Fitting open space into a research conference

Wed Jan 2 00:34:54 PST 2008

hello dirk,

a bit late on this, but here are my notes from the agile/xp conference
in 2002...  http://michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?AgileXpUniverseFacilitatorNotes
...these were originally posted here on oslist.  i think this was the
first agile/xp conf with an open space track.  we did well.  more
spaces opened as a result.  give a ring, if you'd like, to talk more
about what happened there and how what you want might be same or
different.

best,

michael
312-280-7838

On Dec 3, 2007 6:24 PM, Dirk Riehle <dirk at riehle.org> wrote:
> Hi Deborah,
>
> thanks! This was very interesting; there is a fair overlap between Agile
> and the OOPSLA folks.
>
> > XPdays NorthAmerica:
> > -----------------------
> > We used to run the Opening Circle in parallel to a tutorial. When we
> > stopped doing that, the complexion of the event changed. It felt more
> > like a party, there was more flow between OS and tutorials, because
> > poeple understood the rules of engagement in the (very new to them)
> > Open Space area. Now, these are small events, 30 to 50 people.
> Not sure I understand. By having the opening circle before the tutorial
> (so everyone could attend) people got more comfortable with open space
> and it all worked out better? Things got more fluid?
>
> > Agile conferences:
> > ------------------
> > At Agile2006 (1100 participants) the Opening Circle was run opposite
> > about twelve other tracks. Turnout was small (20 people?) and very
> > disappointing for some of us who attended - we felt OS hadn't been
> > given the attention it needed at that event, to let it really energise
> > people. Mind you, some great sessions still took place! However, in my
> > opinion, this is an antipattern. Making the Opening Circle more of a
> > plenary event (maybe only putting one or two events opposite it?)
> > might help. Some of us would like to see the whole event opened with
> > the Opening Circle, but it's a real conundrum, with 1600 people
> > expected at our next event. Multiple, concurrent Opening Circles might
> > be fun! We'll see what this year's committee has in mind - I'm not on it.
> This was one of my biggest worries that too many competing events drain
> the open space not because people value it less but simply because they
> don't know what it is! And how beneficial/enjoyable it could be to them.
>
> So that's why I'm pulling out a whole open space day before the core
> conference and in parallel to workshops and tutorials. (At OOPSLA
> workshops/tutorials run Sun + Mon, the core conference runs Tue to Thu.)
> My hope is I can build up interest before the conference that people
> already put down Monday as their open space day. To help them with this,
> I'm trying to get recognized research leaders to "sign up" to hold
> sessions at the Monday open space day. We want to pre-organize that on a
> wiki. I'm not an open space facilitator, I'm just a participant, and I'm
> probably quite clueless about the effects of all this. Does anything
> speak against the wiki build-up, effectively having an early version of
> the wall/open space schedule on a wiki before you see on a wall at the
> conference?
>
> Cheers,
> Dirk
>
>
>
> >
> > Communications Esther Matte wrote:
> >> Hello again Dirk,
> >>
> >> Woke up this morning wondering if it would work to have the wall
> >> divided in three parts: the individual scheduled events grouped on
> >> say the left part of the wall and the rest open to topics people will
> >> put up, the right side being reserved for "new topics" after the
> >> opening on the Monday. You would open the space on the Monday, and
> >> then people would self-manage for the rest of the week, and closing
> >> on the last day.
> >>
> >> I can see this working in my head with break-out rooms, at least a
> >> few for discussions, and one for the News Room and posted reports so
> >> that anyone can walk in and read if they wish to, even while someone
> >> is presenting in the main hall. Now in real life... any thoughts anyone?
> >>
> >> Cheers from snow-stormed Verchères :-)
> >>
> >> Esther
> >>
> >> At 23:00 2007-12-01, you wrote:
> >>> Hello everyone,
> >>>
> >>> I'm involved with a variety of research conferences and would like
> >>> to better understand how you can fit open space into a research
> >>> conference with a set time-grid and competing events. I searched the
> >>> OSList archives and the web but didn't find anything so I hope it is
> >>> ok to ask here. (And a pointer to a previous discussion would be a
> >>> perfect and much appreciated answer.)
> >>>
> >>> The research conferences I'm involved in typically have a fixed time
> >>> grid with two morning slots of 90min (30min coffee break in
> >>> between), lunch, and two afternoon slots of 90min (also 30min coffee
> >>> break in between). We have had open space at two such conferences
> >>> now, and in both cases it worked, but open space remained in
> >>> competition with "the regular program" i.e. set talks. We tried to
> >>> schedule the open space opening and ending to be without competing
> >>> event but that made them very early (late) i.e. at 8am and at 5pm.
> >>> The reason open space worked was certainly the excellent
> >>> facilitators we got, but also the enthusiasm of folks at these about
> >>> 100 people conferences.
> >>>
> >>> I'm trying to bring this now to a much larger research conference,
> >>> which has > 1000 people attending. I only have control over "my
> >>> track" but that track has considerable influence. Open space is
> >>> viewed as an experiment as it has never been done before at this
> >>> conference. I get one day with no competing events (Monday) and then
> >>> three days of the main conference (Tue-Thu) with lots of competing
> >>> events. On Monday we can structure the day the way we want it, on
> >>> Tue-Thu we have the aforementioned 90min sessions with coffee breaks
> >>> and lunch in between. Typical problems I expect and wonder how to
> >>> deal with them:
> >>>
> >>> - plenty of folks who attend don't know much about open space
> >>> - many folks will show up in the middle of the day or just 30min
> >>> late not knowing how it works expecting to participate
> >>> - the competing events will make people come and go in a disruptive
> >>> way (but maybe that's just the law of the two feet :-)
> >>>
> >>> This year (2008), we have two specific additional challenges
> >>>
> >>> - we have no idea how many people will actually show up for the open
> >>> space part
> >>> - space is at a premium, we may have to share a large hall so I
> >>> wonder whether that's disruptive as well
> >>>
> >>> Also, does it make sense to have open space afternoons (rather than
> >>> full days)? I'm thinking of reducing event competition by having
> >>> open space in the afternoon only on the three busy days
> >>> Tuesday-Thursday.
> >>>
> >>> The event will take place in Oct 2008 and we'll try to be smart
> >>> about it until then to take some of the guesswork out of the
> >>> equation. I.e. early engagement like inquiring about expected open
> >>> space participation at registration time.
> >>>
> >>> Also, I'm a big fan of wikis, and intend to build up buzz and
> >>> pre-organization on a wiki leading up to the conference itself.
> >>>
> >>> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
> >>>
> >>> Dirk
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> PS: We will be looking for a facilitator. Obviously, this is a paid
> >>> job, though the research conference itself is not rich. Here a first
> >>> blurp:
> >>>
> >>> Open Space Facilitation Engagement Oct 2008 Nashville TN
> >>>
> >>> For OOPSLA 2008, we are looking for an experienced open space
> >>> facilitator near Nashville, TN. Your engagement will be to
> >>> facilitate one full (and hopefully intense) day of open space +
> >>> several half days. Part of the job is explaining open space to those
> >>> who don't know it yet---which we expect to be many as this is the
> >>> first attempt of having open space at OOPSLA. OOPSLA is a >1000
> >>> people computer science (research) conference, but we expect a
> >>> significantly smaller number of people to participate in the open
> >>> space part only (current estimate is between 100 and 300). Location
> >>> is Nashville Convention Center, time and date is October 2008, with
> >>> initial and occasional consultations before then to prepare for the
> >>> meeting. For further questions, please contact Dirk Riehle,
> >>> dirk at riehle.org
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Phone: + 1 (650) 215 3459
> >>> Web: http://www.riehle.org
> >>>
> >>>
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> >
> > --
> >
> > Deborah Hartmann
> > Agile Process Improvement Coach
> > Lead Editor for InfoQ.com/Agile
> > deborah.hartmann.net
> > 416.996.4337
> >
> > "My advice is to do it by the book,
> > get good at the practices,
> > then do as you will.
> > Many people want to skip to step three.
> > How do they know? " -- Ron Jeffries
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> --
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> Web: http://www.riehle.org
>
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-- 

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.openspaceworld.org
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org

312-280-7838 (mobile)

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