Open Space

At Open Space, you set the agenda. During these two sessions, you can go deeper and wider on core issues and themes that interest you. The Open Space approach is experimental by design and free form in spirit, intended to give you the opportunity to design a discussion and engage with your peers around topics that matter.

Open Space sessions form an integral part of CommunityMatters‘10 and are intended to help you:

1. Build on your interests, challenges and needs to go deeper on and develop action plans or initiatives around conference topics and themes.
2. Engage with peers to share tools and approaches and work on problems together.
3. Learn a powerful public engagement approach that you can use effectively back in your cities and towns.

Open Space begins with a blank wall and a roomful of thoughtful, engaged participants focused on achieving similar outcomes. Participants create and lead the sessions, decide where they can learn and contribute the most, and make their way accordingly. Discussions begin and notes are captured. Over the course of the afternoon, new ideas and initiatives emerge and evolve.

We'll spend the first 30 minutes introducing the process, then participants will have the opportunity to propose sessions, create the agenda, and participate in two 60-minute sessions with a break in the middle.