Open Space is the format of a meeting in which participants create their own programme of self-facilitated sessions in response to a compelling question or overarching theme of mutual concern.
It was devised by Harrison Owen (2 December 1935 – 19 March 2024; view obituary) as a way to hold a better conference — initially, the Third International Symposium on Organization Transformation, which was held in Monterey, USA in 1985.
Open Space remained a conference format until 1989 when it was renamed Open Space Technology and used as an organisational intervention for the first time. It has since been used by corporations and nonprofits throughout the world for a wide range of applications, as well as being the format of choice for participant-driven conferences known as unconferences.
An Open Space session might be a knowledge exchange, a sensemaking probe, a planning meeting, a design salon or a problem solving summit, or something else entirely.
Usually the only cap on the number of session participants is the capacity of the breakout room or meeting place.
However, various research studies reveal that the maximum group size for a proper conversation is four. I call this the Max4 Principle.
If you doubt the veracity of this principle, go to a busy pub or bar, particularly one frequented by young people, and see for yourself.
This means that an Open Space session taking the form of a group discussion or a presentation followed by Q&A (and many do take this form) and it has more than four participants (as many do), will probably be more productive and satisfying if the session host follows the format outlined below.
A 12:00 to 13:00 timeslot is used as an example.
12:00 Session host introduces the topic, gives a short talk and poses a thought-provoking question. If the host is unable to formulate such a question, he or she can fall back on the default question: “What did you make of what you just heard?”
12:20 People form groups of four and discuss the question.
12:40 Groups merge; people continue to discuss the question.
13:00 Session ends.
If necessary, significant insights can be captured for subsequent sharing and discussion.
If more time is available, allow more time for the small group work and include a second round with new groups of four,
Some readers will notice that this approach combines Open Space Technology with David Gurteen’s excellent Knowledge Cafe format (view graphic), which you can read about elsewhere on this website — see below.
You can head over to David Gurteen’s dedicated Knowledge Cafe website if you need detailed information.
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How to host a Knowledge Cafe and foster rich conversations
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