Self-organising Meetings & Conferences with Openspace

Harrison Owen, the inventor of Openspace, noticed that the most productive times in conferences and meetings where always in the coffee breaks! The time spent in the meetings themselves could be severely restricted by rigid agendas. At the breaks he could chat to like-minded people about topics that mattered. So he came up with an approach to help groups self-organise such events more productively. There are no set agendas, no chairperson and no one is forced to spend time listening to a discussion that does not interest them.

At the beginning of an Openspace everyone sits in a big circle. There could be anything from around twenty to several hundred people attending. There is a facilitator who introduces a discussion theme. The theme could be something like, “What ways could we use social media and the web to enhance our business” It should be stated as a question, be short and punchy. The people in the room should be motivated to solve the issue.

There aren’t many rules to follow, but the facilitator will introduce some principles for the attendees to bear in mind:

Whoever comes are the right people. Don’t worry if some people couldn’t make it, whoever has turned up is probably more likely to want to do something about the issue
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Focus on what is occurring rather than what should have happened.
Whenever it starts is the right time. People do not need to worry about keeping to a schedule
Whenever it’s over, it’s over. When the discussion starts to wane – it’s time to move on

As well as the four principles there is the law of two feet. If you feel you are not contributing or learning anything from a discussion, then walk on to something else.

Next anyone who wants to can announce a theme-related topic they feel should be discussed. They write the topic’s name on a sheet of paper and stick it on an agenda wall, which is broken down into time and place slots, to show when their meeting will take place. Everyone then gathers around the wall and signs up for sessions. The attendees might decide to rearrange conflicting sessions or combine similar sessions.

During the meetings the proposer is expected to start the discussion and also take notes on what’s happened. Attendees can decide to stay for the whole thing, leave half way through, speak, not speak – it’s entirely up to them. At the end of the event everyone comes together to share highlights. The notes from each meeting are compiled and sent to the attendees.

As always I’d be interested to hear your comments about this article. If you have used the Openspace approach let us know about your good or bad experiences with it. If you think it could work in your organisation let us know how you think you could apply it. Please feel free to comment below.