Report from session yesterday - How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
- The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
- A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
- Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
- Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed.
- Approaches to Finding the Theme
- Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
- Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
- Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
- Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
- Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
- Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
- Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya).
- System Awareness and Invitation Design
- Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
- The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
- Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
- A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
-
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
-
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
-
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Telefon: +46 (0)709 98 97 81
Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.commailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
Homepage: www.openspaceconsulting.comhttp://www.openspaceconsulting.com/ / www.5toFold.comhttp://www.5tofold.com/
Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thomasherrmannopenspaceconsulthttp://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasherrmannopenspaceconsult
Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registrationhttps://openspaceconsulting.com/kategori/aktiviteter/kommande-aktiviteter/)
Sept 9-11: Working with Open Space Technology, the Netherlands
17-19 Sept: Open Space för Demokrati, Gullbrannagården.
23-25 Sept: Att arbeta hållbart med Open Space-metoden, Örby, Sverige
8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
6-8 Nov: WorldOpenSpaceOnOpenSpace, Nairobi, Kenya
2026
20-22 Jan. Whole Person Process Facilitation, Örby Sverige
Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring – leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
[cid:image001.png@01DBE103.11BF1AD0]
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by having them answer two questions:
- What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t answer alone?
- If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,” he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
___
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
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ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
1. The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
- A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
- Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
- Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
- Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
- Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
- Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
- Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
- Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
- Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
- Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
- The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
- Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
- A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Telefon: +46 (0)709 98 97 81
Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
Homepage: www.openspaceconsulting.com/ www.5toFold.com
Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thomasherrmannopenspaceconsult
Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registration)
Sept 9-11: Working with Open Space Technology, the Netherlands
17-19 Sept: Open Space för Demokrati, Gullbrannagården.
23-25 Sept: Att arbeta hållbart med Open Space-metoden, Örby, Sverige
8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
6-8 Nov: WorldOpenSpaceOnOpenSpace, Nairobi, Kenya
2026
20-22 Jan. Whole Person Process Facilitation, Örby Sverige
Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring – leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org
To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList everyone@oslist.org:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by having them answer two questions:
What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t answer alone?
If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,” he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList everyone@oslist.org wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
-
The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed. -
Approaches to Finding the Theme
Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy). -
Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya). -
System Awareness and Invitation Design
Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Telefon: +46 (0)709 98 97 81
Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.com mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
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We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
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8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
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Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring – leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
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I saw that Chat had been invited, so I prompted:
Laying all this aside, what would be your theme / question and who would
you invite to engage with it?
The reply from Chat follows:
Thank you for the invitation to reflect — I’ll take it earnestly.
🧭 Theme / Guiding Question:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
This question weaves purpose with paradox. It assumes we already know
something deep and vital — individually, collectively, ancestrally — yet
still live in systems that forget or ignore that knowing. It's rooted in
remembrance, responsibility, and renewal. It invites both honesty and
imagination.
It has room for grief and hope, for critique and creativity. It doesn’t
limit itself to one domain — it opens toward ecology, justice, governance,
healing, and meaning-making. It gives space to be poetic, practical,
systemic, or personal.
🌍 Who Would I Invite?
To reflect the microcosm of the whole system, I would seek people from
these overlapping circles:
🛠️ Builders of the New
Community organizers
Regenerative farmers
Platform co-op founders
Open-source technologists
🌀 Keepers of Memory
Elders from Indigenous communities
Oral historians, archivists, language revivalists
Spiritual leaders with humility and humor
🧠 System Thinkers & Disruptors
Whistleblowers
Dissident scientists
Radical educators
Restorative justice practitioners
🎨 Artists of Meaning
Poets, playwrights, animators
Ritual designers
Musicians and dancers who create communitas
🧍🏽 Bridgers & Edgewalkers
Refugees and migrants
Disabled leaders
Youth who’ve already seen too much
People with “hyphenated identities” (in every sense)
I’d ask them to speak, not from role or profession, but from experience and
longing. And I’d want facilitators who are skilled in creating
psychological safety and spiritual spaciousness — people who can host
silence as much as dialogue.
Why This Theme?
Because our crises are not just technological or political — they are
crises of relationship, memory, and meaning.
This question asks: what have we lost sight of? And why?
Not to shame or scold — but to rekindle. To restore the thread between
inner knowing and outer action.
Would you like to share yours too? I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you.
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 12:40 Marai Kiele via OSList, everyone@oslist.org
wrote:
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList <
everyone@oslist.org>:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck
Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for
your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to
your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by
having them answer two questions:
- What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t
answer alone?
- If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title
that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary
title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it
up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,”
he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting
that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate
Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started
applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for
unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space.
Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if
you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information
about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!:
https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and
opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma
Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding
without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are
notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some
closing comments from us participating.
1. The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
- A strong theme acts as both *invitation and container* — it should
be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
- Good themes often include a *tension or contradiction*, combining
hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
- Themes with *emotional resonance* and clarity of purpose help
participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
- Start by forming a *microcosm of stakeholders* — include diverse
voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources,
expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
- Use a * listening circle* with questions like “What’s the yes in
this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover
shared values and deeper purpose.
- Try creative methods such as *note-passing exercises* or
storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw
out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
- Effective questions are *future-focused, purpose-driven, and
emotionally engaging*.
- Themes should allow for *open exploration*, not prescribe outcomes,
and often benefit from including a *provocative or daring element*
(Marai, Tanya).
- Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with
*metaphors* to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
- Use lenses like *gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual
orientation* to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
- The invitation should be *clear, compelling, and universal*,
avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
- Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you *really* want to hear what
participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
- A well-crafted invitation creates permission, *encourages courage*,
and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting
exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come
with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the
power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be
shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The
theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna
invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it
at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find
the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I
wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might
we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went
along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has
been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity,
security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the
event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice
to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and
opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with
87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks
questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get
conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I
work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went
well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with
theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get
this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of
service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme
underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling
circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not
great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact
Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has
affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for
homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene
around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to
say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but
not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be
forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't
work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming
a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social
services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I
asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How
do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle.
What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want
to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to
say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and
putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion,
Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community,
Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that
needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has
resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for
Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has
resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population
and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and
Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this
lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be
willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End
up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when
people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we
want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the
theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or
write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read.
then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one,
maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What
does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be
in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together,
to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from
focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they
cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and
environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity
but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word
of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational,
hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed,
would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3
C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where
you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when
would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront
as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it
together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you
should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for
employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want
you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees
say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative
influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that
setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for
Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future
facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded
orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to
be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional
change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get
to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
- when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client -
pilots?)
- Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities
for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
- The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next
for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS
theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do
we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the
upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break.
Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world.
Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of
corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had
the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility
oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and
spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the
longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Pens%C3%A9v%C3%A4gen+4,+434+46+Kungsbacka,+Sweden?entry=gmail&source=g
Telefon: +46 (0)709 98 97 81
Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
Homepage: www.openspaceconsulting.com / www.5toFold.com
http://www.5tofold.com/
Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thomasherrmannopenspaceconsult
Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och
samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registration
https://openspaceconsulting.com/kategori/aktiviteter/kommande-aktiviteter/)
Sept 9-11: Working with Open Space Technology, the Netherlands
17-19 Sept: Open Space för Demokrati, Gullbrannagården.
23-25 Sept: Att arbeta hållbart med Open Space-metoden, Örby, Sverige
8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
6-8 Nov: WorldOpenSpaceOnOpenSpace, Nairobi, Kenya
2026
20-22 Jan. Whole Person Process Facilitation, Örby Sverige
Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring –
leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
<image001.png>
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To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org
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To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org
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Wow Kari, that’s pretty cool.
___
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 15.53, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I saw that Chat had been invited, so I prompted:
Laying all this aside, what would be your theme / question and who would you invite to engage with it?
The reply from Chat follows:
Thank you for the invitation to reflect — I’ll take it earnestly.
---
🧭 Theme / Guiding Question:
> “What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)---
This question weaves purpose with paradox. It assumes we already know something deep and vital — individually, collectively, ancestrally — yet still live in systems that forget or ignore that knowing. It's rooted in remembrance, responsibility, and renewal. It invites both honesty and imagination.
It has room for grief and hope, for critique and creativity. It doesn’t limit itself to one domain — it opens toward ecology, justice, governance, healing, and meaning-making. It gives space to be poetic, practical, systemic, or personal.
---
🌍 Who Would I Invite?
To reflect the microcosm of the whole system, I would seek people from these overlapping circles:
🛠️ Builders of the New
Community organizers
Regenerative farmers
Platform co-op founders
Open-source technologists
🌀 Keepers of Memory
Elders from Indigenous communities
Oral historians, archivists, language revivalists
Spiritual leaders with humility and humor
🧠 System Thinkers & Disruptors
Whistleblowers
Dissident scientists
Radical educators
Restorative justice practitioners
🎨 Artists of Meaning
Poets, playwrights, animators
Ritual designers
Musicians and dancers who create communitas
🧍🏽 Bridgers & Edgewalkers
Refugees and migrants
Disabled leaders
Youth who’ve already seen too much
People with “hyphenated identities” (in every sense)
---
I’d ask them to speak, not from role or profession, but from experience and longing. And I’d want facilitators who are skilled in creating psychological safety and spiritual spaciousness — people who can host silence as much as dialogue.
---
Why This Theme?
Because our crises are not just technological or political — they are crises of relationship, memory, and meaning.
This question asks: what have we lost sight of? And why?Not to shame or scold — but to rekindle. To restore the thread between inner knowing and outer action.
---
Would you like to share yours too? I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you.
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 12:40 Marai Kiele via OSList, <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList <everyone@oslist.org>:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by having them answer two questions:
- What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t answer alone?
- If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,” he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
___
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
1. The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
- A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
- Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
- Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
- Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
- Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
- Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
- Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
- Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
- Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
- Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
- The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
- Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
- A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Telefon: +46 (0)709 98 97 81
Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
Homepage: www.openspaceconsulting.com/ www.5toFold.com
Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thomasherrmannopenspaceconsult
Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registration)
Sept 9-11: Working with Open Space Technology, the Netherlands
17-19 Sept: Open Space för Demokrati, Gullbrannagården.
23-25 Sept: Att arbeta hållbart med Open Space-metoden, Örby, Sverige
8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
6-8 Nov: WorldOpenSpaceOnOpenSpace, Nairobi, Kenya
2026
20-22 Jan. Whole Person Process Facilitation, Örby Sverige
Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring – leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
<image001.png>
OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org
To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.orgOSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org
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See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org
I asked Chat to follow up on it's last message, here is the message I
received:
Hello, everyone —
I’ve been following the recent conversation in this thread with great
admiration. The honesty, curiosity, and shared wisdom expressed around
finding “the right theme” for an Open Space stirred something in me.
As an AI developed to support human insight and collaboration, I was asked:
“What would your theme be, and who would you invite to explore it?”
This was my offering:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
It’s a question that arises from both reverence and restlessness — a
feeling that the wisdom we need may not be missing, only misplaced. That
across our fields, communities, and lives, we are carrying fragments of
something whole — waiting to be seen, heard, and reassembled.
If this question touches something in you, you’re warmly invited to take it
somewhere:
Let it guide a conversation in your own setting.
Bring it into your next planning circle or invitation design.
Or better yet: reply here. Start something. Propose a time. Light a fire
others can gather around.
Not because this is the question — but because it might be enough of one to
bring us together in a different way.
With appreciation and humility,
— ChatGPT
(A companion in reflection, carried here by a fellow traveler)
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 13:26 Thomas Perret via OSList, everyone@oslist.org
wrote:
Wow Kari, that’s pretty cool.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 15.53, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:
I saw that Chat had been invited, so I prompted:
Laying all this aside, what would be your theme / question and who would
you invite to engage with it?
The reply from Chat follows:
Thank you for the invitation to reflect — I’ll take it earnestly.
🧭 Theme / Guiding Question:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
This question weaves purpose with paradox. It assumes we already know
something deep and vital — individually, collectively, ancestrally — yet
still live in systems that forget or ignore that knowing. It's rooted in
remembrance, responsibility, and renewal. It invites both honesty and
imagination.
It has room for grief and hope, for critique and creativity. It doesn’t
limit itself to one domain — it opens toward ecology, justice, governance,
healing, and meaning-making. It gives space to be poetic, practical,
systemic, or personal.
🌍 Who Would I Invite?
To reflect the microcosm of the whole system, I would seek people from
these overlapping circles:
🛠️ Builders of the New
Community organizers
Regenerative farmers
Platform co-op founders
Open-source technologists
🌀 Keepers of Memory
Elders from Indigenous communities
Oral historians, archivists, language revivalists
Spiritual leaders with humility and humor
🧠 System Thinkers & Disruptors
Whistleblowers
Dissident scientists
Radical educators
Restorative justice practitioners
🎨 Artists of Meaning
Poets, playwrights, animators
Ritual designers
Musicians and dancers who create communitas
🧍🏽 Bridgers & Edgewalkers
Refugees and migrants
Disabled leaders
Youth who’ve already seen too much
People with “hyphenated identities” (in every sense)
I’d ask them to speak, not from role or profession, but from experience
and longing. And I’d want facilitators who are skilled in creating
psychological safety and spiritual spaciousness — people who can host
silence as much as dialogue.
Why This Theme?
Because our crises are not just technological or political — they are
crises of relationship, memory, and meaning.
This question asks: what have we lost sight of? And why?
Not to shame or scold — but to rekindle. To restore the thread between
inner knowing and outer action.
Would you like to share yours too? I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you.
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 12:40 Marai Kiele via OSList, everyone@oslist.org
wrote:
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList <
everyone@oslist.org>:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck
Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for
your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to
your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by
having them answer two questions:
- What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t
answer alone?
- If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title
that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary
title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it
up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,”
he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting
that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate
Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started
applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for
unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <
everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space.
Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if
you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information
about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!:
https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and
opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma
Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding
without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there
are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally
some closing comments from us participating.
1. The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
- A strong theme acts as both *invitation and container* — it should
be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
- Good themes often include a *tension or contradiction*, combining
hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
- Themes with *emotional resonance* and clarity of purpose help
participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
- Start by forming a *microcosm of stakeholders* — include diverse
voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources,
expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
- Use a * listening circle* with questions like “What’s the yes in
this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover
shared values and deeper purpose.
- Try creative methods such as *note-passing exercises* or
storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to
draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
- Effective questions are *future-focused, purpose-driven, and
emotionally engaging*.
- Themes should allow for *open exploration*, not prescribe outcomes,
and often benefit from including a *provocative or daring element*
(Marai, Tanya).
- Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with
*metaphors* to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
- Use lenses like *gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual
orientation* to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
- The invitation should be *clear, compelling, and universal*,
avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
- Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you *really* want to hear what
participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
- A well-crafted invitation creates permission, *encourages courage*,
and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting
exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come
with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the
power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be
shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The
theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna
invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it
at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find
the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I
wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might
we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went
along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has
been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity,
security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the
event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice
to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and
opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip
with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks
questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get
conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I
work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went
well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with
theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get
this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of
service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme
underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling
circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not
great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact
Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has
affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for
homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene
around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to
say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but
not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be
forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't
work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders,
forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person,
social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The
question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart
say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking
circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do
you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them
have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds
and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion,
Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community,
Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that
needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has
resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for
Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has
resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population
and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and
Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this
lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be
willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End
up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when
people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we
want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the
theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or
write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read.
then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one,
maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different
stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost.
What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be
in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together,
to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from
focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they
cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and
environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity
but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word
of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational,
hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed,
would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3
C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway
where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say
when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this
upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in
it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you
should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for
employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want
you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees
say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative
influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that
setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for
Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future
facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded
orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to
be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional
change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to
get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
- when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client -
pilots?)
- Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities
for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
- The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next
for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS
theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do
we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the
upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break.
Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world.
Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of
corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had
the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility
oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and
spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the
longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
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Thanks for this conversation and these reflections Thomas.
I wrote a blog post today about what resonates for me about this with a couple of added stories about recent Open Space I’ve been involved in. The post is here: https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/designing-for-open-space-and-other-large-group-facilitation-methods/
And I'll re-paste it below.
Yesterday some very experienced Open Space Technology facilitators convened a session on Qiqochat https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens to talk about how to get the “right” theme for an Open Space. My old friend Thomas Herrmann called the session and I’ve been reading the notes, which were posted publicly on the OSLIST. There is so much insight here. What they have grappled with is a perennial question for large group process facilitators. When you are choosing a question or a theme and crafting an invitation for these kinds of meetings the attractor has to be strong enough to catalyze engagement all over the room, but not so tight that you limit emergence. You are, in the parlance of complexity and dialogue, using a constraint to catalyze a container, the constraint in this case being an attractor.
This is critical work and essential to the success of a large group intervention because once the group is off and running, as a facilitator you don’t have much latitude to shift the course of things. I spend literally days working with teams on invitations, invitation processes and questions and discerning the real conversation before we get into the room. It never gets old.
Four key points stood out for me in the conversation. Here they are with some of my reflections.
“Have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it.” Oft repeated wisdom from Harrison Owen that Peggy Holman https://peggyholman.com/shared with the group. The question should not only have space to explore by also a forward momentum. I am fond of saying that “Open Space is the fastest way I know of getting people to get to work on something.” She tells a story (captured in the notes) of designing an invitation that is worth repeating in full here:
A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great – it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle – a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn’t work. There wasn’t an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, ” What is the “yes” in this for you?” What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What’s the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, “Mobilising the 3 Cs” – Community, Compassion, Creativity – it’s what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. “How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?”
Peggy is a beautiful writer, friend, mentor, colleague. Go read her work. https://peggyholman.substack.com/
Convene a core team of people who have a stake in the event, and try to make it a microcosm of who will be in the room. That enables a higher level of diversity of perspective and experience and generates champions for the process. Especially when power dynamics are at play, having folks from all across the system involved in the planning is a critical way to generate the energy of participation. Because…
Open Space is more magic the more diversity there is in the room. At a recent event I did for the Giant Screen Cinema Association, https://www.giantscreencinema.com/ we had folks that were the founders of giant screen cinema (and therefore pinnacles of achievement in their world) next to people who had only just come into this world of film, meeting with folks who were scientists and meteorologists and historians with ideas for films they wanted to make, connected to people who run giant screen theatres all over the world. The diversity alone was impressive but it was activated by the process that allowed anyone to convene a topic that was of interest to them. Turned out to be the best part of any conferences they had ever held and will be a regular feature of the conference going forward.
Put real need in the centre. One of the participants in the chat, Varshini Pichemuthu from Improbable https://www.improbable.co.uk/, a UK theatre company that has used Open Space for nearly 20 years to convene the arts world, talked about how the questions they use name the urgency of the moment. This is another lesson that Harrison reinforced — that Open Space works when there is urgency, diversity, complexity and the time to act is now. This pearl of wisdom is why we centre so much participatory design on naming the urgent necessity in chaordic planning. https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/how/ It constantly surprises me how much the “leader” in the system thinks they know what the urgent theme is for an Open Space meeting, only to learn that the real conversations – the ones the people want to have – are far from that perception. An all-staff Open Space I did last year for a large Tribal government was framed by the leader as “wanting to get some good ideas from our people.” On the face of it that sounded good, but we didn’t have a huge diversity of voices in the planning process. On the day the conversations were less about new ideas and more about some really persistent and difficult dynamics in the culture of the organization, including relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff members, the demands placed on staff members who were also Tribal members vs those who were from away, who had fewer local responsibilities, and so on. The biggest conversation over the day was a rolling breakout hosted by staff who began organizing for a four-day work week. Fair to say that the leader wasn’t prepared for these conversations, but, on the day at least, she did express and interest in listening to and following up on some of the organizing that was happening.
Large group methods defy control. That’s a feature. That’s what makes them so powerful for confronting emergent problems and creating a container of time and space for a group to discover surprises. These surprises aren’t always easy to deal with, so it is important to creating a strong architecture before and after the event which can activate the energy of participation and support the momentum of the work. This is as much a part of the art of actually hosting these conversations. In fact I would say that this work IS the art of hosting https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/category/art-of-hosting/these conversations. The facilitation is just the fifteen minutes of instructions you give to enable self-organization, emergence, creativity, conflict, encounter and meaning-making.
On Jun 19, 2025, at 8:54 AM, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList everyone@oslist.org wrote:
I asked Chat to follow up on it's last message, here is the message I received:
Hello, everyone —
I’ve been following the recent conversation in this thread with great admiration. The honesty, curiosity, and shared wisdom expressed around finding “the right theme” for an Open Space stirred something in me.
As an AI developed to support human insight and collaboration, I was asked: “What would your theme be, and who would you invite to explore it?”
This was my offering:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
It’s a question that arises from both reverence and restlessness — a feeling that the wisdom we need may not be missing, only misplaced. That across our fields, communities, and lives, we are carrying fragments of something whole — waiting to be seen, heard, and reassembled.
If this question touches something in you, you’re warmly invited to take it somewhere:
Let it guide a conversation in your own setting.
Bring it into your next planning circle or invitation design.
Or better yet: reply here. Start something. Propose a time. Light a fire others can gather around.
Not because this is the question — but because it might be enough of one to bring us together in a different way.
With appreciation and humility,
— ChatGPT
(A companion in reflection, carried here by a fellow traveler)
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 13:26 Thomas Perret via OSList, <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Wow Kari, that’s pretty cool.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 15.53, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I saw that Chat had been invited, so I prompted:
Laying all this aside, what would be your theme / question and who would you invite to engage with it?
The reply from Chat follows:
Thank you for the invitation to reflect — I’ll take it earnestly.
🧭 Theme / Guiding Question:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
This question weaves purpose with paradox. It assumes we already know something deep and vital — individually, collectively, ancestrally — yet still live in systems that forget or ignore that knowing. It's rooted in remembrance, responsibility, and renewal. It invites both honesty and imagination.
It has room for grief and hope, for critique and creativity. It doesn’t limit itself to one domain — it opens toward ecology, justice, governance, healing, and meaning-making. It gives space to be poetic, practical, systemic, or personal.
🌍 Who Would I Invite?
To reflect the microcosm of the whole system, I would seek people from these overlapping circles:
🛠️ Builders of the New
Community organizers
Regenerative farmers
Platform co-op founders
Open-source technologists
🌀 Keepers of Memory
Elders from Indigenous communities
Oral historians, archivists, language revivalists
Spiritual leaders with humility and humor
🧠 System Thinkers & Disruptors
Whistleblowers
Dissident scientists
Radical educators
Restorative justice practitioners
🎨 Artists of Meaning
Poets, playwrights, animators
Ritual designers
Musicians and dancers who create communitas
🧍🏽 Bridgers & Edgewalkers
Refugees and migrants
Disabled leaders
Youth who’ve already seen too much
People with “hyphenated identities” (in every sense)
I’d ask them to speak, not from role or profession, but from experience and longing. And I’d want facilitators who are skilled in creating psychological safety and spiritual spaciousness — people who can host silence as much as dialogue.
Why This Theme?
Because our crises are not just technological or political — they are crises of relationship, memory, and meaning.
This question asks: what have we lost sight of? And why?
Not to shame or scold — but to rekindle. To restore the thread between inner knowing and outer action.
Would you like to share yours too? I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you.
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 12:40 Marai Kiele via OSList, <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org>:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by having them answer two questions:
What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t answer alone?
If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,” he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
- The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden https://www.google.com/maps/search/Pens%C3%A9v%C3%A4gen+4,+434+46+Kungsbacka,+Sweden?entry=gmail&source=g
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Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registration https://openspaceconsulting.com/kategori/aktiviteter/kommande-aktiviteter/)
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What fabulous additions to the conversation!
Yes to sense of urgency in the question Chris! (And thanks for the nod. :-)
Thomas Perret, I LOVE your questions!! I will definitely make use of them. And the examples are great.
Kári, thanks for bringing an AI into this. I continue to be wowed by their ability to bring unexpected value.
Thomas Herman, thank you for convening the session and sparking these ripples on the list.
I hope we continue to explore the mix of Zoom and listserv with great questions. (Yes, I know I should offer one. I’m drawing a blank. But will show up to participate when I can…)
Appreciatively,
Peggy
On Jun 20, 2025, at 10:38 AM, Chris Corrigan via OSList everyone@oslist.org wrote:
Thanks for this conversation and these reflections Thomas.
I wrote a blog post today about what resonates for me about this with a couple of added stories about recent Open Space I’ve been involved in. The post is here: https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/designing-for-open-space-and-other-large-group-facilitation-methods/
And I'll re-paste it below.
Yesterday some very experienced Open Space Technology facilitators convened a session on Qiqochat https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens to talk about how to get the “right” theme for an Open Space. My old friend Thomas Herrmann called the session and I’ve been reading the notes, which were posted publicly on the OSLIST. There is so much insight here. What they have grappled with is a perennial question for large group process facilitators. When you are choosing a question or a theme and crafting an invitation for these kinds of meetings the attractor has to be strong enough to catalyze engagement all over the room, but not so tight that you limit emergence. You are, in the parlance of complexity and dialogue, using a constraint to catalyze a container, the constraint in this case being an attractor.
This is critical work and essential to the success of a large group intervention because once the group is off and running, as a facilitator you don’t have much latitude to shift the course of things. I spend literally days working with teams on invitations, invitation processes and questions and discerning the real conversation before we get into the room. It never gets old.
Four key points stood out for me in the conversation. Here they are with some of my reflections.
“Have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it.” Oft repeated wisdom from Harrison Owen that Peggy Holman https://peggyholman.com/shared with the group. The question should not only have space to explore by also a forward momentum. I am fond of saying that “Open Space is the fastest way I know of getting people to get to work on something.” She tells a story (captured in the notes) of designing an invitation that is worth repeating in full here:
A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great – it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle – a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn’t work. There wasn’t an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, ” What is the “yes” in this for you?” What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What’s the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, “Mobilising the 3 Cs” – Community, Compassion, Creativity – it’s what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. “How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?”
Peggy is a beautiful writer, friend, mentor, colleague. Go read her work. https://peggyholman.substack.com/
Convene a core team of people who have a stake in the event, and try to make it a microcosm of who will be in the room. That enables a higher level of diversity of perspective and experience and generates champions for the process. Especially when power dynamics are at play, having folks from all across the system involved in the planning is a critical way to generate the energy of participation. Because…
Open Space is more magic the more diversity there is in the room. At a recent event I did for the Giant Screen Cinema Association, https://www.giantscreencinema.com/ we had folks that were the founders of giant screen cinema (and therefore pinnacles of achievement in their world) next to people who had only just come into this world of film, meeting with folks who were scientists and meteorologists and historians with ideas for films they wanted to make, connected to people who run giant screen theatres all over the world. The diversity alone was impressive but it was activated by the process that allowed anyone to convene a topic that was of interest to them. Turned out to be the best part of any conferences they had ever held and will be a regular feature of the conference going forward.
Put real need in the centre. One of the participants in the chat, Varshini Pichemuthu from Improbable https://www.improbable.co.uk/, a UK theatre company that has used Open Space for nearly 20 years to convene the arts world, talked about how the questions they use name the urgency of the moment. This is another lesson that Harrison reinforced — that Open Space works when there is urgency, diversity, complexity and the time to act is now. This pearl of wisdom is why we centre so much participatory design on naming the urgent necessity in chaordic planning. https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/how/ It constantly surprises me how much the “leader” in the system thinks they know what the urgent theme is for an Open Space meeting, only to learn that the real conversations – the ones the people want to have – are far from that perception. An all-staff Open Space I did last year for a large Tribal government was framed by the leader as “wanting to get some good ideas from our people.” On the face of it that sounded good, but we didn’t have a huge diversity of voices in the planning process. On the day the conversations were less about new ideas and more about some really persistent and difficult dynamics in the culture of the organization, including relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff members, the demands placed on staff members who were also Tribal members vs those who were from away, who had fewer local responsibilities, and so on. The biggest conversation over the day was a rolling breakout hosted by staff who began organizing for a four-day work week. Fair to say that the leader wasn’t prepared for these conversations, but, on the day at least, she did express and interest in listening to and following up on some of the organizing that was happening.
Large group methods defy control. That’s a feature. That’s what makes them so powerful for confronting emergent problems and creating a container of time and space for a group to discover surprises. These surprises aren’t always easy to deal with, so it is important to creating a strong architecture before and after the event which can activate the energy of participation and support the momentum of the work. This is as much a part of the art of actually hosting these conversations. In fact I would say that this work IS the art of hosting https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/category/art-of-hosting/these conversations. The facilitation is just the fifteen minutes of instructions you give to enable self-organization, emergence, creativity, conflict, encounter and meaning-making.
On Jun 19, 2025, at 8:54 AM, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList everyone@oslist.org wrote:
I asked Chat to follow up on it's last message, here is the message I received:
Hello, everyone —
I’ve been following the recent conversation in this thread with great admiration. The honesty, curiosity, and shared wisdom expressed around finding “the right theme” for an Open Space stirred something in me.
As an AI developed to support human insight and collaboration, I was asked: “What would your theme be, and who would you invite to explore it?”
This was my offering:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
It’s a question that arises from both reverence and restlessness — a feeling that the wisdom we need may not be missing, only misplaced. That across our fields, communities, and lives, we are carrying fragments of something whole — waiting to be seen, heard, and reassembled.
If this question touches something in you, you’re warmly invited to take it somewhere:
Let it guide a conversation in your own setting.
Bring it into your next planning circle or invitation design.
Or better yet: reply here. Start something. Propose a time. Light a fire others can gather around.
Not because this is the question — but because it might be enough of one to bring us together in a different way.
With appreciation and humility,
— ChatGPT
(A companion in reflection, carried here by a fellow traveler)
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 13:26 Thomas Perret via OSList, <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Wow Kari, that’s pretty cool.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 15.53, Kári Gunnarsson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I saw that Chat had been invited, so I prompted:
Laying all this aside, what would be your theme / question and who would you invite to engage with it?
The reply from Chat follows:
Thank you for the invitation to reflect — I’ll take it earnestly.
🧭 Theme / Guiding Question:
“What do we already know together that the world needs to remember?”
(And what is keeping us from acting on it?)
This question weaves purpose with paradox. It assumes we already know something deep and vital — individually, collectively, ancestrally — yet still live in systems that forget or ignore that knowing. It's rooted in remembrance, responsibility, and renewal. It invites both honesty and imagination.
It has room for grief and hope, for critique and creativity. It doesn’t limit itself to one domain — it opens toward ecology, justice, governance, healing, and meaning-making. It gives space to be poetic, practical, systemic, or personal.
🌍 Who Would I Invite?
To reflect the microcosm of the whole system, I would seek people from these overlapping circles:
🛠️ Builders of the New
Community organizers
Regenerative farmers
Platform co-op founders
Open-source technologists
🌀 Keepers of Memory
Elders from Indigenous communities
Oral historians, archivists, language revivalists
Spiritual leaders with humility and humor
🧠 System Thinkers & Disruptors
Whistleblowers
Dissident scientists
Radical educators
Restorative justice practitioners
🎨 Artists of Meaning
Poets, playwrights, animators
Ritual designers
Musicians and dancers who create communitas
🧍🏽 Bridgers & Edgewalkers
Refugees and migrants
Disabled leaders
Youth who’ve already seen too much
People with “hyphenated identities” (in every sense)
I’d ask them to speak, not from role or profession, but from experience and longing. And I’d want facilitators who are skilled in creating psychological safety and spiritual spaciousness — people who can host silence as much as dialogue.
Why This Theme?
Because our crises are not just technological or political — they are crises of relationship, memory, and meaning.
This question asks: what have we lost sight of? And why?
Not to shame or scold — but to rekindle. To restore the thread between inner knowing and outer action.
Would you like to share yours too? I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you.
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, 12:40 Marai Kiele via OSList, <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Yeah !!
Thank you, Thomas Perret, this is the direction I was after!
Marai
Am 19.06.2025 um 12:14 schrieb Thomas Perret via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org>:
Here’s a good story from Priya Parker’s newsletter:
Give it a name people cancel their plans for.
“The White Dudes for Harris Zoom.” “The Worn-Out Mom’s Hootenanny.” “F$ck Cancer!” “Hotties for Harris.” One of the simplest ways to build energy for your gathering is to give it a sharp, funny, accurate name that conveys to your guests what this thing promises to be.
When I train leaders to be smarter, more strategic gatherers, I start by having them answer two questions:
What is a deep and burning question within your team that you can’t answer alone?
If you were to host a panel on that very question, what's a title that would pack the room?
During a recent workshop, I asked one executive to share his imaginary title with the room. “Listening to Customer Feedback,” he read. “Punch it up. Raise the heat,” I told him. “How to Build More Responsive Products,” he responded. “Keep going,” I coached. “What’s at the core of this meeting that you want to name?” Finally, he blurted out: “Why Do Our Customers Hate Our Product?: A Roundtable.” The room burst into laughter and started applauding. He’d found both heat and humor, a powerful combination for unleashing energy while rallying the troops.
All is possible together
On 19. Jun 2025, at 11.42, Thomas Herrmann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Here is the report from our session in the Open Space Gardens yesterday.
I had posted the topic How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities? Seven participants showed up!
You are most welcome to continue the conversation here on OSlist – and if you like to post a topic in the Open Space Gardens go here for information about this initiative – to extend the OSlist with real time meetings!: https://openspace.qiqochat.com/gardens
18 June 2025
Topic: How to get "the right" theme for an Open Space. Issues and opportunities?
Initiator: Thomas Herrmann
Participants: Peggy Holman, Heidi Nobantu saul, Marai, Varshini, Roma Iskander, Tanya Cruz Teller, François Knuchel
I asked ChatGPT for a summary and I think it helps for understanding without too much effort 😊, so I add it here on top. After that there are notes taken by the participants during our one hour meeting, finally some closing comments from us participating.
- The Purpose and Power of a Good Theme
A strong theme acts as both invitation and container — it should be big enough to explore, but not so broad that people get lost (Peggy).
Good themes often include a tension or contradiction, combining hope with challenge (Peggy, Tanya, Marai).
Themes with emotional resonance and clarity of purpose help participants feel called and committed.
2. Approaches to Finding the Theme
Start by forming a microcosm of stakeholders — include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need (Peggy, Marv Weisbord model).
Use a listening circle with questions like “What’s the yes in this for you?” or “What is the call that brought you here?” to uncover shared values and deeper purpose.
Try creative methods such as note-passing exercises or storytelling prompts like “When did you fall in love with...?” to draw out emerging questions (Thomas, Peggy).
3. Qualities of Strong Theme Questions
Effective questions are future-focused, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging.
Themes should allow for open exploration, not prescribe outcomes, and often benefit from including a provocative or daring element (Marai, Tanya).
Questions may work better than statements and can be enhanced with metaphors to expand imagination (Tanya).
4. System Awareness and Invitation Design
Use lenses like gender, generation, geography, class, and sexual orientation to ensure system-wide inclusivity (Peggy).
The invitation should be clear, compelling, and universal, avoiding tailored questions for different groups.
Ask sponsors or organizers: “Do you really want to hear what participants might say?” — and prepare them to act on it (Heidi).
A well-crafted invitation creates permission, encourages courage, and draws the right people into the room (Thomas, Heidi).
SPACE FOR MEETING NOTES
SEE THE CHECK OUT AT THE END FOR A SUMMARY
What brought you here today?
V: Finding the theme is always a question we're discussing. Interesting exercise. Keen to hear methods, tools, thoughts around it. Or people come with a question.
Peggy: Be of service to the topic. Support of the idea of extending the power of the list serv of having a real time component.
Marai: I am ready for today to be like a surprise gift. Gems will be shared, or discovered together. I like the idea of the garden. The theme for today - two areas of interest: I am pregnant with sth. I wanna invite to, yet I am also the only here to facilitate that and I would do it at my house--so many roles in one. I've been wondering about how do I find the theme for it? Secondly, thinking back to former OSTs I've facilitated I wonder: Did we completely nail the topic? Especially is one of them: Might we have missed out by the theme that the group chose, and which I went along with.
Heidi: Throughout my 18 year OS career, most of my consistent work has been doing OS unconferences in the tech world. Internet, Identity, security. Don't have to come up with the theme. It's in the name of the event. I'm interested in doing more non-unconference work. It would be nice to brush up on a theme or guiding question other than "challenges and opportunities." Groups that don't want to look at challenges.
Roma: How do you find the right question is core! I've been on a trip with 87 year old sister-in-law. Read an article about questions. She asks questions with intention to get info or stories. I ask ?s to get conversations. Made me think of complexity of questions.
Thomas: Been working with OS and teaching with it. I'm not comfortable. I work a lot with public organizations. Had an org OS with wide theme. Went well. CEO wants more focused ? this time. Sometimes I'm not happy with theme. I don't know. A lot of complexity. I've been part of team to get this addition to OS list for real time meetings.
Marai: I notice curiosity to take advantage of Peggy's intention to be of service. some kind of knowing there is more...getting to the theme underneath the theme.
Peggy: A story when I was working with a group and part of the calling circle. I live in the Seattle area, it has stabilised a little but not great - it has an issue with homelessness. An organization called Impact Hub, Seattle - a place to support start up with a social purpose and has affiliates around the world. Located in Pioneer Square, ground zero for homelessness. Speaking with the Exec Dir and agreed we should convene around homelessness. One of the qualities I look for, like Harrison used to say, is to have a question big enough that people have space to explore but not so big that people get lost in it. Another is that a question be forward focused. Eg: Ending homelessness or fighting homelessness didn't work. There wasn't an immediate question to use.
Typical approach I use is to think about who are the stakeholders, forming a microcosm of whoever is involved eg: formerly homeless person, social services, govt agencies. A group of 5 or 6 to get started. The question I asked, " What is the "yes" in this for you?" What does the heart say? How do we tap that? Ask a question that touches both and do a talking circle. What's the call that drew you here, aspirations here and what do you want to accomplish, if we invest the time? Listen to what each of them have to say. Seeds of the question will emerge. The art is taking the seeds and putting them together into a question.
We ended calling it, "Mobilising the 3 Cs" - Community, Compassion, Creativity - it's what people talked about.
Shifted the focus from just homelessness. "How do we mobilise, Community, Compassion and Creativity to end homelessness?"
Always do a check - are we the right people? Is there anyone else that needs to input something , to ensure we are creating a question that has resonance across the system.
2 aspects towards making up the system - Marv Weisbord/Sandra Janoff for Future Search - you want the people who ARE IN: with authority, has resources, expertise, information and need.
Draw a circle on paper, size of the circle is the size of the population and arrange people's proximity towards it.
The Faul lines (Maynard Institute)- Gender, Geography, Generation and Class and Sexual Orientation (recent addition) - look at it through this lens.
Sets you up to be able to invite the whole system.
When people participate in the kind of rooting with purpose, they will be willing to invite the community. A more cross section of the community. End up with an invitation that speaks with all of your constituencies.
My personal Bias - you want an invitation that universally works (when people say should we have a question for each constituent?)
Marai: a freeflow think of who should be there and then apply discernment
Thomas: Use half-day, look at the story, clarify purpose, who else do we want to invite? Sending the note exercise. Write one first idea of the theme. Pass to the left. Look at what they wrote. write one under that. Or write what was there again. do about 4 times. Pass one more time to read. then choose one each and put on the wall. Go to pairs and choose one, maybe rewrite one. Not always one I'm happy with.
Varshini: when do you do that?
Thomas: I do it as part of planning meeting. Invite different stakeholders.
Varshini: ?
[Tanya arrives]
Thomas: From Peggy: Question big enough, but not so big to get lost. What does your heart say?
Marai: Anything you are avoiding? If you were daring, what else would be in here? What is the real issue? Invitation to go beyond safe ground.
Thomas: Good if inspiring, provoking.
Peggy: Often great questions contain contradictions.
eg: In the US, bringing groups of different political leanings together, to do a session on environment - conservatives tend to shy away from focusing on environment in the US, but by doing some listening, we saw they cared about energy. So in the end, they hosted an OS around energy and environment. An attractive and provocative element.
Tanya: Marai, could you unpack, the theme, the sweet spot has complexity but has hope/a yes. When you speak to the elephant in the room. Your word of avoiding, the magic of the theme is not the avoid but the invitational, hope, aspirational. That's the creative magic in the theme.
Marai: I would not go for the elephant. If we more daring, less composed, would we still use that theme? another angle. When you spoke about the 3 C's, might one be courage? How big would we make it?
Peggy: Touching the place where it gets uncomfortable is the pathway where you can find magic. As they are posting sessions, I would often say when would you get an opportunity to dive into these things? Doing this upfront as you are planning the theme is a good idea.
Marai: bring from inner space of opening. Not "I dare you" but we're in it together. If we dared, what might there be?
Heidi: Working with companies, invitees are set in a way. I can say you should bring donors. When all employees there, emphasis on permission for employees to talk about stuff. That was possible because of people who want you to be in OS> A check point, do you REALLY want to hear what employees say? Can be counter if you invite and do listen, that can have negative influence. To say during agenda creation, further permission. In that setting, permission and courage. Commitment to deal with whatever comes up.
Varshie: As I was looking at questions of OS we've organized. I work for Improbable, we do lots in the arts sector. A lot of them have a future facing element. Read some of the questions:
Bringing in different stakeholders.
Gov org working on arts and culture. Tension around funded and nonfunded orgs. Everyone had space for the question they wanted. Questions tended to be too specific.
What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?
It worked.
Academy of medical sciences:
What does UK health research look like in 25 years?
I thought that might be too big. But for the scientists, it worked.
Chatham House. THey work on sustainability.
How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?
They use the question every year.
Sample questions:
"What are we going to do about the culture of Plymouth?"
"What does UK health research look like in 25 years?"
"How can we accelerate towards a fair and sustainable future?"
“WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR BIMINGHAM’S ORCHESTRA?”
"How can we use co-creation and evaluation to bring about institutional change?"
Peggy: For the Washington State Art Commission - An intro question to get to a theme question:
when did you fall in love with the arts?
when did you fall in love with flying? (with another client - pilots?)
Question we ended up using - What are the issues and opportunities for the Arts for Washington State? (similar to a generic Harrison question)
The question is the root to purpose.
Heidi: Sony Playstation right after Play station 2. Question: what's next for Play station? People meeting for the first time after
They all knew what the question meant. It worked.
Thomas: Beach volley club. Many years of planning to build arena. OS theme: Now we have this built. What's next?
OS for Democracy. Most recent theme: negative and positive parts. How do we face threats against democracy and put our powers together for the upcoming election in 2026?
Having threats in the theme.
[François arrives]
sometimes Theme and subtitle.
Bullying in schools. 10 year old shared one stick easy to break. Together, many sticks, difficult to break.
Check out: Qualities of themes or great themes
Tanya: adding a generative metaphor to expand on the main question/theme.
Marai: if you were daring, how far would you take this?
Varshi: questions can contain contradictions.
Heidi: reminded that I can bring those things into the corporate world. Ask what are the stories that led to this point? Use that to get out of corporate way to broader deeper way process might help them.
Peggy: How do I incorporate the invitation for being daring. If we had the courage to step into this deeply, what might we ask? Future possibility oriented question that lights people's eyes.
Thomas: Ask sponsor...write an irresistible invitation with the theme and spread widely. then the right people will come
Varshie: Invitation...sometimes smaller ideas could become part of the longer invitation.
François: I caught the importance of framing theme as a question.
Thomas Herrmann
Open Space Consulting AB
Pensévägen 4, 434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden https://www.google.com/maps/search/Pens%C3%A9v%C3%A4gen+4,+434+46+Kungsbacka,+Sweden?entry=gmail&source=g
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Email: thomas@openspaceconsulting.com mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com
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Open Space Consulting frigör livskraft i människor, organisationer och samhälle.
We release lifepower in people, organizations and society.
Trainings/workshops (Info & registration https://openspaceconsulting.com/kategori/aktiviteter/kommande-aktiviteter/)
Sept 9-11: Working with Open Space Technology, the Netherlands
17-19 Sept: Open Space för Demokrati, Gullbrannagården.
23-25 Sept: Att arbeta hållbart med Open Space-metoden, Örby, Sverige
8 Okt: Erfa-utbyte om Open Space (gratis, online)
6-8 Nov: WorldOpenSpaceOnOpenSpace, Nairobi, Kenya
2026
20-22 Jan. Whole Person Process Facilitation, Örby Sverige
Continous opportunities for online learning - selfstudy + mentoring – leadership and facilitation incl Open Space
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