The Mary Parker Follett Network

Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. - MPF

Je suis tres desole that I am not with you!

Any chance of a video-conference link? 

Perhaps I can lure you all to the Bay Area for a future gathering.

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The Asilomar Conference Center, in Monterey!!! Please!!!!

Hi Betsie,

We thought about you and in fact you were part of the group. Unfortunately I was not able to make possible a video conference with the University material. But we put the idea on the table for the next conversations in October 2013.

The Normandy conversations were a kind of confirmation that we do have to continue to share knowledge and ideas about Follett. We mentioned the idea of a "Follett Lab", experimenting management or democratic practices based on Follett concepts, giving feed back on concrete case studies, etc. To be continued...

Warmly,

Sébastien

Maybe we should conduct a survey of network members to help determine where the next Conversation should be held. Some questions about format might be asked, also. Some may need the event to have certain features for academic credit. That would increase the number of attendees further.

Certainly possible. Also, some thought should be given to format. If the current one is satisfactory, wonderful. Some consideration might be given to alternative formats, as well. For example, the format used for the 2002 Follett Conversation in Boise, which was based on the Asilomar Conversation format, is very powerful in terms of creating new insights and useful outcomes. But it requires more advance preparation, a minimum number of attendees (we made it work with 12), and a longer conference (several days). The emphasis is on teams working together on new inquiries, with zero presentations except for the plenary session at the end. I strongly recommend it.

Anne Sueko Coyle said:

Hi Matthew,

I was curious about academic credit, too. For my part, I would like to ensure that business people, practitioners, government folks, and other non-academic types continue to be attracted to the event. That being said, I certainly think all of the above is possible.

Hi Matthew,

The conversations we have organized here in Normandy have gathered academics, practitioners, consultants, business people. I agree that this variety is an essential feature of this kind of event. I do believe that the conversations should not become a traditional academic conference.

We parted the conversations in two parts (one day for each; maybe, a little bit short?): the first day was composed with presentations that participants had prepared by advance. The second day was made of interactive sessions during which we have experienced follettian ideas. Is that what you had in mind?

Warmly,

Sébastien

PS: thanks for your participation to the interactive session that Lecia organized.

Not exactly. In the conversation format I've had the pleasure of experiencing in the past, teams form months in advance of the conference around specific inquiry ideas. Each team decides on some shared readings, prepares input papers to each other (which they share in advance of the conference), and gets ready for the face-to-face. The several-day conference is held in a place that allows the entire conference group to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Throughout the day, each team meets to dialogue about their inquiry, explore new insights, create new initiatives, etc. The evening, after dinner, is reserved for chatting around the fire or exploring. After three days of conversations, the teams prepare to present their explorations or creations to the whole group in the final plenary session. These can be more academic in style, or they can be very creative and artistic. Final output papers are published in a Proceedings, which helps the academic participants meet some of their requirement for credit.  This format was used for many years at the annual Asilomar Conversation on the Comprehensive Design of Social Systems, at the semi-annual Fuschl Conversations (similar theme, and both organized by the International Systems Institute), and then once at the Follett Conversation on Creative Democracy (2002). In fact, it was at the 1997 Asilomar Conversation that I had Follett's The New State as required reading for my team.

Sébastien Damart said:

Hi Matthew,

The conversations we have organized here in Normandy have gathered academics, practitioners, consultants, business people. I agree that this variety is an essential feature of this kind of event. I do believe that the conversations should not become a traditional academic conference.

We parted the conversations in two parts (one day for each; maybe, a little bit short?): the first day was composed with presentations that participants had prepared by advance. The second day was made of interactive sessions during which we have experienced follettian ideas. Is that what you had in mind?

Warmly,

Sébastien

PS: thanks for your participation to the interactive session that Lecia organized.

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