The Play of Open Space

Created by: Andrew Rixon

Illustrations by: Simon Kneebone

“Open Space is simplicity itself. All you have to do is sit in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a marketplace and go to work. That’s all there is.

The truth of the matter is that anyone with a good head and a good heart can do it, but there’s a lot more to learn as well. good heart can do it, but there’s a lot more to learn as well.

In fact, you can do it right now, but it will take you a lifetime, probably, to do it well.”

Harrison Owen

Founder and Originator of Open Space Technology

Keys to the Play of Open Space Cards

Roles to playRoles to play

Reflections to see

Whilst this card set has been developed primarily as a training aid for helping people and groups learn about

Open Space Technology there’s no reason it can’t be used for more “business-as-usual” applications as well.

Begin by handing out all the roles.Begin by handing out all the roles.

Then play out from the OS Facilitator role card.

All other roles explode out from this role and are bolded.

Once the Sponsor has welcomed the group and handed to me, walking the circle I...

� Invite the group to consider who’s present and the Theme that’s brought us together

� Show how to raise a Topic� Show how to raise a Topic

� Invite and invoke The 4 Principles, The Law of 2 Feet including Bumblebees and Butterflies

� Invite the group to raise their topics

� Open the Market place and get out of the way!

I may be a person, or a group of people.

I may have formal authority.

In my role as Sponsor I provide a sense of legitimacy for the group to know their work isn’t in vein.

Throughout this meeting you will see me emerge in varying different ways. I will leave it as my challenge

for you to see how:

Whoever comes are the right peopleWhoever comes are the right people

Whatever happens is all that could have

When ever it starts is the right time

When it’s over it’s over

I am the only law within Open Space.

And I’m compulsory, or at least I like to think so.

If you’re neither learning nor contributing, I encourage and invite you to move to a place where you can!and invite you to move to a place where you can!

Because of me, there can be Bumblebees and Butterflies...

Did you know scientifically I’m not supposed to fly?

Within the group discussions you might see me buzz in, Within the group discussions you might see me buzz in, get to work, and then fly out, off to another group to

cross-pollinate.

Did you know I’m an indicator of healthy ecosystems?

Within the group discussions you may never see me, and that’s because I’m not there. I’m somewhere else. that’s because I’m not there. I’m somewhere else.

Mostly likely on the periphery. Keeping conversations and the broader living system connected.

Sometimes thought as the container, I am part of every Open Space event. I am what the invitation is based on and I’m the reason why people are there.

I am often a question. Or sometimes a statement. Commonly I am followed with “The Issues and Commonly I am followed with “The Issues and Opportunities”.

Most importantly I am something that has emerged through preparatory discussions with the sponsor(s) and I get to the heart of what the works really about.

As the first Topic has shown, you can imagine how I will grow.

Sometimes I am colour coded for Topics to live within Sometimes I am colour coded for Topics to live within certain time slots throughout the day(s).

Once all the topics have been raised there are two important functions I serve for people.

� I provide people the opportunity to sign-up for all and any of the topics that they are interested or passionate

aboutabout

� Thanks to the Convenor’s choosing a Time-Space Post-it, I help people know when and where

conversations will take place

Popping either fast or slow, I am often likened to the process of cooking popcorns. I am raised by anyone who cares to (and no-one has to) by coming to the centre of

the circle, grabbing a pen and a sheet of paper and writing down what I am, announcing me, and then

sticking me up on what’s now becoming the Bulletin sticking me up on what’s now becoming the Bulletin Board.

The person who raises me is called a Convenor.

Passion and Responsibility are the two keys for a successful meeting. Without passion, enthusiasm for an idea will soon wane, and without responsibility, there is

the risk that the ideas will never move forward.

Being a Convenor, I have both of these.

My passion is that I’ve raised this topic.

My responsibility is that I will host a conversation around this topic and provide (if relevant) a Discussion Summary Sheet back for the book we are all co-

creating.

With every conversation needing a time and place, I help Convenor’s by providing options as to when and where

their conversation can be held.

Whilst the time slots depend on when the event started I often allow 1.5 hours for a conversation.often allow 1.5 hours for a conversation.

And places. They can be anywhere!

If you are a Convenor then you will probably want to take one of me.

I’m usually provided by the OS Facilitator and give you the chance to record the title of your session, who attended, and what some of the key learning’s and attended, and what some of the key learning’s and

discussion outcomes were.

I also can help to form a “news wall”.

“Your job is simply to be fully present and totally invisible.

People will ignore you. They will forget that you are there. They will take responsibility for what they love and not expect anything else of you.

And when you have disappeared to them they will only feel And when you have disappeared to them they will only feel themselves acting within the space you helped them create.”

Chris Corrigan

OS Facilitator and author of “The Tao of Holding Space”

If Open Space Technology originated through applying the principle of “doing one less thing” –what else lives within the practice of thinking of

one more thing not to do?

Do you have the courage to show up and be present? To pay attention to what has heart and meaning? To be open to outcomes not attached? To speak

your truth without blame or judgement?

“Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer.”

Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005)American Management Consultant, Author

(Widely considered to be the father of modern management )

As Harrison Owen tells in “Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self-Organizing World”, the real force behind Open Space Technology is that of self-organisation.

It’s something which we are part of. Something It’s something which we are part of. Something which we don’t need to create. Rather, something we simply need to ride the wave of. To participate. Something where our work is simply to get out of

the way of ourselves.

As Brian Bainbridge has said, the most common, mundane and extraordinary response for almost

any question asked of the Open Space facilitator is any question asked of the Open Space facilitator is “what would you like to do?”.

“But as things are, we have so far beset ourselves with rules, and concepts, and ideas of what must be done to make a building or a town alive, that

we have become afraid of what will happen naturally, and convinced that we must work within a “system” and with “methods” since without them

our surroundings will come tumbling down in chaos.

We are afraid, perhaps, that without images and methods, chaos will break loose; worse still, that unless we use images of some kind,

ourselves, our own creation will itself be chaos. And why are we afraid of that? Is it because people will laugh at us, if we make chaos? Or is it, ourselves, our own creation will itself be chaos. And why are we afraid

of that? Is it because people will laugh at us, if we make chaos? Or is it, perhaps, that we are most afraid of all that if we do make chaos, when

we hope to create art, we will ourselves be chaos, hollow, nothing?

This is why it is so easy for others to play on our fears. They can persuade us that we must have more method, and more system, because we are

afraid of our own chaos.”

Christopher AlexanderWorld famous architect and author of Timeless way of Building

“Good community architecture invites many different levels of participation. Consider the variety of activities we might find in a city neighbourhood on any given day:

solitary shoppers, people walking briskly to work, friends out for a casual stroll, couples chatting at an outdoor cafe, a crowd watching a street performer.

Others are on the periphery, watching the action from Others are on the periphery, watching the action from the windows above the street.”

Ettienne Wegner

Best known for foundational work in the field Communities of Practice

(Extracted from his paper “7 Principles for cultivating communities of practice”)

There is a strong congruence and connection between Open Space Technology and that of developing and

nurturing Communities of Practice.nurturing Communities of Practice.

What connections can you see?

Use this card to open up conversations about what it might mean to work with Open Space Technology.

Some have provocatively said:

“Open Space Technology is only for the most “Open Space Technology is only for the most advanced of organisations”.