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What is Open Space Technology?
Open Space Technology is a conference design that is characterized by what is absent: there is no predetermined agenda, there are no months of preparations and preparatory committees, and there is no blow-by-blow meeting schedule. There is only a focus question that establishes a broad theme and sets the boundaries for deliberation, a proposed set of outcomes for the day, a beginning and ending time, a blank wall, break-out spaces, and the concern and interest of the participants (anywhere from 25 to several hundred).
In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme of strategic importance, such as: "What are the issues and opportunities related to a statewide initiative supporting Asset Building?" "What can we support and work together to create?"
With groups of 5 to 1000 the common result is a powerful, effective connecting and strengthening of what's already happening in the initiative: planning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance.
The Four Basic Principles
The four principles of open space technology are:
1. Whoever comes is the right people(reinforces that the wisdom to achieve solutions is present in the room and the group is not to worry about who is not present nor to panic about who is)
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
(keeps the attention on the best possible effort in the present, not worrying about what we "should have done")
3. Whenever it starts is the right time
(reminds people that creativity cannot be controlled)
4. When it is over, it is over
(encourages people to continue their discussion so long as there is energy for it. This may result in a short session not filling the entire time allotted, or it may result in a session longer than the time allotted)
There is also a "governing law," simply stated: the Law of Two Feet: If you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet and go to a place where you can be more productive.
What will happen?
We never know exactly what will happen when we open the space for people to do their most important work, but we can guarantee these results when any group gets into Open Space:
1. All of the issues that are MOST important to the participants will be raised.2. All of the issues raised will be addressed by those participants most qualified and capable of getting something done on each of them.
3. In one and _ days, all of the most important ideas, discussion, data, recommendations, conclusions, questions for further study, and plans for immediate action will be documented in one comprehensive report -- finished, printed and in the hands of participants when they leave.
4. When appropriate and time is allowed for it, the total contents of this report document can be focused and prioritized in a matter of a few hours, even with very large groups (100's).
5. After an event, all of these results can be made available to an entire community within days of the event, so the conversation can invite every stakeholder into implementation -- right now.
6. AND... results like these can be planned and implemented faster than any other kind of so-called "large-group intervention." It is literally possible to accomplish in days and weeks what some other approaches take months and years to do.
The good news, and the bad news, is that it works. Good news because it gets people and work moving, bad news because that may mean lots of things are going to be different than before. Wanted things can appear, unwanted things disappear, and sometime vice versa -- but that's how life is. In short, then, Open Space brings life back to initiative and initiatives back to life.
Benefits
Open space technology is a process through which small or large groups can invest themselves in discussing common concerns, seeking solutions, and creating new opportunities. It is fueled by the energy, interest, and enthusiasm of the participants for the overall theme. The open space process brings a number of benefits to a group of diverse people:
- It focuses everyone's attention, for a limited time, on a general theme that is important to the group. (Asset Building and Resiliency)
- It reveals common interests and concerns that too often do not emerge in a day-to-day working environment.
- It generates innovative ways of looking at a familiar issue.
- It allows uninterested individuals to disengage from a discussion, rather than forcing them to participate unwillingly.
- It is a great equalizer: it encourages individuals at any level to introduce topics that are important to them and to mobilize a group of colleagues, also at any level, who share their interest and want to explore the topic together.
- It can engender creative approaches to an issue and pave the way for future actions or temporarily lay to rest an issue for which no one is prepared to take responsibility.
The Logistics of holding an Open Space Technology meeting:
We will provide one large meeting room with a large blank wall which can be taped onto as well as several breakout rooms. Seating in the large meeting room will be in several concentric circles. Breakout rooms will be set up with chairs in a circle. No tables. Meals will be served buffet style in the main meeting room.
We will provide flip chart paper, masking tape, markers, computer printers and paper. We invite you to bring your lap top computer, if you have one available. (For 200 people, we estimate that we will need at least 20 lap top computers.)
How to Use This Tool
Before the session, a facilitator arranges a meeting site that has a room large enough to hold the entire group, a blank wall, and moveable chairs, as well as a number of spaces where small groups will be able to gather. The small spaces do not need to be break out rooms, but can be in a garden, restaurant, bar, lobby, hotel room, etc. S/he posts and reads the focus question for the session and posts and reviews with the participants the four principles and governing law of open space technology. At this point, the facilitator's role ends, and the participants take charge of the event.
The first half hour of the session involves planning. Participants will sit in several concentric circles, facing an empty wall. They are invited to create the agenda by stepping up to the front, writing on a sheet of newsprint a topic that is related to the focus question, giving any details they wish about their chosen topic, and posting the topic on the wall for all to see. By doing so, these participants agree to convene a group and to arrange for a report on the group's deliberations and proposals to be typed and printed out before the end of the day.
After all proposals are up on the wall, everyone gets up, reads the various proposals, and either signs up for one group or chooses to be a bumblebee (flitting from group to group, cross-pollinating in the process). Those who want to be by themselves and ponder important or unimportant questions on their own can choose to do so as well; these are the butterflies. The various groups and configurations then find a space and discuss, work, buzz, create, invent, resolve, mobilize, or do whatever they think needs to be done to address their topic in light of the focus question of the meeting.
One hour or so before the end of the day, each group convener sees to it that a rough report (just the basics, no fancy formatting) is typed up and posted in the common area or, if feasible, electronically. All reports have to be typed and posted by the end of the day.