There is only one law: The Law of Two Feet (which, because not everyone has two feet, can also be called the Law of Motion and Responsibility):

If you feel you are neither learning from nor contributing to a discussion, you are required to get up and move to another discussion, without waiting for the group to complete its conversation. Your fresh insights and creative thoughts are needed elsewhere. Whereas in some cultures this may be seen as rude and disrespectful, in Open Space it would actually be disrespectful to the process and to the greater group to sit and stay in a discussion for which you felt you were not being useful. The result is a room alive with movement and animated discussion as people travel from group to group to use their best energy and thinking where it is most needed.

The final guideline is to Be Prepared to Be Surprised.

If you carry your preconceived agenda into a conversation, you may never receive the greater results and more intuitive thinking that can come from a group of diverse and passionate people taking a conversation where it can go.

Who is in control here?

How can OST be productive without a pre-designed agenda or outcome and little or no intervention by a facilitator? Won't that create chaos? Won't chaos lead to catastrophe? Where is the structure? Actually there is very specific structure to the OST process -- just not the structure people usually create in meetings. The result is a new way of working, thinking and communicating, and the results are innovative, concrete, positive, and substantial.

Think it won't work for your business or community or in your culture or country? It works for Boeing, Rockport, United States Department of Labor, United States Department of Transportation, Owens/Corning Fiberglas, Procter and Gamble, Dupont, French Ministry of Telecommunications (PTT), The US Forest Service, SAS Airlines, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Rockport Shoes, The World Bank, AT&T, IBM, USWEST, Lucent Technologies, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, small towns and villages, schools, hospitals, churches and more in over 70 countries, from Bolivia to Papua New Guinea to Macedonia to Kazakhstan.

To learn this method you can read a book, take a workshop, join an electronic conversation or contact me or any other Open Space Technology facilitator. For more information take a look at To Learn More About Open Space Technology on this website.