If this is your first time attending an “Open Space” style conference or session, you are in for a treat!
Officially, Open Space Technology is a method for organizing and running a meeting or multi-day conference, where participants have been invited in order to focus on a specific, important task or purpose. It is a participant-driven process whose agenda is created by people attending.
AKA – we will be focusing on the topics that are the most relevant and meaningful to us right now .
Here is one of my favourite videos that explains Open Space in less than two minutes:
If you are looking for something a little more in depth, click here. It’s a little over 7 minutes.
Tips & Tricks for Maximizing Your Open Space Experience:
- Before the session, take some time to consider 1-2 priority topics/questions/issues that you want to discuss/ask/solve — related to theme (in our case, recreational gymnastics)
- Trust the Process… open space events work best when we take the time to reflect honestly, share openly and think critically. Be prepared to be surprised.
- This is not a “guard-my-gym’s-secrets” kind of event — actually it is the exact opposite! Please come willing to better yourself and also our community.
- Recommended to bring: an open mind, sense of curiosity, and perhaps a way to take notes (we’ll have note takers anyway, so this is more for your own purposes)