Open Spaces
I am helping organizing ROOTS this year and part of this years conference is that we will have two sessions with Open Spaces right after a few sessions with lightning talks. And I will be facilitating that; doing my best to make it a highly interesting experience.
Open Spaces are an approach of having a meeting or a conference where there is no predetermined agenda established. Instead the attendees themselves will decide what they want to be discussing and as such it is a self organizing event.
But in-order to make this really successful we do need some guidance; because I fear that if we would truly self organize we would all end up in the pub.
An Open Spaces event has the following pseudo agenda:
- Introduction (short)
- Market place (about 30 minutes)
- Meetings/Discussions (from 30 minutes to an hour and a half)
Introduction
The introduction is basically what I am describing here; it is an explanation for people new to this concept so they can fully benefit from the experience. Should take as little time as possible.
Market place
The market place is exactly what it sounds like; this is the place where you try to sell your idea to the group by shouting about it.
Ok ok we will be a bit more disciplined and give you an opportunity to introduce the group with the topic that you would like to discuss. This is after you have written it down on a post-it and told the facilitator that you want to sell something. Then finally after your introduction you place the post-it on the board.
The topic
It is important to know that the topic can truly be anything that you want to discuss; a help request, something you want to learn about, something you want to discuss, something you want to share or everything else. So if you want to validate a technical idea that you have or perhaps want to hear different approaches on how to deal with specific behavior of people everything is allowed and all you need to do is write it on a post-it and introduce it to the group.
You will be the facilitator of your own topic discussion and it is expected that you are passioned enough about it to be able to start the discussion.
So you feel something is worth discussing, come forward and sell it in the market place! Hint: when going to an Open Spaces event start thinking about a topic well ahead of time.
The post-it
Make sure that the post-it contains the title or very short description of your topic and your name.
The board/Tracks
The board (or wall on larger events) is divided into different tracks, the number of tracks completely depends on the number of attendees, but I think you should have at-least three simultaneous tracks to offer enough diversity.
So once you need to put your post-it on the board, pick a track and time where there is space. If you already see something on a particular time that you want to join yourself then don’t put your topic on the same time, since you will be needed in your own topic discussion.
If there are two topic discussions at the same time that you want to join, you could then ask the two facilitators if either one is willing to move their topic to a different time (if at all possible). If they for whatever reason do not want to do that then you just have to make a choice between the two.
Meetings/Discussions
After the market place you may want to check the board to see when the topic discussion you are interested in is starting and in which track. Once you have decided just go there. If you are a topic facilitator then you have to be there on time for your track to start, other people (hopefully) are joining you, so give them the respect of being on time.
Setup
The different tracks are setup to accommodate discussions, usually the chairs are arranged in a small circle allowing everybody to see and hear each other clearly. Often different tracks will be in different rooms, except for big events where there is no space.
If the circle you are sitting in feel to big or small then change it, don’t keep sitting in a uncomfortable layout.
The law and principles
There is one law and four guiding principles that help you getting the most out of the Open Spaces experience.
The amazing hand drawn graphics are done by Claudio Perrone further I am taking much reference material from Harrison Owen’s website about Open Spaces Technology.
Law – The law of two feet
“If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing: use your two feet and go someplace else” – Harrison Owen
This law is there to make perfectly clear that you yourself are responsible for your learning and contributing. It means that once you feel that you have nothing more to learn or add to the discussion that you should move on to a better place. This can be a different discussion or even catching some sun outside. No matter what, don’t sit there feeling miserable, because unhappy people are unlikely to be productive people.
So this is expected behavior and thus not impolite, and as a facilitator you should not take it personally.
Principle 1 – Whoever comes is the right people
It is better to have one person to show-up to discuss something with you then to have 20 people sitting there without adding to the conversation. So whoever is there cares enough about the topic to be there to discuss it with you.
Principle 2 – Whenever it starts is the right time
This is just to give a reminder that it is an open and creative process, and nothing will kill such a process more then strict control. The people will come and start the discussion when they are ready.
Principle 3 – Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
What’s done is done, so no need to complain about it, just move on to the next thing.
Principle 4 – When it’s over, it’s over
Once a discussion has come to an end then don’t worry about the clock, it’s better to use that time useful in a different way. Do the work not the time.
Finally
In fact when you think about it an Open Spaces event is not that different from being in a pub with many other geeks/professionals. The satisfaction I get from a good Open Spaces event is the same as that from a interesting discussion during a geek beer.
Now instead of thinking about a good topic to discuss during the market place I suggest that when going to an Open Spaces event you start thinking about a topic well ahead of time.
And in the case of ROOTS you are very lucky to have many lightning talks before the Open Spaces sessions, if there is a lightning talk that you want to discuss further then do it during the Open Spaces sessions.