Description of This Tool

This GEM is a meeting design which is characterized by what is absent: there is no predetermined agenda, there are no months of preparations and preparatory committees, and there is no blow-by-blow meeting schedule. There is only a focus question that establishes a broad theme and sets the boundaries for deliberation, a proposed set of outcomes for the day, a beginning and ending time, a blank wall, break-out spaces, and the concern and interest of the participants (anywhere from 25 to several hundred).

The four principles of open space technology are:

There is also a governing law, simply stated: the Law of Two Feet: If you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet and go to a place where you can be more productive.

Potential Uses

Open space technology is a process through which small or large groups can invest themselves in discussing common concerns, seeking solutions, and creating new opportunities. It is fueled by the energy, interest, and enthusiasm of the participants for the overall theme. The open space process brings a number of benefits to an organization or group of diverse people:

• It focuses everyone's attention, for a limited time, on a general theme that is important to the organization or group.
  
• It reveals common interests and concerns that may not emerge in the day-to-day working environment.
  
• It generates innovative ways of looking at a familiar issue.
  
• It allows uninterested individuals to disengage from a discussion, rather than forcing them to participate unwillingly.
  
• It is a great equalizer: it encourages individuals at any level to introduce topics that are important to them and to mobilize a group of colleagues, also at any level, who share their interest and want to explore the topic together.
  
• It can engender creative approaches to an issue and pave the way for future actions or temporarily lay to rest an issue for which no one is prepared to take responsibility.
  

How to Use This Tool

Before the session, a facilitator arranges a meeting site that has a room large enough to hold the entire group, a blank wall, and moveable chairs, as well as a number of spaces where small groups will be able to gather. The small spaces do not need to be break out rooms, but can be in a garden, restaurant, bar, lobby, hotel room, etc. S/he posts and reads the focus question for the session (usually phrased as something like "What are the issues and opportunities related to...?"), and posts and reviews with the participants the four principles and governing law of open space technology. At this point, the facilitator's role ends, and the participants take charge of the event.

The first half hour of the session is in plenary. Participants sit in a semi-circle (or several semi-circles, depending on the size of the audience) facing an empty wall. They are invited to create the agenda by stepping up to the front, writing on a sheet of newsprint a topic that is related to the focus question, giving any details they wish about their chosen topic, and posting the topic on the wall for all to see. By doing so, these participants agree to convene a group and to arrange for a report on the group's deliberations and proposals to be typed and printed out before the end of the day. After all proposals are up on the wall, everyone gets up, reads the various proposals, and either signs up for one group or chooses to be a bumblebee (flitting from group to group, cross-pollinating in the process). Those who want to be by themselves and ponder important or unimportant questions on their own can choose to do so as well; these are the butterflies. The various groups and configurations then find a space and discuss, work, buzz, create, invent, resolve, mobilize, or do whatever they think needs to be done to address their topic in light of the focus question of the meeting. One hour or so before the end of the day, each group convener sees to it that a rough report (just the basics, no fancy formatting) is typed up and posted in the common area or, if feasible, electronically. All reports have to be typed and posted by the end of the day. The length of the meeting can be anywhere from 1/2 day to 3 days (but no more). For more information, consult Owen's book, "Open Space Technology."