OPEN SPACE ONLINE USING ZOOM: GUIDE and CHECKLIST
There is a real issue, an urgent one. A complex one. No one person has every answer or the very best ideas. And a group of people really care about addressing the issue, even though conflict is likely. The people have a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and points of view.
You realize that you want some way for these people to engage fully and address the issue. Many of them may have interacted only by email or phone in the past. Some might never have met. And if they feel passionate about the issue and are willing to take responsibility for addressing it, you want to give them the opportunity to do so.
Consider Sponsoring an event with a Theme that names the issue. And invite people who are interested to gather and explore elements of the theme that interest them. An Open Space Technology event. For various reasons it may not be possible for everyone to gather in person. In that case, consider Open Space online.
Mark Sheffield and Daniel Mezick have been delivering Open Space online using Zoom since 2017. We have served about 1700 people during this time via a mix of public and private (corporate) events. We have been teaching and have decided to publish our way of doing this, free to the world, under an open source (CC-BY-SA 4.0) license. This is because we believe that open source increases innovation.
Consider using this Guide and the referenced Checklist as you prepare and deliver your Open Space event online using Zoom. Even though we mention specific tools, what is important is the functions that the tools accomplish. Feel free to experiment with the tools and technologies at your disposal.
Have fun… and Be Prepared to Be Surprised!
Sharing the Documents
For social technologies to rapidly advance human progress, they must be published in a way that allows for their free derivation, innovation and combination. The open source licensing of social technology allows this, and thereby encourages genuine and lasting human progress.
You may copy, distribute, and transmit these documents in their entirety, including the author names, contact information, and page footer that describes the open source license. If you make any alterations you must provide attribution.
Providing Attribution
Any alterations to or derivations from the document must
- Include a url link to this page: https://openleadershipnetwork.com/onprogress/OnlineOstUsingZoom
- Include all links that appear in the source document
- For the Guide, display the following text prominently
Derived from the CC-BY-SA-4.0 (open source) document https://openleadershipnetwork.com/onprogress/OnlineOstUsingZoom entitled “Open Space Online Using Zoom: Guide” from Mark Sheffield and Daniel Mezick. You can learn more about the source work “Open Space Online Using Zoom: Guide” from these authors by following this link: https://openleadershipnetwork.com/onprogress/OnlineOstUsingZoom.
- For the Checklist, display the following text prominently
Derived from the CC-BY-SA-4.0 (open source) document https://openleadershipnetwork.com/onprogress/OnlineOstUsingZoom entitled “Open Space Online Using Zoom: Checklist” from Mark Sheffield and Daniel Mezick. You can learn more about the source work “Open Space Online Using Zoom: Checklist” from these authors by following this link: https://openleadershipnetwork.com/onprogress/OnlineOstUsingZoom.