Open Space Methodology is a meeting methodology that aims to maximize the meeting for everyone involved. First, it will allow you to create a program and everyone will get reminded of it. Because of this, all the topics will be carefully discussed. Everyone in the room will know their roles and nobody will be looking at a time waiting for the meeting to be over. After that, invitations will be sent to those who are supposed to attend the meeting. There will even be a follow up a few hours before the meeting so those who are supposed to attend would not have an excuse for them to not see it. They will be obliged to reply to whether they will go to the meeting or not. Of course, their answer matters since the number of attendees would play a big role in the materials you are supposed to prepare for the meeting.
When the meeting is over, a recap will be sent to those who attended the meeting. It will serve as a minute of the meeting for those who are forgetful. There will be people who attend many meetings in one day so you can’t really blame them if they forgot about some of the meetings they attended. Because of this, they would remember all the important points in the meeting. There is definitely a reason the person was called into the meeting. It can’t be just for any random purpose as the person will need it when the time is right. Even if the meeting lasted an entire day, it is possible that the important points are only a page long. Thus, the participants will have a soft and hard copy of the summary of the meeting. They can choose to keep their copies somewhere safe so when the time arrives that they would want to remember the meeting, they know where to go. Furthermore, the meals will be in a buffet style and there will be a proper time for that. There is no such meeting without any food. Besides, everyone won’t be able to think right when they are hungry so it would be better to eat first.
Open Space Methodology would assign a facilitator to host the meeting. This person would serve as the one who would signal the start and end of the meeting. He or she would also dictate what is going to go down so everyone will be informed. The methodology would also help how the meeting happens. For example, it would tell you how the chairs and tables are set up. It could be in a round table setting or it could be in a classroom setting. Of course, you would already know once you know the number of people attending the event. What’s good about a round table setting is that everyone will be heard. There will be a time when everyone is allowed to speak out. All workers would feel great in letting their voice heard. They may have been shy in past meetings but that won’t happen in this type of setting and other future gatherings. In a lecture setting, it would be hard for some people to get heard. In a small setting, everyone will be heard especially when it is a meeting between 25 to 30 people.
It has a lot of aims and one of them is the interaction among the attendees. It would be great for them to get to know each other. Therefore, there will be a ton of activities for that. Leadership will also be established so the attendees would know who is in charge. There are a lot of group methodologies but this one is the most cost-effective. You would want to get a lot out of the meeting while not spending much and this is the best solution. Also, the methodology aims to eliminate barriers as there are some people who are afraid to speak up due to their status in the company. Growth will definitely be addressed because it is important to grow as a company to move toward the next level in the industry. Due to the many competitors, it is important to stand side by side in achieving success.