Structuring a conference for 310 people in 38 minutes

Harrison Owen

Adapted from a paper entitled 'Open Space Technology Comes of Age', monitored for the Institute by Tony Judge, this approach is a more free-for-all variant of the previous item.

Open Space Technology (if in fact it is a technology) began in frustration, almost as a joke, in 1982. After having organised a major international gathering complete with papers and presenters, I came to the interesting realisation that what I, and many other participants, enjoyed the most were the coffee breaks. My conclusion? There must be a better way.

Recently, using my Open Space method, 310 executives and line managers self-organised a three day meeting to deal with the future of their 30,000 person agency in 38 minutes flat, creating 32 workshops and a thick pack of proceedings, all with no advance preparation.

'All participants sign up for whatever appeals'

The mechanisms for the creation of Open Space are two, and simple in the extreme: The Camp Sign-Up Board and the Village Market Place. Each participant is invited to identify any issue or opportunity around the given theme that they would like to take personal responsibility for developing. They give it a short title on a small piece of paper, indicating time and place, and post it on the wall. After every person has posted whatever they have in mind, the Village Market Place opens and all participants are invited to sign up for whatever appeals. When conflicts of space or schedule arise, the interested parties negotiate solutions while the rest of the group goes about its business. And nobody is in charge. Everybody is.

People, treated as free and responsible, are quite capable of inspired performances.

Harrison Owen, H.H. Owen and Company, 7808 River Falls Drive, Potomac MD 20854, USA (tel or fax 301 469 9269). 'Learning in Open Space', a 25 minute video that includes the mechanics of an Open Space event is available for $65. (Ed: it might be as well to specify European VHS or whatever your video takes.)

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