The format that I have the most experience with and am well known for using and adapting to the “conference” type of convening is Open Space Technology. It is a great process to support agenda formation in communities meeting to accomplish work together.
The format supports a community self-facilitating and self-organizing to get to know itself and out of this emergent action and collaborations happen without the conveners “having to figure all that out”. It sets the stage for the wisdom and intelligence of the group to emerge in an organic and natural way. When folks use Open Space Technology they are usually quite full at the end of the day and they describe the feeling as being tired but energized they got to talk about what they wanted to with other people who were also interested in the same things.
Format Origins
This was a format created by Harrison Owen in the 1980s. He spent a whole year organizing a conference with panels and paper presentations etc. The part people loved best and got the most out of was the coffee breaks – where people got to talk about what was alive for them that day. He really went into this and considered how he can bring the “coffee break energy” to the whole time of the conference.
It is called “technology” because it is a process tool and method to support self organizing.
How does it work?
Open space Technology works very well for a conference when a convener puts a stake in the ground and puts forward a compelling invitation. Why should people come together? What is the compelling issue or challenge that they are working on and want to find others to work together on.
Open Space is good because it helps avoid the problem of ‘one person’ or a ‘small committee’ deciding who should be speaking about what and is a lot less work for the organizers.
Before the Event
Before the event participants can put forward ideas when they register about topics they want to present, questions they want to discuss or topics they hope others will share about. This helps give everyone a picture of what will be talked about. The registration site can also have a list of who is coming to the event – this is inn loo of speakers being listed. You as the organizer solicit specific people to come and present (just as you would at a regular conference) instead of being put on the ‘schedule’ by you they simply with the rest of the participants come forward to the front of the room and propose the session you invited them to present.
The Opening Session
This is where everyone will get oriented to who is there and share the topics they want to discuss. Traditionally Open Space uses a circle. I get everyone in the room to say there name and where they are from (either the company or the place – there choosing).
The Day of the Event
Agenda Wall – at the beginning of the day this is blank. The facilitator will create a grid of post-it stickies one with each time and space that a session can happen. I give each break out space a letter and have a map so folks can find out where the rooms are.
Session length – I like to use 1 hour sessions. You can use up to 2 hour sessions if you know there are a lot of in-depth discussions to have.
How Many Sessions? How much time? The smallest number of sessions one can have in an open space to really get the energy flowing is 3. This gives you an opening for about an hour, three one hour sessions and a closing for 30min to an hour for a total of 4.5-5 hours. The most number of sessions in a day could be 7 or even 8 with an event where people are staying on site. One would do opening circle after breakfast 5-6 Sessions before closing and then 2-3 after dinner.
Session Format – Sessions can have many forms, a formal presentation, a question one is seeking answers to, a topic one is keen to talk about with others, it can also include unconventional formats like meditation, movement or playing a game – the space is open.
Making the Agenda – Participants who want to present, demo or lead a discussion are then invited to come to the center of the circle. They get a 8.5×11 piece of paper and landscape style they write with a marker the name of there session topic and their name.
They announce the title of their session to the whole room usually into a mic. People can ask the session leader questions about their session. Those who have similar topics know who they are and can speak to them about combining there topic in with there session.
Then once all the sessions have been posted the community standing in front of the schedule wall negotiates the schedule and moves sessions around. The session leader gets to decide whether or not to combine with others and when the session will be held. If others want to move their session they need to check in with the session leader.
The schedule will likely be made in less then an hour and you can release participants to mingle until the first session.
Closing – The day closes with the all participants gathering in a circle one room and sharing for 30 min to an hour the highlights of the day. You can invite people to share critical insights or breakthroughs they had that day. It is also good to invite people who know the have a session they want to lead the next day (if there is a next day) to articulate that.
Day Two – Day two of an open space starts out like the first inviting participants to come forward and put sessions on the agenda. The fist day agenda making includes putting up sessions on day 2 so this morning session is just building on the already proposed schedule.
The morning agenda creation will likely be a lot less time consuming then the first day. I sometimes use the extra time between making the agenda and the first session to do a group process like the spectrogram or a fishbowl.
Documentation – It is important to document the outcomes of these sessions. The platform I often use for this is called QiQoChat.
The Principles of Open Space are important to remember and share with those participating.
- Whoever comes are the right people.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
- Wherever it happens is the right place.
- Whenever it starts is the right time.
- Whenever its over, its over.
Law of two feet: If you find yourself not learning or contributing at any time it is your responsibility to use your two feet to take and fine somewhere you are learning or contributing.
They originated to help the day move forward without people getting upset about things being exactly on time or that so-and-so was at there session. The law of two feet is meant to create a social norm about following your inner voice and passion to be in a session or doing something else that you get value out of. It is not meant to condone belligerence towards sessions one is not getting something out of.
After the Event
Once the event is done the leader of the event must collect the notes from all the sessions and compile them into a book of proceedings. Ideally each session will also have a link somewhere on the web so it can be referenced.