[Ailist] AI summit in a small business

[Ron Velin]

Hi Richard,
   
  It will be interesting to hear what other practitioners have to say about this:
   
  Re. your first question: In 5+ years of working with AI, I have never given the questions out in advance. It has been my experience that the best answers emerge from the spontaneity of the participant hearing the questions for the first time. I feel it is important that the participants allow the "true" answer to emerge in the moment and that this response will have all the gold in it. Given the answers in advance, I have no doubt that the tendency would be to reflect and then over think the responses and the spontaneity would be hampered (it's enough to walk participants through the protocol before doing the actual interview during the summit - the tendency sometimes is for participants to look for a "big" experience vs. one that truly comes from the heart). Some may feel uncomfortable with this...they'll get over it once they get into their experiences.
   
  Re. your second question - since the areas of inquiry are not known I will go with the assumption that this is still about one business overall. Therefore, my general approach would be to go into all of the areas inquiry first and then emerge with the provocative propositions once the areas have been explored. We know that every element of a business is connected to every other element and we need (I feel) a good handle on the interrelationships through first understanding our experiences. This way our propositions have the creativity and power they potentially can. I would do the inquiry and allow all themes to emerge - so much is learned by this point that will affect the propositions.
   
  For example, if one inquiry has to do with a customer service focus, another about product development and another about cost reduction (for example), moving through the areas of inquiry first will provide a ton of insight that will be at the fingertips of all involved. I doubt anyone will forget anything significant as the group moves into the propositions phase.
   
  Also, be mindful of not inquiring into too many areas at once. If you are finding you have many areas of inquiry, it may be that the core appreciative topic has not been adequately distilled. In fact as I write this, I am actually wondering if you might - just by the way you were asking about this - and maybe I'm out to lunch...lol.
   
  If you have a specific question or you would like to explore this further, by all means give me a call here in Vancouver at 778-737-1578 any time.
   
  Many blessings for an easeful and successful project.
   
  Ron Velin

Richard Sellwood <richardsellwood at btinternet.com> wrote:
  Hi,

I am about to deliver my first AI summit and I have a couple of questions that I am hoping you may be able to help me with....

Ahead of the AI Summit is it better that the participants know the questions that they will be asked in the discovery phase or should they only see them at the Summit itself? (Small company with 8 people)

Do you generate the 'provocative propositions' after identifying the themes of one area of inquiry before moving onto the next area of enquiry or do you generate the PP's only after you have gone through the discovery phase for all areas of inquiry?

Many thanks in advance of your help.

Kind regards,

Richard

Richard Sellwood
07802 318803
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