I just attended (and presented)  at the ODN Europe conference in Southwark London, UK.

It was a superb conference, with a diverse range of excellent material, participants of very high quality, and a high level of enagement. All this along with a sense of realism made this a not-to-be-missed conference.

Prof Patricia Shaw`s presentation with no power point , with her focus on pure dialogue as the core of OD was “a once in a lifetime“ presentation.

John Scherer`s and Amy Barnes presentation on merger work was a case in near flawless consulting.

Rob Farrands workshop on language and leadership was very enlightening.

Post modern organizational mapping tools showed us all where OD will be if we don`t go down the road Pat Shaw suggested.

So kudos to the architects of this amazing event.

1-Be content savvy, because facilitating a classical process-detached-from-content session encounters too many cultural obstacles.

2-Offer your own opinions and content input with which people can agree or differ, because the cultural variance may be so wide that the groups will not be able to generate meaningful content.

3-Build the small break out  working groups very carefully, because too much diversity may make the discussion sterile.

4-Make sure that participants are engaged. If not, stop and work on what`s wrong. It is easy to fall into a pattern of apparent participation in very diverse and stranger groups.