Open Space is one way to enable all kinds of people, in any kind of organization, to create inspired meetings and events. It then goes on to create inspired organizations where ordinary people work together to create extraordinary results with regularity. In Open Space meetings, participants create and manage their own agenda around a central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy that all stakeholders in the organization can support and work together to create? OR How can we re-ignite passion in our company and look forward to building a future that engages all?

1. a tour through
Open Space
creating inspired organizations
and communities
www.openspacemeetings.com
www.collaborativeawareness.com
Maureen K. McCarthy & Zelle Nelson
(+1) 847.859.9046
2021 Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock, NC, 28731, USA
conversations@collaborativeawareness.com

2. A Tour Through Open Space
Open Space is one way to enable all kinds of people, in any kind of
organization, to create inspired meetings and events. It then goes on
to create inspired organizations where ordinary people work together
to create extraordinary results with regularity.
In Open Space meetings, participants create and manage their own
agenda around a central theme of strategic importance, such as:
What is the strategy that all stakeholders in the organization can
support and work together to create? OR How can we re-ignite
passion in our company and look forward to building a future that
engages all?
www.openspacemeetings.com

3. Open Space works best when
• the work to be done is complex
• the people and ideas involved are diverse
• the passion for resolution (and potential for conflict) are high
• and the time to get it done was yesterday
It's been called passion bounded by responsibility, the energy of a
good coffee break, spirit at work, chaos and creativity, and a simple,
powerful way to get people and organizations moving— when it's
needed most.
www.openspacemeetings.com
A Tour Through Open Space

4. What will happen?
We never know exactly what will happen when we open
the space for people to do their most important work, but
we can guarantee these results when any group gets
into Open Space:
www.openspacemeetings.com
• Experiential, breakthrough learning
• Appropriate structure and control
• Open communication and a genuine sense of
community
• High play, high creativity, high efficiency, high
productivity
• Shared leadership and personal responsibility
• Inspired performance and growth from within
• Elimination of barriers to quickness,
excellence and pride

5. ! New Products created
! Communication expanded—ideas
move more quickly within the
organization
! Informal networks developed—speed
of dispersion
! Events reviewed—learning reinforced
! Patterns and relationships
identified—opportunities recognized
! Experiences analyzed—shared learning
! Theories critiqued
! Observations shared
! Futures envisioned—possibilities
explored
! Scenarios sharpened—clarity realized
! Assumptions tested—growth of ideas
! Issues explored
! Experiments attempted
! Products re-designed
! Plans drafted
! Possibilities discovered
! New ways to work invented
and practiced
! Actions taken
! Ongoing invitations issued
! Responsible, intentional, self
organization practiced
actively and productively
www.openspacemeetings.com
On top of that you’ll see

6. You’re Invited…
What ideas, thoughts, knowledge, challenges or passions do you have around these questions:
• What is the strategy that all stakeholders in the organization can support and work together to
create?
• How can we re-ignite passion in our company and look forward to building a future that
engages all?
• What special knowledge, experience and expertise do you hold? How can your knowledge be
enriched by your connection to others?
This organization is not about hierarchy. We all have an ability to generate more knowledge and
opportunity than ever before through a meeting process you’re invited to take part in on
Thursday. It’s called Open Space. “Open Space is recognized internationally as an innovative
approach to more productive meetings. Groups large and small (5-1000) regularly demonstrate
the capacity to rapidly create effective meeting agendas and deal with highly conflicted and
complex strategies. More remarkably, the meeting once created, is completely self-managed by
the group. The observable role of the facilitator appears to be invisible. And that is just the
beginning.” (New York Times).
Our team is comprised of remarkable individuals, each maintaining a storehouse of knowledge
and ideas. With business beginning to look more like the system’s thinking of biology than the
traditional mechanistic view we’ve been brought up on, we’re in the midst of a fierce transition
that’s both exciting and challenging. When our knowledge is shared, the very act of sharing
multiplies it exponentially. Let’s make use of what’s here to the nth degree using Open Space.
You’re invited to take the lead…
The commitment to openness,
passion and responsibility begins with
the invitation process itself.
Together we write a good invitation that
lets everyone know that this meeting is
intended to go beyond suggestions,
recommend-ations, rubber-stamping,
and past expectations. This meeting is
for real responsibility, real learning, real
action on the issue(s) at hand.
The invitation speaks plainly about what's
working, what's possible, and/or what's
needed now in some area of real
importance. It ann-ounces the theme
(purpose or intention) for the gathering. It
assures that the people who show up
have real passion for the issue AND
signals to them that the best outcomes
are theirs to create.
www.openspacemeetings.com
It starts with an Invitation
What ideas, thoughts, knowledge,
challenges or passions do you have
around these questions:
• What is the strategy that all stakeholders
in the organization can support and work
together to create?
• How can we re-ignite passion in our
company and look forward to building a
future that engages all?…

7. Welcome and invitation restated
The client sponsor welcomes the group and restates the Invitation—
written and sent prior to the Open Space Event—which tells why
we’re gathered.
www.openspacemeetings.com

8. The Open Space Facilitator opens the space by describing the process
and sharing the Principles and Law of Open Space. The chairs are set up
in concentric circles so there is no head and no foot. Open Space
works because it deletes hierarchy and has everyone doing the Dance
of Leader and Follower.
www.openspacemeetings.com
Opening the Space

9. The 4 Principles and
The Law of Two Feet
These are the guiding principles that make Open Space work. The Law of
Two Feet says “If you’re not learning or contributing where you are…
MOVE ON!” Unlike most meetings, it’s rude to stay if you want or need to
be somewhere else. www.openspacemeetings.com

10. Posting Topics
Based on the overall Invitation topic, participants post any thoughts,
ideas, questions, passions as conversation topics that in minutes
becomes the meeting agenda. Thus, people talk about what they’re most
passionate about and willing to take responsibility for.
www.openspacemeetings.com

11. Topics are posted on the wall titled the Marketplace of Ideas and everyone
checks it out to decide what is of interest to them. A Post-It Note is placed
on each topic which tells meeting place and time. This way people know
where and when to find the topics they’re most passionate about.
www.openspacemeetings.com
Marketplace of Ideas

12. Convener’s Notes
Open Space
Convener’s Notes Page
Topic:
Convener’s Name:
Participants Names: (pass around the circle)
Summary Notes:
•
•
•
Please hand in/type up when you’re done.
When you post a topic—and you
can post more than one—you are
considered the Convener.
This means you open the
conversation and let whomever
comes join in. Could be 2 people,
could be 50.
As the Convener, you’re
responsible for the meeting
Notes. These notes ensure that
those who didn’t sit in, can see
what happened and talk to
other participants about it later.
www.openspacemeetings.com

13. Small Group Topics
Because of limited time, several
topics are convened
simultaneously, each lasting from
1/2 hour to 1 hour or longer.
This is where The Law of Two
Feet comes in—only you know
where you can learn and
contribute the most. Go where
the spirit moves you.
When people talk about what
they want to talk about, when
they want to talk about it, with
others who are as passionate as
they are, they will move
mountains.
www.openspacemeetings.com

14. Notes and Newsroom
After each session of small group conversations, the Convener types the
summary notes into a computer. At the end of the day all session notes
are printed and a copy is handed to every participant. Notes can then be
placed on a website, social media or emailed as well.
www.openspacemeetings.com

15. Evening News
At the end of the day, participants gather back in the full circle to share a
few words on what the day brought for them, and where they want to
take it from here. It gives a great sense of how the day went. People are
ALWAYS energized.
www.openspacemeetings.com

16. Action—Keeping Momentum
After the closing circle, participants
re-post new topics that are purely
action oriented —in other words,
what are you willing to take
responsibility for setting into motion.
One last round of conversations
take place, lasting only about 15
minutes. The where’s and when’s of
follow-up meetings are discussed.
These quick conversations address
who else should be invited going
forward and what needs to happen
before then. This ensures ongoing
action after the day and brings Open
Space principles into the
organization.
www.openspacemeetings.com

17. The Report
Open Space
Report
Your Organization
Date
All Convener’s Notes are gathered,
and in most cases, typed in and
printed onsite. (Although in smaller
groups, the handwritten notes are
copied.) In a short time, the most
important ideas, discussions, data,
recommendations, conclusions,
questions for further study, and
plans for immediate action are
documented in one comprehensive
report which is given to everyone.
These Notes pages come together to
give you the fastest, most
comprehensive report on where your
organization is, where it wants to go
and the ways for it to be
accomplished by the entire group.
Results from the comprehensive report can be
made available to an entire organization or
community within days of an event, so every
stakeholder is invited to take action immediately.
www.openspacemeetings.com

18. Open Space Soundbites
" Rockport Shoes® held a company-wide Open Space meeting based on the invitation: “Where
does our company aspire to for the future and how do we get there in ways that are inspired and
fulfilling?” That day they ended up discovering a new product idea from a very unlikely source—their
security guard. The product line netted $18 million the first year.
" Wesley Urban Ministries in Hamilton, Ontario, adopted Open Space as the basis for organizing and
managing their 200-person staff. With Open Space, they increased services delivered by 50%, with
no added resources while turnover measured exactly 0%, in an environment known for high
stress and burnout.
" Astra Zeneca® Pharmaceutical used a 1-day Open Space to energize a high performing team—
seriously impacting the bottom line of a top customer.
" AT&T fast-tracked 10-months of design and planning work into ONE 2-day contractor
summit when they were offered the opportunity to build their pavilion in the center of the Olympic
Village in Atlanta. With only 6 months before opening day, a diverse group of contractors (with lots of
difficult history) entered Open Space. They emerged two days later with a new design, and a full set
of working drawings, and managed to have quite a bit of fun in the process. The AT&T executive in
charge of the project called it "magic."
“Open Space is, far
and away, the most cost-effective
way of getting people,
information, and spirit moving in
an organization.”—BP
“If you want to
get the impossible done,
use Open Space. Period.”—
University of Chicago,
Graduate School of Business
“Open Space gets
people passionate about their
work again, which is good for
every aspect of the company.”—
Washington Homes
www.openspacemeetings.com

19. Many thanks to
• Michaël Molenaar, Tilburg - Netherlands—For the excellent photos E-Mail: michael@syst.nl
• Michael Herman, Chicago—Friend and Open Space Man Extraordinaire E-Mail: mherman@globalchicago.net
• Larry Petersen, Toronto—Larry Petersen and Assoc. E-Mail: larry@spiritedorg.com
• Harrison Owen, Maryland—Open Space Founder E-Mail: owenhh@mindspring.com
• And to all the phenomenal Open Space colleagues around the world who are creating inspired organizations and
communities with open hearts and open minds. Thank you for the ongoing conversations on the OS List
www.openspaceworld.org
www.openspacemeetings.com
www.collaborativeawareness.com
Maureen K. McCarthy & Zelle Nelson
(+1) 847.859.9046
2021 Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock, NC, 28731, USA
conversations@collaborativeawareness.com