evol extension and brought them back and it created the next level.  I’m watching people claiming, becoming visible, invisible, stepping in, out, how we are resolving conflict has been beautiful, coming to center, restating the question.  I’m noticing evol taking place.  Watching with reverence and appreciation.

 

Michael:  I’m just feeling blown away with gratitude for the energy, gifts, interest, passion at so many levels.  Whether we call it a movement, it’s emerging, taking off, moving rapidly.  I’m feeling almost no desire interest, attachment to manage it.  It like seeing a baby grow, it’s a little scary

 

Tom:  we’re like a school of fish swimming in rough waters, the way fish do, lots of eddies, we didn’t grow up in this stream, so it has its rough spots.  There’s a surprising amount of alignment as we twist and turn in the current.

 

Tree:  I can echo, I like the way we’re working together.
 

Dana: I feel deep, profound gratitude, for the OS that they have created in themselves to allow it to happen in the circles together.

 

Stephen:  I want to comment, we have our own evol that we bring to the planning group to create the gatherings to catalyze the gathering, micro evol inside other evol, as long as theirs resonance, they support each other

 

Dana:  turtles all the way down, evolution all the way up

 

Tom:  have to stay fractical.