Jack Martin Leith, Bristol UK, shares this post on what to do after Opening Space. How to keep all those projects going?

When planning your Open Space meeting, you’ll need to think about how you’ll ensure that ideas emerging from the meeting will be brought to fruition, and how the issues identified by participants will be resolved effectively once everyone is back at their workplace. Please be fully aware that this is a very big challenge. More…

It’s a great and detailed post. And Jack’s always got great diagrams to go with the explanations.

Russian-speaking coaches gathered again in Open Space in Moscow for their semi-annual conference February 18, 2008. They seasoned the convening question, “What has to be done for the Professional Association of Russian-speaking Coaches to work?” first with one hour of dynamic facilitation. Moscow OST facilitator Mikhail Pronin held the space.

Read more about it in English or in Russian.

In a recent conversation about how to keep the action going after an Open Space meeting or event, Diana Larsen added something simple and, I think, quite new:

More and more often, in any kind of action planning (OS or otherwise) I have abandoned the idea of finding group consensus on the “important” issues. What’s “important” is much too abstract and often involves what we think _other_ people, the proverbial “they” should do. So I don’t ask about importance anymore.

Instead I’ve begun to rely more on the group asking itself two fast rounds of questions, about impact and energy:

First, each person votes on which issues would have the most “impact” if worked on further. That provides some additional data to the group. (I usually use some kind of stickers rather than colored dots – dinosaurs anyone? It just adds some fun. I also like the idea of tickets instead of dots here…I’ll have to try that.)

Then second, I ask each person to put a small number of different stickers (1-3) on whichever issues they personally have the “energy” for moving forward (or if there is room, to stand next to where those issues are posted). We notice where the pattern of energy lies compared with their overall perspective on impact. And we follow the energy, which more or less equals passion.

After that, groups of people create action plans on anything someone has the energy to work on, in another round of OS-style sessions, complete with Law of Two feet, bumblebees, etc. And each group reports out ‘first next steps’. Not the whole plan, just the first action or two, because we know the plan will necessarily change as people implement the first steps and learn more. In the Agile software world, we say “inspect and adapt” and “respond to change rather than following a plan.” So that’s the expectation. People will try a few things, learn more, adjust the plan, try a few more things, etc.

Esther Matte reports a recent Butterfly sighting:

In a recent OS event, I noted one person stayed back when everyone went to the Market Place wall. This person was just sitting on her chair, playing with the papers in her participant’s kit. Eventually, she got up and moved around. But she didn’t participate to any discussion, even though people invited her to join them.

At the time, I thought she was uncomfortable in this space, that it was simply too open for her to work in. I often saw her reading reports coming up on the Breaking News Wall. In the closing circle, to my surprise, her comment was something like: “I had a great day. Lots of participation, lots of open and frank discussions. Thank you everyone!”

I guess we should never assume anything! Taking care of herself, this person stayed close without joining discussions. She found her space and connected in her own way. She was a true butterfly.

In Open Space, The Law of Two Feet says that only you know when you are learning and contributing as much as you can. So you are in charge of that. Use your two feet, or whatever else you normally use to get around, to go wherever you need to go, move to any conversation or space where you can maximize your learning and contribution. When the rule is applied in practice, performance is maximized by two sorts of characters: Bumblebees buzz from group to group, carrying energy and information, cross-pollinating. Butterflies float around, and may not join any group, but their flitting and fluttering directly supports a state of openness and flow.

Stanley Park announces the new Korean Open Space website and adds:

For many of you who find Hangeul (Korean language) rather uncomfortable, please just enjoy viewing two videos of OS events here and here. When the site becomes fully in operation, it will have a section in upper right that serve our friends whose language is not Korean.

I can’t read Korean, but it sure looks like Open Space to me!

Das Lernforum ist unter Großgruppen – Facilitators längst kein Geheimtipp mehr.

Wie jedes Jahr lud all-in-one- spirit zum Netzwerktreffen ein – und es kamen 160 externe und interne Berater. Seit seinem Bestehen steht dieses Treffen unter dem Motto “come from abundance”.

Als langjähriger Visueller Begleiter dieses Forums war es diesmal für mich ein besonders tiefes emotionales Erlebnis. Es war ein Genuß, mit welcher Heiterkeit und Klarheit Dr. Matthias zur Bonsen den Open Space anleitete.

Patricia Haines sez:

The 1st of a series of OS gatherings laying foundations for a local/global arts & sustainability initiative will meet in Ithaca, NY April 25 & 26.

An outgrowth of the US Partnership for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development’s Open Space Convocation in Raleigh, NC in March ’06, “GREENING THE ARTS, a Symposium to Explore a Role for the Arts in Creating a Sustainable World” combines an informal panel review of who is doing, thinking and saying what about ‘green’ art around the world with an OS to generate action plans for local/regional and global next steps.

Information mailto:artsattheheart@yahoo.com

Do you long for wide open spaces? Want to get some real work done?

Forget meetings. Throw out the agendas prepared in lengthy meetings that are never followed. Scrap the PowerPoints and flowcharts and make your next meeting an “un-meeting” with open space technology.

That’s the advice of Harrison Owen, the originator of “open space technology” and the author of Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 3rd Edition, Spring 2008).

Owen, along with 85 other “brave” souls, originated the open space concept back in 1985 at the Third Annual International Symposium on Organization Transformation, held in Monterey, Calif. When participants arrived at the event, the only things they knew were when it would start, when it would end and what the general theme of the conference might be. There was no agenda and no planning committee, and the only facilitator in evidence disappeared after several hours.

The 85 participants sat in a circle. As each person determined that he had some area of exploration he would like to pursue, he wrote a brief description on a small placard, announced his topic to the group, posted the placard on the wall and sat down. When no further topics were posted, the original proposers determined the time and place for meeting, and anybody interested in a particular topic signed up. That was it. Two-and-a-half hours later, an agenda for a three-day event had been completely planned, including multiple workshops — all with conveners, times, places and participants.

The result? Excellence, profound accomplishment, and breakthrough learning, according to Owen and thousands of others, who have been facilitating open space gatherings at conferences and within organizations for 23 years. To date, Open Space has been used in excess of 100,000 times in 134 countries.

The actual process has changed little, if at all, over the years. However the necessary “start-up” time has fallen to somewhere between and hour and an hour and a half, even with groups of 2000 and more.

Training Executive Exchange recently spoke to him about how open space can be put to work by trainers and managers within their own organizations – either as an alternative to meetings or as an alternative to training itself… Read More (from the OSLIST)

Lisa Heft (Vice President, Open Space Institute USA, past OSLIST Poet Laureate and Fellow, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution and host, WOSonOS 2008) will be facilitating Open Space Learning Workshops in San Francisco on the following dates: May 28-30, July 21-22 and December 17-19, 2008. She will also facilitate this workshop in Atlanta, Georgia USA on April 9-10, 2008.

Co-create a theme, experience a several-session Open Space, taste how action planning works in Open Space, learn about all the pre-work (invitation, planning, design, theme, logistics, documentation), variations, ‘what ifs’, ‘when not to’s’ and more. You will also receive a copy of the “Open Space Idea Book”.

For more information, contact Lisa Heft.

from Jack Martin Leith in Bristol, UK:

Barry Owen has established an Open Space Technology group on Facebook, the social networking site. The group already has more than 80 members from a wide range of countries.

If you are unfamiliar with Facebook groups, they are a place where group members can post relevant links, photos and videos, participate in discussions on specific topics, and leave messages for other members. Also, the group administrator – Barry in this case – can message the whole group with news, stories and so on.

Barry set up the group primarily as a repository for Open Space related stories, but I got involved last week (my official role is “UK correspondent” – thanks Barry, I feel like a CNN reporter) and have been busy uploading photos and links. Any member can do that – no fancy title required!

How do you become a member?

If you’re already a Facebook user, click here, log in and click on Join this group, which you’ll see at the top of the right hand sidebar. That’s all you have to. You can start posting to the group immediately.

If you’re not yet a Facebook user, go to www.facebook.com and enter your details into the boxes that appear below Sign up for Facebook.

If you only want to use Facebook to access the Open Space Technology group, you can provide the barest details on your profile and not bother with the Friends bit. But once you’re in you’ll probably get hooked. Many people find it a useful extra way of keeping in touch with their friends and acquaintances.

If you have ay questions or concerns, please contact either me or Barry and we’ll do our best to help you.

Hope to see you on Facebook!

Jack Martin Leith

Fr. Brian Bainbridge sends this from Melbourne, Australia:

Some 7 parish reps (16 persons) in Open Space Sessions, Looking together (a major miracle, perhaps) at what to do LOCALLY about adjusting to the imminent reduction in numbers of priests available in their zone/region. Some came to fight/defend against the future (inevitable) changes. Others with different agenda. By the end of the day – another major miracle – all seemed together about options to address this eventuality.

There have been a series of such attempts, but never using Open Space. It’s a wonderfully potent situation and may just change the nature of the Church in Australia. Stand by for the next extraordinarily exciting development.

Questions about Open Space in Churches or Australia? Email Brian

This is to let you know that 5 french executives will exchange on their OS practices in Paris on April 3rd. If you happen to be in Paris then you are invited and welcome. You will find hereunder the details of the event and how to confirm your participation. Contact Philippe SLIOUSSARENKO for complete details.

MHG Europe a le plaisir de vous inviter à la réunion sur le thème :

LA METHODOLOGIE OPEN SPACE

Une démarche de conduite de réunion en petit ou grand groupe ou une nouvelle façon de s’organiser et de penser ?

Avec la participation de dirigeants ayant pratiqué l’Open Space :

§ M. Sylvain AUGERE, Directeur de l’Animation des Réseaux de Formation, UIMM
§ M. Emmanuel CAUX, Directeur Général Région France Nord, STARWOOD HOTELS AND RESORTS
§ M .José PIRES – GOMES, Président, GROUPE FRANCE BOISSONS
§ M. Hervé MARTIN, Directeur Général, SENSITIVE OBJECT
§ M. Emmanuel MASSY, Directeur Marché Gares, GROUPE ELIOR

Nous poursuivrons ensuite nos échanges autour d’un cocktail dînatoire. Dans l’attente de vous recevoir, je vous adresse mes plus sincères
salutations. — Philippe SLIOUSSARENKO

Larry Peterson says:

Read the notes from another great conversation, in February, among contacts from institutes and groups from 8 countries around the world. We focused on Worldwide OSonOS which will be held in San Francisco so check it out. We also explored the possibilities for upcoming events in Taipei, Taiwan and Berlin (or another European location).

There were also some great stories of development in various countries and groups.

Thomas Herrman facilitated and Larry Peterson took the notes.

See you in San Francisco!

This just in from Switzerland, about a meeting for practitioners upcoming on March 19th — contact Catherine Corbaz to join this group:

There will be a meeting in the french speaking part of Switzerland to discuss about the way to promote OST in our area. We may talk about the creation of a website or how to use the existing possibilities. A possible Swiss open space institute might be a perspective (that would meant include the german OST facilitators) or to improve the connection with the blog the Canadian created. The meeting will be on the 19 of march.

Best regards from Switzerland (it’s snowing !!! at least)

The World Open Space on Open Space (WOSonOS) is a conference in and about Open Space — for facilitators, organizations and colleagues who use Open Space.

Join us July 21 through 28, 2008, in San Francisco, California, USA. “What Can We Learn / Share / Teach / Explore / Discover with Each Other about our work in Open Space around the world?” That is what we want to find out!

This year, a full week of events includes an Open Space Learning Workshop (July 21-22), an Author Evening with Harrison Owen and the launch of his Third Edition of Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, and several days in and about Open Space with colleagues from around the world.

Online Registration

The author of the Change Management Toolbook, Holger Nauheimer is going to present his training course, Be The Change, in Boston, April 4-5, 2008 (with a half day free presentation on recent trends in Change Management on April 3, 2008). See the conference flyer and registration page.

Singapore-based Prabu Naidu shared this recently after Opening Space in Tehran:

On 4th February 2008 some forty producers and managers from the radio division of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) converged in one of the studios that was the venue of an Open Space Technology (OST) session to discuss on the theme “Radio Management in Iran”.

The participants who came to the session – based on open invitations announced on banners throughout the studios – had a desire to contribute to the future of Radio in Iran, they came, enjoyed the collegial networking and contributed ideas and thoughts.

The Open Space was facilitated by me. The event was co-sponsored by the Freidrich Ebert Stiftung and IRIB.

In the full day session, six concurrent market place discussions were held over two time slots of one hour each. There was deep conversations and many ideas generated on the theme. During the action planning; six key ideas were voted to be worked on next and six leaders accepted the responsibility to take the ideas to the next step.

The next day on 5th February 2008, a smaller group of ten participants in the morning and another ten in the afternoon attended a training session on Open Space so that they will be equipped to conduct Open Space sessions on their own in the future. These participants had also attended the full day session the day before. The participants intend to use Open Space to engage their own staff as well as their listeners in improving their programmes and services.

The two-day proceedings were beamed live on the Internet for IRIB staff outside Tehran to follow.

Prabu was part of the hosting team when I taught Open Space in Sinagapore some years ago. And this, to me, is the most amazing thing about the practice of Open Space. We never really know where it will lead, or turn up, next. Good to see such fruits still ripening, many years beyond the first plantings. Way to go, Prabu! And may the Iranian harvest be bountiful, as well!

FO rapport et historique français: Forum ouvert sur le Forum ouvert – Aller plus loin dans l’action, à Brownsburg-Chatham, Québec, le 13 octobre 2007. Rapport et historique (pdf)

Précédemment: 1e Forum ouvert sur le Forum ouvert international en français: Val David (Québec) Canada, 14 au 16 septembre 2007. Thème : Aller un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin dans nos connaissances et nos pratiques du Forum ouvert. Rapports de discussion (pdf)

Thanks (and congrats!) to Joern Geisselmann, Adviser for Public Participation & Capacity Building at Shining Stone Community Action, for this report from mainland China:

On May 15th Shining Stone Community Action (SSCA), a Beijing-based NGO promoting participatory urban governance, conducted what was perhaps the first Open Space event organized and facilitated by a mainland Chinese organization entirely on its own. SSCA decided to include a one-day Open Space into one of its training courses on participatory community development following a training on the Open Space methodology in April 2007 by Stiftung Mitarbeit, a German foundation dedicated to the promotion of public participation, and CANGO (China Association for NGO Cooperation).

The theme of the event was “Public Participation in Community Development”. Participants included community workers, NGO representatives, and residents. Since Open Space is so different from typical Chinese meetings that tend to be very formal and hampered by hierarchies we were worried at first how participants would respond to the unusual latitude given to them. However, this concern vanished quickly as participants began taking the initiative proposing topics they wanted to discuss. The enthusiasm and resourcefulness of participants continued to astonish us throughout the event and Open Space turned out to be the highlight of the 3-day training. In fact, about a week later a participant informed us that they had enjoyed Open Space so much that they had already conducted a community meeting using some of the Open Space elements.

For more information, please contact Ms. Song Qinghua, Director of Shining Stone Community Action.

Please note the new page — and renewed invitation — to get involved in the Open Space community and to contribute news for posting in this weblog.

Please join us! Please contribute!

Christopher Carfi posted a nice summary of work done in a breakout session in Open Space last year, following the Consortium for Service Innovation Annual Summit in Orlando.

His summary is about the work, not the process. And that’s the point. Real work gets done in Open Space — and becomes the center story of the event. I wonder how many other participants went out posted their notes.

His posting represents the kind of “action” that keeps real work moving, based on personal passion and responsibility, but never shows up on the screen when people ask, “How does action happen?”

This group should know something about getting things done. The conference sub-theme: the economics and social elements of mass collaboration.

Harrison Owen, author of Open Space Technology, Expanding Our Now, The Power of Spirit and The Spirit of Leadership, won the Sharing the Wealth award from OD Network.

The award honors the memory of Kathie Dannemiller, a major force in the founding of OD Network (and the author of a Berrett-Koehler book, Whole Scale Change) It is given to “an individual whose achievements demonstrate their values, innovation and generosity.”

Congratulations, Harrison!

In December, EventManagementBlog featured an interview with Harrison Owen in December. They likened the use of OST to “Open sourcing your event.”