Advice on running Open Space with 250-300 people

[aslak hellesoy]

Hi all,

I just want to thank everyone who gave me advice on how to run a "big"
Open Space session of 250-300 people (I thought that was big till I
came here) at the agile conference I helped organise in Norway in
November. Everything went far beyond our expectations, and I'd like to
share with you all what I *think* is a new way to run a conference.

We mixed Lightning Talks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Talk)
and Open Space. That is, 250 people were listening to several
10-minute lightning talks before lunch, and after lunch we had Open
Space sessions. Most of the people had never experienced any of these,
and several reported that they *really* loved Open Space and LT, but
more interestingly, they said that the many LTs before lunch really
fueled their thoughts and made the OS sessions more productive.

You can read more about how we did this here:
http://smidig.no/smidig2007/smidig_2007_press_release.pdf
http://smidig.no/smidig2007 (Norwegian)
http://flickr.com/photos/mahnve/sets/72157603325757918/ (photos)

Thanks again for the help

Cheers,
Aslak

On Nov 18, 2007 10:20 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
> Sounds like you are getting some real good advice (what else on OSLIST?!)
> Three things occur to me --
>
> 1) I find working with larger groups is actually easier than small ones.
> Part of that is that there is a sufficient crowd that people don't feel
> inclined to conversations during the opening. But as Michael points out, 250
> people is rather on the small end of things.
>
> 2) When I invite people to announce their issues, I make it very clear that
> there are to be no speeches. Just state your issue, your name -- and move
> on. You don't have to sound like a drill sergeant, a smile will help, and
> I've never had any objections. Occasionally people do get carried away, but
> having said No Speeches at the start, I have no problem reiterating the
> point (nicely) if I see a speech developing.
>
> 3) I think it is really important that there be NO limit on the number of
> issues raised. A promise I always make in the invitation (or suggest that
> the sponsor makes) is that EVERY ISSUE OF CONCERN to anybody will be on the
> table. That can get a little interesting. In the OS that Michael refers to
> (2108 participants) we had figured that there might be 175 issues raised --
> but when the total was heading to 200 we had to move a little quickly to add
> spaces. But we did, and everything worked. The final total was, as Michael
> said, something like 236. And as near as I can tell all sessions met and
> made a report. Number (of people or issues) need never be a problem.  Good
> luck! Don't forget to breath. And above all, Have fun!
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland 20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
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>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of aslak
> hellesoy
> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:25 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Advice on running Open Space with 250-300 people
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm one of the organisers of a conference for agile software
> development in Norway (http://smidig.no/smidig2007/talks).
> It's two days and both days will have lots of 10 minute talks before
> lunch (lightning talks) and OST after lunch.
> We're expecting 250-300 people to attend, and I'm starting to get a
> little overwhelmed about the OST sessions.
> I have attended several smaller Open Space meetings, but never this
> big, so I was hoping someone with experience of big OST meetings can
> give some advice:
>
> * Is 3 times 45 minutes topics (and 15 min break) ok?
> * How many topics should we strive to create?
> * How long should each participant get to suggest a topic?
> * Should we split up the introduction/topic suggestion in two big groups?
>
> My main worry is that with a big group like this it will be
> challenging to create enough topics (and do it within a reasonable
> time) so that people can put good use of the three hours they have
> each day. I've read that OST has been used on much larger groups, but
> I'm a little puzzled about the logistics.
>
> Any help appreciated!
>
>
> *
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