Welcome to Open Space… look around, please, and see who’s here. Imagine that you’re sitting in a circle of friends, colleagues and perhaps some strangers, too. It might be just a dozen of you for a one-day working conversation, but perhaps it’s 120 or even as many as 1200 gathered for a 2 1/2-day strategic conference. If it’s just a few, we might be in your office conference room or a small hotel meeting place. If it’s a very large group, we’re likely in a hotel ballroom, a high school gymnasium, or even a warehouse facility that your company has cleared out especially for the work of this conference.
In these times of swirling change, conversation qualifies as real work — and is essential for powerful, profitable action. As specialization and customization increase, complex webs of relationships and information emerge, pressure for frontline decision-making and on-time delivery rises, and individual control seems to be slipping away, it’s never been more important to be deeply connected with our partners at work. Open Space Technology is a simple, powerful way to catalyze effecitve working conversations and truly inviting organizations — to thrive in times of swirling change.
Learning Research Methods 