An Open Space gathering is not:

• A brainstorming session (people discuss their heartfelt concerns)
• A glorified suggestions session (the emphasis is on taking personal responsibility)
• A complaints session (ditto)
• A 'jolly' (An Open Space gathering involves high play, but also high learning)
• Total anarchy (there is appropriate structure and appropriate control

Martin Leith
Brighton, United Kingdom
http://www.martinleith.com

How Open Space Was Developed

Open Space originated because Harrison Owen designed and planned a conference, and when it took place he noticed that all the best work was done during the coffee breaks. All the networking, deal-making, visioning, and collaboration. All the new ideas and new products and new programs came from small circles of people chatting over similar passions and interests. Just as it happens in life. So for the next conference he designed a process that would be all coffee-break energy, all the time. Thus Open Space Technology was born.

Lisa Heft, Opening Space
Berkeley, California, USA
http://www.openingspace.net

It often happens that after a conference, you think: "All well and good, with those lectures, but what meant the most to me were the exchanges with colleagues in the coffee breaks." The same happened to a group of Organization Development consultants after their yearly network conference. Someone dared to wonder out loud what it would be like if the entire conference would be one big coffee break. Harrison Owen was responsible for next year's event and decided to take on the challenge. That is how Open Space Technology started: a minimum of structure and a maximum of space for creative solutions.

Koos de Heer, Auryn management advies
Utrecht, Netherlands
http://www.auryn.nl/eng/openspace.html

And then, in 1989, Open Space escaped. Within a period of less than a month, Open Space was utilized with two vastly different groups in widely separated areas. Polymer Chemists from Dupont wrestled with the future of Dacron in the USA, followed immediately by a group of scholars and executives in India considering the issue of Learning in Organizations. In both cases, everybody sat in a circle, identified what had heart and meaning for them, and collectively organized a multi-session gathering in less than an hour. Something rather strange was taking place.

In subsequent years, the space has continued to open. At this point, the experience described above has been replicated literally thousands of times on all continents with groups ranging in size from 5 to over 1000. Participants have come from Fortune 500's, third world villages, religious communities, governmental agencies, and whole towns. They have been rich, poor, educated and not, labor and management, politicians and people... and all of the above. And in each case that I know of Open Space appeared to do the job.

"Doing the Job" begs for further specificity. In the case of Open Space, it means (at the very least) that diverse, often conflicted groups up to 1000 people, manage hugely complex issues in minimal amounts of time, with no advance agenda preparation, and little, to no, overt facilitation. Typically by the conclusion of a gathering, the following promises have been kept: 1) Every issue of concern to anybody had been laid upon the table. 2) All issues were discussed to the extent that anybody cared to do that. 3) A full written record of all discussions existed and was in the hands of all participants. 4) All issues were ranked in priority order. 5) Critical "focal issues" had been isolated and Next Step actions identified for their resolution.

Harrison Owen, H.H. Owen & Company,
Potomac, Maryland, USA
http://www.openspaceworld.com