Open Space Technology (EasyRead Super Large 18pt Edition): A User's Guide Book

I read this for work! We have been doing Open Space Discussions at our conference for 3 years and started at our company meeting last year, and I was happy to take the time to read the book from the guy who started it all. We are already doing this system pretty well - we mostly do things as in the book, with some upgrades and higher tech online schedule. But there are a few bits we don't currently do and I look forward to chatting with my colleagues about if we've considered them.

Having experienced Open Space ~4 times with groups from 200 to 1000+, I can confirm it works well! I love Owen's emphasis on passion + responsibility. So key! We regularly heard on conference evaluations that people were disappointed there had been no time at our conference for X topic. Now with open space, everyone has a chance to put their own topics on the agenda, and if they don't, it's no one's fault but their own. That's similar to how he phrases it in the book, and sounds kind of harsh, but is a great way to flip the traditional responsibility model and have all attendees take part in constructing the final agenda.

Harrison Owen being pretty old and having started designing OST in the 1980s, a couple things in here are amusingly anachronistic - most notably his mistrust of laptops!, but also no details about putting the schedule online, sharing proceedings electronically, tons of detail about un-networked newsroom computers, etc. I'm not sure about newer sources for modern OST principles, but also I think we're already doing a pretty good job at my company.

Worth the read. But I do think reading the book is a tough substitute for actually experiencing an Open Space event, and would encourage anyone interested in the format to seek out a live opportunity, possibly even before reading the book. The book makes a lot more sense if you've seen it in person!