Open Space Technology
If you're an individual with a burning social issue, an organization facing a challenge, or merely interested in organizing a conference where the participants, rather than the presenters, are empowered, Open Space Technology may be right for you.
What is Open Space Technology?
Open Space Technology is a method for conducting meetings based on principles and values that enable innovation, problem solving, creativity, teamwork and rapid change.
In Open Space, participants self-organize based on what is important to them, and as a result, are committed to implementing the changes they envision. Open Space may also be used as a tool for ongoing organizational learning.
In Open Space meetings and events, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme or question of strategic importance.
With groups of 5 to 1000—working in conferences ranging from one to seven days, or in regular weekly meetings—the result is a powerful, effective connecting and strengthening of what is happening in the organization: planning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance.
From Sustainable Sonoma County
What happens in Open Space?
It’s amazing to watch. Imagine a group of people – anywhere from a dozen to literal hundreds – seated in a large conference room. They are drinking coffee, talking quietly, excited, and a little anxious. They are there to resolve an issue—perhaps more than one. They will be there for the next few days. There is no agenda, no format, and no handouts.
There is a large white board at the front of the room. There are pens and paper; some people have brought laptops. Aside from a few tables of food—and the necessary coffee—there is nothing else planned.
A chime rings; someone stands. This is the facilitator. She begins to speak.
“I know you might be confused, or curious about what's going to happen,” she says, “But don’t worry. By the end of the Open Space meeting, this mass of people will have enthusiastically organized themselves into dedicated committees. Everything that needed to be addressed will have been addressed. The necessary task forces will have been created. Not only will the group be positioned to again move forward, it will be enthusiastically inspired to do so.“
By the end of the session, they'll have found out that she’s right.
For more on Open Space, look here.
If this sounds intriguing, I'd invite you to contact me with any further questions, and to find out whether OST is right for you.
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Siona van Dijk
