Open Space Events
Open Space Events in Lambeth
London Creative Labs is pleased to be facilitating a series of Open Space events in Lambeth, London, sponsored by Lambeth First, the Local Strategic Partnership, and hosted by various community organisations.
Overview
Event Aim: to get to the conversations that need to happen and to identify practical ways to move forward right away. Come and join us for a session of Open Space!
Some of the issues we could discuss include:
- how to improve the lives of local people and keep key services going?
- how can third sector organisations survive and thrive in the face of the cuts?
- how to make best use of what we have (equipment, places and people)?
What is Open Space? One of the most effective processes for organisations and communities to identify critical issues, voice their passions and concerns, learn from each other, and, when appropriate, take collective responsibility for finding solutions.
Open space starts with a blank canvas. As participants, we all set the agenda on the day.
This is an invitation to residents, communities, local businesses and services to come together and help shape the future of Lambeth. If you think you’re not invited you definitely need to be here!
To book, contact Lambeth First or telephone 020 7926 1708
List of Open Space Events
Tuesday 14th December, 4.30-7.30pm at Stockwell Park Community Trust. 29 Aytoun Place, SW90TE.
Thursday 16th December, 10-1pm at High Trees Community Development Trust. 220 Upper Tulse Hill, SW2 2NS
To book, contact Lambeth First or telephone 020 7926 1708
More about Open Space
In Open Space, the responsibility for outcomes is put into the participants hands. They are empowered to take responsibility due to the simple structure that Open Space has which enables self-organisation around topics that are of most interest to each participant. One of the conditions under which Open Space works best is where there are high levels of diversity. Often, people want easy answers and a clear path to a goal. But where there are a diversity of questions, many different answers and a variety of paths emerge. Open Space enables each person to join the path that takes them in the easiest way to the places that the whole group needs to go. It opens the space for possibility, resists the strong pull of premature conclusion and enables convergence. It is one of the most effective processes for organisations and communities to identify critical issues, voice their passions and concerns, learn from each other, and, when appropriate, take collective responsibility for finding solutions. Open Space starts with a blank canvas. As participants, we all set the agenda on the day. What gets discussed is entirely up to whoever shows up and what they care about. It is quite like day to day life, in which the only things that get done are those that people step in and take responsibility for. A great resource on Open Space: Chris Corrigan A philosophical resource addressing the underlying principles: The Tao of Holding Space Open Space stories Anecdotes on Open SpaceHow to Participate
In essence, bring yourself!There will be a brief run-down of how it works at the start so you can just show up without knowing this in advance. You may also wish to read the brief overview in the links above. The core agenda is complied from the sessions people put forward at the opening. You may want to run your own session, or join someone else’s. Once the sessions start, just go to the sessions you most want to be at. Output from the different sessions will be shared within days of the event. Contacts will be shared the following day (on an opt-out basis). After the event:
You will be able to continue to share new project ideas, existing project plans or just continue conversations. The output from sessions you do not manage to go to will be available with contact details of whoever ran them so that you can connect with the people involved if you choose to afterwards. And likewise, people will be able to find details of any sessions that you run. What will the output be?
The outputs are a set of sheets that contain the highlights of what happened in the different sessions. By making these outputs visible during the event, and available online to participants within days of the event finishing, everyone can get a picture of what happened as a whole. This helps conversations to continue, and action plans to be shared and for people to keep connecting around what they care about. The experience
Open Space has a different feel to many workshops as it taps into the power of self-organisation. During an Open Space event it may seem at times as if no-one is leading. Actually, there is a robust structure that enables anyone to step in and lead. This is the kind of action that is needed in the current climate where both personal initiative and collaboration across normal boundaries will make all the difference in our communities. It is time we focus together intensely on solutions!
