Ventana software support forum

Hi Niall,

Im not sure that this is the sort of thing that you are looking for - and
may be a bit of a squeeze in the time that you have. I use it for groups of
about 10-30 depending on the space available.

Essentially it is a demonstration based on CAS and simple rules generating
complex behaviour. It is also about the consequence of change in one part
of the system having an impact across the whole.

What I ask people to do is to stand on their feet. They then decide to fix
on two other people in the group. They keep this decision to themselves.
The task for the group is to position themselves equidistant from the two
people that they have picked. They have to move around in order to do this.
The experience of trying to keep your distance is fun - a bit like
hearding cats!

After a period of time the group will become stationary (at least it has so
far every time that I have done this demo...). The seemingly random and
difficult to predict moving about of people can be used as an analogy for a
complex system.

A powerful second step for this demo is then to ask one person only to
change their selected target-people. Everyone else remains with their old
ones. This person will likely then have to move, which sets a chain
reaction of people moving. The impact of one change has a consequence for
the whole system.

The whole thing can take just a few minutes. In some situations I have led
a discussion and de-brief which can take half-an-hour.

This may not fit your needs, but thought that I would share it anyway.

Regards

Ashley Woolmore
From: "Ashley Woolmore" <ashley_woolmore@hotmail.com>