Sounds like you are getting some real good advice (what else on OSLIST?!) Three things occur to me --
1) I find working with larger groups is actually easier than small ones. Part of that is that there is a sufficient crowd that people don't feel inclined to conversations during the opening. But as Michael points out, 250 people is rather on the small end of things. 2) When I invite people to announce their issues, I make it very clear that there are to be no speeches. Just state your issue, your name -- and move on. You don't have to sound like a drill sergeant, a smile will help, and I've never had any objections. Occasionally people do get carried away, but having said No Speeches at the start, I have no problem reiterating the point (nicely) if I see a speech developing. 3) I think it is really important that there be NO limit on the number of issues raised. A promise I always make in the invitation (or suggest that the sponsor makes) is that EVERY ISSUE OF CONCERN to anybody will be on the table. That can get a little interesting. In the OS that Michael refers to (2108 participants) we had figured that there might be 175 issues raised -- but when the total was heading to 200 we had to move a little quickly to add spaces. But we did, and everything worked. The final total was, as Michael said, something like 236. And as near as I can tell all sessions met and made a report. Number (of people or issues) need never be a problem. Good luck! Don't forget to breath. And above all, Have fun! Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of aslak hellesoy Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:25 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Advice on running Open Space with 250-300 people Hi all, I'm one of the organisers of a conference for agile software development in Norway (http://smidig.no/smidig2007/talks). It's two days and both days will have lots of 10 minute talks before lunch (lightning talks) and OST after lunch. We're expecting 250-300 people to attend, and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed about the OST sessions. I have attended several smaller Open Space meetings, but never this big, so I was hoping someone with experience of big OST meetings can give some advice: * Is 3 times 45 minutes topics (and 15 min break) ok? * How many topics should we strive to create? * How long should each participant get to suggest a topic? * Should we split up the introduction/topic suggestion in two big groups? My main worry is that with a big group like this it will be challenging to create enough topics (and do it within a reasonable time) so that people can put good use of the three hours they have each day. I've read that OST has been used on much larger groups, but I'm a little puzzled about the logistics. Any help appreciated! * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist