• A two days learning exchange meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (September 2009)
• A two days learning exchange meeting in Kampala, Uganda (September 2009)
• A learning exchange meeting in Nairobi, Kenya (2010)
• A learning exchange meeting in Europe (2010)

The idea is to invite the local trainees from the open space training to both, facilitate and to participate in an open space with the theme: “open space – implementation and challenges of meetings that matter”. Additionally to the trainees local youth workers who were not able to take part in the training are invited. We calculate with approximately 30 people for each meeting.

At the moment we are urgently searching for funding for the two meetings that will take place in September 2009 to support the participation of as many participants as possible. We need the money for material, the place of venue, transport costs, accommodation and food for both meetings.

Day 1:
planning session, including the finalisation of the theme (afternoon)
setting up the open space (evening)
Day 2:
open space (all day)
Day 3:
action planning (morning)
consultation, questions and answers (afternoon)

The meeting will be supported by two of the former trainers and the possibility to use the “learning spaces”.

If you are interested to support the two open space learning exchange meetings in Tanzania and Uganda in September and to give colleagues the opportunity to take part or if you have questions or comments about the project, please ask Dominik (isis-berlin[at]gmx.de) or Yaari (yaari[at]bg.de).

The open space training design is based on the experience of previous open space trainings and consists of 4 phases spread over 6 days:
phase 1
- Introduction of the training design
- Planning session including the finding the theme:
“sharing ways to take part – technologies, conditions, challenges & needs for youth participation in different realities”
- set up of the open space, voluntarily
- open space
- action-planning
The participants experience a “whole” open space, as the key prerequisite of getting into the spirit and methodology of open space technology.
phase 2
- open space with the theme: “open space on open space”
Reflection on the experience of the “first” open space and “nuts and bolts” of open space against the backdrop of what people just experienced.
phase 3
- open space with the theme: “I, open space facilitator”
- action-planning
This open space focused on the different aspects of the role of the open space-facilitator
The open space and the action-planning were facilitated by the participants themselves. The work of both teams was evaluated by the trainers and the entire training course in a structured feedback-exercise.
phase 4
Questions and answers that emerged throughout the training, feedback and evaluation, planning of the future

Self-organised reflection, reading and studying was supported through “learning spaces”, reflection groups and an open space library.

Read more about the results here –>
and find some pictures in the article below…

Trainers were:
Yaari Pannwitz, Germany
Kasia Szajda, Poland
Dominik Ringler, Germany

• catering
  buffet:
  during the open spaces and the action planning at all times :
  - water, tea, coffee and juice
  - finger food -  dips and vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, zucchini …)
  maybe some nuts and local fruits (nothing special)
  lunch:
  additional to the buffet:
  - soup, quiche or pizza (… easy to eat and not too “heavy”!)
  tea time:
  additional to the buffet:
  - some cake (nothing special, cake in slices)
  note!
  be aware that it takes personal to keep the buffet running, fresh and inviting! by experience many catering-teams underestimate especially the amount of dishes (cups and glasses) that are used by the participants.
  set-up:
  drinks and snacks for the set-up team.

• conditions

high levels of complexity
in terms of issues to be dealt with
high levels of diversity
in terms of the folks who have to work the issues
high levels of conflict
actual or potential
a decision is needed yesterday
in terms of urgency

note!
control shuts down open space !

• contact list
  the contact list is part of the documentation and allows participants to stay in contact after the conference.
  main dates are: sure name, first name, address, phone and mail … alphabetically arranged.

  during the open space event the participants are asked to check and correct their data and to choose if they want to be included since the contact list is semi-public. therefor the contact list has to be printed in advance and is placarded at the beginning of the open space to enable to do corrections/changes during the conference.
  by experience there are quite a few corrections and changes which need to be overworked before the documentation is produced. therefor personal and equipment is needed!

• documentation
  for a 3 day open space event with 80 participants one can calculate a documentation of roughly 85 pages including table of content, reports, next steps and contact list. therefor approximately 6800 pages of A4 (80g) paper are needed. the cover and separating sheets are copied on colored A4 (160g) paper. the documentation is upheld by a fold-back clip.
  the production of the documentation (copying) starts right after the last open space session, so it can be handed over before the action planning. a good working xerox-machine must be available then. an option is to outsource the copying (therefor pre-arrangements need to be taken!). the next steps sheets of the action planning are copyed immediately after they were announced. usually there is enough time to hand over these copies right after the closing circle and can then be added to the documentation by the participants.

  optional:
  to save time and recources it is possible to produce an electronic version of the documentation. the e-version consist of a linked pdf-file which is easy to handel and also easy to be send to the participants or to upload on a web-site for online-viewing and downloading. usually the e-version is produced right after the event and send to the sponsor or the participants within days after the event.

• introduction – 6 steps

1. welcome
2. focus the group
3. state the theme
4. describe the process
5. create the bulletin board
6. open the marketplace

• length of open space

by experience several things can be achieved during an open space event.
what are the expectations concerning the outcome of an open space event?
- a theme should be discussed
- a project should be brought forward
- “new ways” are supposed to be found
- something should be planned and also get started
the length of an open space event is strongly connected to what should be achieved and what is expected.

1day
a theme can be discussed

1.5 days (1 whole day, morning)
a theme can be discussed
a project can be brought forward

3 days (afternoon, 1 whole day, morning)
a theme can be discussed
a project can be brought forward
“new ways” can be found
things can be planned and also get started

group picture