A Summary Guide to Convening Open Conversations

Conversations bring new value to strengthen local economies. Guided, open conversations build trust and offer starting points for entrepreneurs and large organizations to identify local creativity for collaboration and capacity building.

How conversations bring value to local economies are summarized in the document below from an interview George Nemeth, Founder and Chief Blogging Officer, Brewed Fresh Daily contributed to The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) January 2008, in Collinwood, Ohio.

George is known for his natural talent to engage people in public discussion and dialogue.  

Summary Guide to Convening Open Conversations

George Nemeth on Open Conversations

Painted
Painted

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

A Summary Guide to Open Conversations

Guided, open conversations build trust and offer starting points for entrepreneurs and large organizations to identify local creativity for collaboration and capacity building.

How conversations bring value to local economies are summarized below from an interview George Nemeth, Founder and Chief Blogging Officer, Brewed Fresh Daily contributed to The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) January 2008, in Collinwood, Ohio. George is known for his natural talent to engage people in public discussion and dialogue.

 Q: What are Open Conversations? What is the value of Open Conversations? 

  • Open conversations means an intention to be inclusive – not necessarily "open to the public" – but with people who want to participate.
  • Contributors need to adhere to certain behaviors (not a free-for-all – if you choose to become a part of the conversation you need to behave in certain ways) and not intentionally steer the conversation toward your own agenda.
  • Contributors need to use a method of inquiry that is appreciative.
  • There needs to be a shared open mindedness and a sense to be inclusive.
  • The value of openness is that it has to do with being participatory – they are here to engage with us and we are here to engage with them, too.
  • People we have are dynamic and we need to be as energetic.
  • What you give, you will learn, you have more of a deeper understanding (a more complex understanding – as information comes up, questions get asked) this is much more of an integrated approach to learning.
  • A person needs to offer what they know – allowing the conversation to expand to the level of a quantum dialogue – an extended learning that goes beyond just giving explanations, which are fine upto a certain point, but beyond that it is the experiential and on-site aspects that are important for this kind of learning.
  • The other people who are there have interests in common.
  • These are the basic parameters we agree around and this is the value.
  • The intersection between creative industries, technology, and energy appeals to a variety of backgrounds. This is only one perspective. I try to play up the diversity aspect.
  • There is value in urban areas and their inherent diversity.
  • Midtown Brews Open Conversations are a powerful way to engage a community-minded chain of businesses.

Watch live streaming video from midtownbrews at livestream.com

You can learn more about George at GeorgeNemeth.com, connect on LinkedIn, and follow George on Twitter.

A Summary Guide to Open Conversations is available for download at I-Open on Scribd.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

Collection: I-Open Insight and Innovation Networks

 

Welcome to the networked 12D world of Open Source Economic Development!

Insight and Innovation Networks is a snapshot collection of leaders in government, civic, academic, and business sharing their insights and experiences in education, economic and workforce development. Their stories make up Open Source Economic Development, a networked approach to enterprise collaboration.

This collection is an introduction to deeper interviews posted to I-Open Conversations where people share their passions and insights about what matters most to them in their work and how they live.

Leaders everywhere are envisioning new systems, building the networks they need, addressing challenges to strengthen transparency, and grappling with the realities of why collaboration is so important to generating sustainable enterprise. You'll learn directly from a community of leaders focused on innovating from within these new contexts and their stories of pursuing meaning to deepen connectivity.

We hope you'll consider contributing an interview about your work and connect with this dynamic community. We welcome your insights about what Open Source Economic Development is today.

Thriving on the New Economic Development Frontier - Ed Morrison, Purdue Center for Regional Development and I-Open

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Photos by Alice Merkel, Ohio High School student and Dennis Coughlin.

Here's a link to a Flickr collection that brings together pictures of I-Open's work in Open Source Economic Development over the last several years.

The pictures begin to tell the story of I-Open's activity building open networks of collaboration, and strengthening communities to stimulate enterprise collaboration.

You can easily find additional resources from this page that will connect you to the people, their individual interviews, open conversations, and transcriptions.

Our biggest thanks goes to the people who continue to build the powerful open conversations and contribute stories of insight and innovation. By learning together, we can accelerate meaning and connectivity for each of us in this unprecedented networked world.

Created and posted by Betsey Merkel.

I-Open Interview Research

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I-Open Interviews on Vimeo

By Betsey Merkel

I-Open video interviews are rich in tacit knowledge and present personal perspectives - stories of human insight and innovation through the lens of an Innovation Framework, a guide to sustainable investment in education, economic, and workforce development.

Gathering the best knowledge from theoretical and practical research across diverse sectors such as health care, the creative industries, technology, business development - interviews strengthen community connectivity and opportunities for collaborative leadership.

What you'll discover over time, as you watch the videos and read the transcriptions, are the similarities we all share. You may be reminded of your own ideas and insights, and those of your colleagues and friends - a collective intelligence in Open Source Economic Development.

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I-Open Transcription Collection on Scribd

More about I-Open Interview Research.

I-Open publishes video interviews and transcriptions under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License - meaning you are free to share information, but are accountable to attribute source to the interviewee and I-Open. 

(Article revised July 20, 2011.)