PHA-Exchange> OST: An alternative conference method? (2)

[Claudio]

From: "Ted Greiner" <tedgreiner at yahoo.com>
To: <david at empow.co.za>


> Thanks David  for sharing this. I've been
> involved in meetings with some of these components but
> not all. Would you agree that some topics lead
> themselves to a "purer" version than others? One
> purpose of attending meetings for technical people is
> to get present (often an academic/donor requisite for
> attendance) and learn about the findings of recent
> research. Perhaps such presentations should be
> followed by OST sessions on what the implications of
> its findings might be for field application?
> 
> I may be playing a coordination role on a large
> international meeting on the infant feeding component
> of PMTCT and would love to incoroporate some or all of
> OST--certainly brainstorming with women living with
> the predicaments and difficulties involved would be
> useful for all involved. 
> 
> Is there someplace one can read more about OST? What's
> the largest meeting you've been to that incorporated
> it? In a large gathering isn't the initial session
> during which those 87 groups are established and the
> issues they will deal with unwieldy and
> time-consuming? 
> 
> And how on earth can you rapidly schedule so many
> sessions without having endless hassles over for
> example a convener who wants a different time in order
> to attend another session s/he wants to attend?! 
> 
> Finally, in my experience it's very difficult to get
> technical people to discuss like this rather than
> spend all the scarce time available pontificating--how
> do you prevent that--just an altered set of
> expectations and instructions to conveners to be tough
> with big talkers?
> 
> Thanks again,
> Ted