Every now and again we seem to get ourselves involved here on OSLIST in
creating and comparing "elevator speeches" about Open Space. I have never
been very good at all that, but a young Korean friend caught me early in the
morning on the shuttle to the airport. Given the hour I wasn't sure how it
would all turn out, but I guess it is a good picture of The Hat. And for
sure it is the shortest speech I have ever given. If interested, check out
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TDi0GLTO9ao
On June 11 and 12th, the North American Affairs team, in External Affairs, hosted the first North American Youth Open House, dubbed “YOH!” The two day conference convened more than 120 young leaders between the ages of 18-30, representing youth organizations and universities from acrossCanadaand theUnited States.
The North American Affairs team works to build and sustain a dialogue withAmerican and Canadian citizens about the World Bank's mission to reduce poverty around the world.
A very useful short film on Open Space produced by Alex Munslow, an independent film-maker.It's a great short film about running Open Space, based around the Open Space workshops at the Inaugural Transition Network meeting at Ruskin Mill in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, UK.
Recent article on Open Space Technology published in Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine in the March/April 2007 edition.
Tips from the experts. How to help make your Open Space experience the best it can be:
1. Make your Invitation Count.
2. Don't Skimp on the Prep Work.
3. Circulate Post meeting report--pronto.
4. Watch your time and theme.
5. Consider hiring a professional
One hundred fifty (150) youth from Kalamazoo gathered for an unconference or Open Space on Saturday, April 22, 2006, to create their own program around the central theme of “Creating a Positive Future for the Youth in Kalamazoo.”
Their topics ranged from Teen Sexuality to Real World Fears and Racism to Teen Jobs to Teen Clubs to Real Talk to More things to do in Kalamazoo to Space for Music. A total of seventeen group-generated topics were discussed through out the daylong conference. The topics were ranked and reported back to community leaders so that they could focus budget expenditures and community resources accordingly.
This is a way to format a group meeting, retreat or conference that
generates communication, collaboration, innovation, and other solutions
to challenges and transitions. When your organization or community has
a complex problem, you are completely out of ideas regarding a
solution, you have a diversity of people that you can bring to the
process, and the time for resolving this situation was yesterday ---
This is a great time for Open Space.
Lisa Heft, Opening Space
http://www.openingspace.net
This essay by Dave Pollard is excellent for understanding why I think about these things. It can save the world!!
A CONVERGENCE: COMPLEX SYSTEMS THEORY, OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY, FRAMES, FREAKONOMICS, AND THE WISDOM OF CROWDS
Dave Pollard: How to save the world http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/02/06.html#a1429
In some recent work I have been doing, it occurred to me that Open Space Technology might provide a framework for capturing the Wisdom of Crowds to resolve complex problems. This draws together three very timely business concepts, and I thought it might be worth exploring this further on these pages. Here's what I've come up with.