Uses
- To help people quickly uncover emerging issues and opportunities while building mutual trust and understanding.
- To gain valuable input and perspectives on any issue from all stakeholders.
- To develop a plan with realistic and manageable outcomes.
- To give everyone participating an understanding of what matters to all participants.
Description
Open Space, also known as Open Space Technology, is a technique for holding meetings, conferences, corporate-style retreats, and community summit events that generates communication and collaboration, while helping participants to develop new solutions to various challenges and business problems. It is focused on a specific and important purpose or task—but beginning without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.
Participants identify the issues and topics that are important to them. Small discussion groups evolve and participants can move from group to group whenever they feel that they are no longer learning or contributing, or even when they feel more interested in another topic.
Open Space Technology is an emergent process. This means that it can appear to be chaotic or out of control at times, but eventually order will return.
TIPS
- The Law of Two Feet that simply states that “if at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing – use your two feet and move to some place more to your liking”.
- Control spells death to any Open Space event.
[1] Owen, Harrison. “Open Space World: A World Story.” Open Space World. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/world-story/>.