5 hour OS

Martin Leith martinleith at theinnovationagency.com
Thu Apr 5 03:45:05 PDT 2001


Doug,

Thanks for your posting and welcome to the list.

Open Space sounds perfect for what you want to achieve. I’ve set out a
‘straw man’ timetable (see below), which takes 4 hours 30 minutes to
complete. The additional 30 minutes could be slack to allow for overruns, or
you could have a longer lunch, or more time in the circle at the end, or
action planning, or whatever. 45 minute slots should be long enough given
the practical nature of the sessions.

My only advice is that you ask the speaker if he or she is willing to offer
the presentation as an Open Space session. If everyone signs up for it, that
’s cool. But the speaker would have to be open to the possibility that no
one signs up.

If it’s essential that the speaker speaks to everyone, then I recommend that
you have the presentation at the beginning, before the Open Space. Once the
space has been opened, people tend not to take very kindly to it being
closed.

1100     (30)       Opening circle (sponsor opens the conference then hands
over to facilitator)

1130     (15)       People offer sessions and post on wall

1145     (15)       People sign up for sessions

1200     (45)       Open Space, round 1

1245     (45)       Lunch

1330     (45)       Open Space, round 2

1415     (5)        Changeover

1420     (45)       Open Space round 3

1505     (5)        Changeover

1510     (20)       Closing circle

1530                 Carriages

Total time taken: 4 hours 30 mins

I hope this is useful. Please feel free to call me on 44 1273 729892 (UK
office hours) or 44 1273 675322 (home) if you’d like to discuss it.

By the way, I’m assuming that you’ve read Harrison Owen’s books and have a
talent for hands-off facilitation. Otherwise you might like to consider
inviting an experienced OS facilitator to help. There’s bound to be someone
in your area who’s willing to contribute some time.

Wishing you success,

Martin Leith
The Innovation Agency
Brighton, United Kingdom
www.theinnovationagency.com <http://www.theinnovationagency.com/>
www.martinleith.com

P.S. Let us all know how it goes!
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