Open Space at W2W: Creating a Conference Using “Group Mind”
You’ve accepted an invitation to join a group of event professionals at a cozy resort-style conference center in Northern California. The purpose of the event: to talk about your industry and how to improve it; as well as to play and relax with other women AND there is virtually no planned content or schedule.
This was my experience as a first time attendee at W2W (Women to Women) held at Chaminade Resort and Spa March 17-20. As you can see from the pictures here, this was no ordinary conference.
W2W is an open space conference founded by Joan Eisenstodt, chief strategist, Eisenstodt Associates LLC, Conference Consulting, Facilitation & Training and Vanessa Vlay in 2004. The two wanted to create a place where the focus was on how meetings and events might be improved and they chose the new, almost unheard of at the time, open-space format.
Open Space
Open space describes a wide variety of different styles of meeting in which participants define the agenda and may adjust it as the meeting proceeds. A large meeting of this type is called an open space conference or unconference.
From the first time I’d heard about them I had been eager to experience such unconventional conferences. After six years of studying and performing improv, the idea that participants could come together and create and share content on the spot, far from sounding scary to me, sounded like genius.
In fact, it reminded me of “group mind”, an improv term used to describe a state that improvisers experience when their performance flows effortlessly and takes on a life of it’s own. I had experienced it on many occasions when my improv group, Joe & Mustard, had the audience in stitches without realizing why. We were all just contributing as we went, following the basic improv rules of building on whatever is offered, being spontaneous, and trying not to project or control the performance. But somehow our combined efforts were gold and whatever came out of our mouths was brilliantly appropriate.
This lack of pre-planning was deliberate on the part of the originators of open space technology as prior restrictions on scope, agenda, and groupings were seen as likely to encourage “groupthink”- a term for an undesirable tendency of groups to reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing or evaluating ideas. Lack of pre-planning is also seen as helping to nurture creative thinking in improv.
Creative Environment
The effect of surroundings on creativity and the brain also seemed to have been taken into account at W2W. The room had been decorated with artwork, books and supplies for making crafts. Butcher paper was hung all around the room; markers and sticky notes were everywhere begging to be used. All around there were implements for making things.
In fact, one participant had shared on the W2W discussion group prior to the conference, that she is the benefactor of an orphan in Haiti. The group immediately started thinking of things that could be made at W2W to benefit the little boy’s school. The picture directly above is the finished product.
Like improv, there were rules at this conference. At W2W they are called norms and are voted on at the very beginning. A couple of examples of this year’s agreed upon norms were, “Speak one at a time, “ and “Stay positive.” A commitment to keeping personal issues in the room was also one of the agreed upon norms, as the participants seemed to feel that this would allow everyone to be more open when sharing.
Other than the norms, the set times for meals and one pre-scheduled discussion session with staff members from Chaminade, the entire conference was, indeed, made up on the spot.
Topics discussed included, “Why Meetings are Broken” “Ideas for Innovating Meetings & Events,” “Collaborative Communication,” “Social Media” and “The Future of W2W”. But since we ate at one table at all meals, the conversations there were just as scintillating. And on Saturday we all bonded and laughed into the night over a raucous game of Cranium.
No Schedule Allowed Flow
At the conclusion of W2W, I was stuck by how wonderful it had been not to be dictated to by a pre-set schedule. When we wanted to talk about one subject for 3 hours, that was fine. We moved on when we felt it was time. If some of us wanted to take part in a different discussion, they were free to do so. If any of us got hungry, had to use the rest room or just wanted to go out and walk around, we were treated as adults and encouraged to take care of ourselves.
The venue, Chaminade Resort and Spa, could not have been more accommodating for this conference. Healthy delicious snacks were always available in the hall. Each meal was a nutritious delight and included in the conference package, and whenever we asked for anything, it was delivered – In fact the day after Joan asked the hotel staff for help describing a Vernor’s Cream Ale to the rest of the group, hotel staffers appeared in the middle of one session pushing a cart with all the fixings, so Joan could make them for everyone as the session went on.
After three days at W2W, I came away with 13 new friends and potential partners; a deeper understanding of the events industry and what drives my friends to continue to try to improve it; and a greater faith in the wisdom of “group mind”.
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