Committees, task forces and design teams can take weeks, months and even years to accomplish their goal - or in some cases simply to define their goal. Much of this same work can be accomplished by holding an Open Space of anywhere from several hours for networking, resource sharing and highlighting of key ideas to a 2.5 days Open Space which can include issues, opportunities and action planning, resulting in a complete written report of the proceedings for all participants plus identification and prioritization of next steps.

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

Half day = quick brainstorming

One day = deep discussion with some next steps

Two day = deep exploration of the theme with some action plans and a full book of proceedings

Two and a half day = complete exploration of theme with action plans, book of proceedings and deeper buy-in by participants

Laurel Doersam
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
laurick@telus.net

The Open Space Event

A meeting room prepared for Open Space has a circle of chairs in the middle, letters or numbers around the room to indicate meeting locations, a blank wall that will become the agenda and a news wall for recording and posting the results of the dialogue sessions.

Chris Corrigan
Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Open Space Technology meeting begins with all the participants sitting in a circle, and no items on the agenda. The meeting opens with an agenda setting exercise following which the group self-organizes into smaller discussion groups. Discussion group conveners are responsible for providing a report of the discussions, which is immediately added to a book of proceedings. At the conclusion of the meeting, or very shortly thereafter, participants receive a copy of the proceedings including all of the discussion groups, reports and any action plans that were developed.

Tøke Paludan Moller, InterChange
Silkeborg, Denmark
http://www.interchange.dk

Open Space conferences have no keynote speakers, no pre-announced schedules of workshops, no panel discussions, no organizational booths. Instead, sitting in a large circle, participants learn in the first hour how they are going to create their own conference. Almost before they realize it, they become each other's teachers and leaders.

Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion or activity writes it down on a large sheet of paper in big letters and then stands up and announces it to the group. After selecting one of the many pre-established times and places, they post their proposed workshop on a wall. When everyone who wants to has announced and posted their initial offerings, it is time for what Owen calls "the village marketplace": Participants mill around the wall, putting together their personal schedules for the remainder of the conference. The first meetings begin immediately.

Tom Atlee, Co-Intelligence Institute
Eugene, Oregon, USA
http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-Openspace.html