A question about working in Open Space with Limited time

Therese Fitzpatrick therese.fitzpatrick at gmail.com
Sun Apr 24 13:32:34 PDT 2005


Doris, I have seen many, many events include an OS session within the
larger event.  I agree with Michael, if I understood him correctly (it
is hard for me to follow Michael's words sometimes because he seems to
have given up capitalization), that your inner work will make a big
difference to the outer work.

I have known lots and lots of consultants in my time and almost all of
them weave in the occasional ninety minute open space.  It works.  And
quite often people come away from larger events saying the one or two
hours in open space was the best part of the larger event.

You can check out Michael's link for how to design a ninety minute OS
(altho I would do it just like a day in OS:  open the circle with
principles, the law and the marketplace, have the sessions and do a
quick closing circle). . . . It might be tempting to skip the close
but if something comes up in the marketplace with high energy, that
energy will have a chance to expand if people can bring it to the
closing circle.

The thing that has really caught my attention as I think of your
query, Doris, is the invitation to this OS.  will there be a
conference brochure that lists the day's schedule?  That might be a
place for you to communicate to people the topic for the open space,
the place to begin to set a collective intention to have an open space
to discuss what people really want to be able to discuss?  I think
that deciding the intention is the key.  It is totally up to you and
your client, of course, but something like "The Kitchen Sink
Session"?!

And, of course, this is advice off the top of my head that you are
free to ignore.

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