Mostly, it's been my experience that we get in open space what we
invite.  Once an executive director called me at 9:01 on Monday
morning to tell me he tried open space and it didn't work... they
talked all about the history and nothing about the future... i asked
him what his theme, invite or question was.  Turns out he didn't ask
them to look forward, only to review what had been.  And he realized
it just as he recited his invite to me.

I can't remember ever including in an invitation anything about
"future of whatever... and how to do more open space" ...since,
mostly, nobody coming in would know what that meant.  Many
organizations have done repeat events in open space... but those are
events.  That's different from soaking it into daily meetings.  I
always remember, back in 1999, two guys walking out of a 3 day
strategy event with a few hundred ppts... "We should do this again...
in about two years." So when it's seen as an event thing, an annual or
occasional thing, it tends to stay that way.

I'm quite certain that if we want it to go deeper and become everyday
practice, or as Harrison used to say, "just the way we do things
around here," we would have only to invite that question to be
considered.  We'd have to take some time to understand what it is and
how it works.  And then it could happen.  Over and over again, we seem
to get pretty much exactly what we invite.

Actually, some years ago Chris Corrigan and Judi Richardson and I led
two days in Open Space and then we did two days of "keeping it going,"
which could also be called training, but it proceeded very much in the
spirit and shape of open space... and 6 months later there were
several OS meetings happening every week.  So where we invited it, it
took root. Another group worked for 4 hours in OS and then formed a
new organization that ran completely in OS.  But both of these orgs
were mostly or completely populated by young people.  But those folks
are in their 40s now.  At least one of them still opening space
professionally.

I think if we have specific ways we want it to keep happening, we need
to invite them directly. But even when we don't, there are many many
ways that OS views and practices seep into how people do organization.

--

Michael Herman
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com http://MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org http://OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 11:05 PM John Warinner via OSList
everyone@oslist.org wrote:

 Hi Tony -

 It seems like this conversation is focused towards one side of a
 two-sided relationship.

 My experience suggests that adoption of new innovations is driven
 much more by the inherent quality and value of the innovation
 (creating natural pull by the adopters) rather than promotion and
 persuasion (generating a forced push by the advocates).

 It seems to me that the most effective strategy is to invest most
 of your energy designing a self-evident solution, requiring
 minimal awareness and zero persuasion.  All the social bridges
 and/or persuasion in the world are not going to drive adoption of
 an “innovation” of mediocre quality.

 Please respond freely,
 John

 *John Warinner
 *(541) 815-4103*
 *johnwarinner@gmail.com

 On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 7:03 PM Tony Budak via OSList
 <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:

     Per Peggy’s suggestion — if I want to play with Centola’s
     research in the Open Space Lab, the simplest move is to call a
     session and see who wants to join in. So I’m doing exactly that.

     Centola’s work focuses on a very specific challenge: *getting
     people to actually adopt an innovation.* Not whether
     individuals transform, not whether people have powerful
     experiences — but whether a /new behavior/ spreads through
     bridges among networks.

     His research says people don’t decide alone. They take cues
     from social norms, peer feedback, and what they see multiple
     neighbors doing. That’s the part I’m exploring.

     So I’m opening a small experiment in the Lab.***Let’s see if a
     new behavior can escape an OST circle or if it dies, at the
     edge of the cluster or room.*

     *Session: How Innovations Spread — Testing Centola’s Network
     Science Inside OST*

     I’m hosting a short, hands‑on experiment for anyone curious
     about how social behaviors actually catch on. Centola’s
     research shows that adoption isn’t an individual choice — it’s
     a social process. People change when they get reinforcement
     from multiple peers, not from inspiration alone.

     Open Space Lab gives us a perfect sandbox to test this.

     We’ll run a simple, real‑time experiment: watch how a new
     behavior spreads inside an OST circle, and then look at what
     happens after the circle dissolves.

       * Does the behavior travel?
       * Does it fade?
       * Does it jump to other groups?

     This isn’t about proving OST right or wrong. It’s about
     understanding the network dynamics that make an innovation
     stick — or stall.

     If you’ve seen long‑term cultural effects from repeated OST
     practice, your stories matter here. If you’re curious about
     how norms move through communities, come join in.

     I’ll host the space. Whoever shows up are the right people.

     Thanks to all,
     Tony

     On 8/11/2026 11:55 AM, Peggy Holman via OSList wrote:

     -- 

     In Solidarity for more joy, and less stuff,
     *Tony*
     Click HERE to Meet with Tony <https://bit.ly/3WtAIgT>

     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

 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

Michael, yeah — Open Space always delivers the invitation, not the
fantasy. If you ask people to look backward, they’ll look backward; if you
want forward motion, you actually have to point the arrow that way. And
every time someone treats OS like a once‑a‑year special event, it behaves
like one. But when we invite it to be everyday practice, it quietly takes
root and starts showing up in all the cracks. It’s funny how reliable that
is.
On 8/12/2026 2:34 AM, Michael Herman wrote:

Mostly, it's been my experience that we get in open space what we invite.
Once an executive director called me at 9:01 on Monday morning to tell me
he tried open space and it didn't work... they talked all about the history
and nothing about the future... i asked him what his theme, invite or
question was.  Turns out he didn't ask them to look forward, only to
review what had been.  And he realized it just as he recited his invite to
me.

I can't remember ever including in an invitation anything about "future of
whatever... and how to do more open space" ...since, mostly, nobody coming
in would know what that meant.  Many organizations have done repeat events
in open space... but those are events.  That's different from soaking it
into daily meetings.  I always remember, back in 1999, two guys walking out
of a 3 day strategy event with a few hundred ppts... "We should do this
again... in about two years."  So when it's seen as an event thing, an
annual or occasional thing, it tends to stay that way.

I'm quite certain that if we want it to go deeper and become everyday
practice, or as Harrison used to say, "just the way we do things around
here," we would have only to invite that question to be considered.  We'd
have to take some time to understand what it is and how it works.  And then
it could happen.  Over and over again, we seem to get pretty much exactly
what we invite.

Actually, some years ago Chris Corrigan and Judi Richardson and I led two
days in Open Space and then we did two days of "keeping it going," which
could also be called training, but it proceeded very much in the spirit and
shape of open space... and 6 months later there were several OS meetings
happening every week.  So where we invited it, it took root.  Another group
worked for 4 hours in OS and then formed a new organization that ran
completely in OS.  But both of these orgs were mostly or completely
populated by young people.  But those folks are in their 40s now.  At least
one of them still opening space professionally.

I think if we have specific ways we want it to keep happening, we need to
invite them directly. But even when we don't, there are many many ways that
OS views and practices seep into how people do organization.

--

Michael Herman
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 11:05 PM John Warinner via OSList <
everyone@oslist.org> wrote:

--

In Solidarity for more joy, and less stuff,
Tony
Click HERE to Meet with Tony https://bit.ly/3WtAIgT
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

Hi Tony, Michael, John, and others,

This is a fascinating conversation, and it is pulling on a lot of what I
am personally trying to pay attention to. There are three resources that
I'd like to share that may also be of interest.

1. Rebecca Solnit's recent long essay "The Beginning Comes after the End"
   https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-beginning-comes-after-the-end-notes-on-a-world-of-change-rebecca-solnit/dd560635125988a2
   -- many examples of how ideas spread. They start small, or on the fringe,
   until one day, they appear mainstream and part of the norm. Sometimes,
   ideas need to be built up in the background for a while before they become
   really visible.

2. I just read this article this morning about "norm design
   https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the-science-of-norm-design". It shares
   a few studies about how norms are embedded and unquestioned. It talks about
   design interventions that work *with *norms and culture, not against
   them. After reading it, I was thinking -- how might World Cafe, Open Space,
   and other participatory practices expose norms and help a group think about
   them differently?

3. I am hosting a 90-minute community conversation
   https://theworldcafe.com/engaging-the-heart-of-social-innovation/ in
   two weeks on August 25 -- Embracing the Heart of Social Innovation. It
   is a place where I hope social change folks and experienced participatory
   hosts can meet. Together, we might build a wider and wiser community of
   people to look together at the spaces and places where a participatory
   conversation might shake the ground or move the needle. Hosts and social
   change organizers are welcome; a modest donation is requested. Take a
   look at the invite
   https://theworldcafe.com/engaging-the-heart-of-social-innovation/, and
   please come if curious.

Deeply appreciate everyone's reflections, be well,
Greta

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 8:25 AM Tony Budak via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

Apologies if I missed something earlier in this thread, Tony... but
what behaviors are we wanting to travel?  What innovations are we
talking about wanting more of?  Innovations that get invented during
an open space meeting?  Innovations in behavior that are commonly
adopted during the meeting, like taking, typing and sharing the notes
or like the law of two feet?  Innovations like the agenda-creating
that is part of the design and calling of the meeting itself?  Stuff
people invent during a meeting seem quite frequently to have legs. At
the other end, there are relatively few people in organizations
convening what I sometimes call "big meetings" (with big groups, big
questions, and/or the big bosses in the room).  So one OS meeting
isn't necessarily replicated or even seen by many of the convener(s)'
peers who could replicate the experiment.  And sometimes the original
convener(s)' interest in OS comes more from wanting something novel,
different from what they always do or have done, than from wanting
exactly what OS is.  In those cases, the behavior IS replicated... but
OS isn't the behavior, choosing a novel approach is the actual
behavior.  So what are the innovations or behaviors that we're really
wanting to see repeated and take hold?  Which ones are we talking
about? Thanks, m

--

Michael Herman
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com http://MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org http://OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 10:58 AM Greta Anderson
greta@theworldcafe.com wrote:

 Hi Tony, Michael, John, and others,

 This is a fascinating conversation, and it is pulling on a lot of
 what I am personally trying to pay attention to. There are three
 resources that I'd like to share that may also be of interest.

 1. Rebecca Solnit's recent long essay"The Beginning Comes after
 the End"
 <https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-beginning-comes-after-the-end-notes-on-a-world-of-change-rebecca-solnit/dd560635125988a2>
 -- many examples of how ideas spread. They start small, or on the
 fringe, until one day, they appear mainstream and part of the
 norm. Sometimes, ideas need to be built up in the background for a
 while before they become really visible.

 2. I just read this article this morning about "norm design
 <https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the-science-of-norm-design>". It
 shares a few studies about how norms are embedded and
 unquestioned. It talks about design interventions that work /with
 /norms and culture, not against them. After reading it, I was
 thinking -- how might World Cafe, Open Space, and other
 participatory practices expose norms and help a group think about
 them differently?

 3. I am hosting a 90-minute community conversation
 <https://theworldcafe.com/engaging-the-heart-of-social-innovation/>
 in two weeks on August 25 -- *Embracing the Heart of Social
 Innovation*. It is a place where I hope social change folks and
 experienced participatory hosts can meet. Together, we might build
 a wider and wiser community of people to look together at the
 spaces and places where a participatory conversation might shake
 the ground or move the needle. Hosts and social change organizers
 are welcome; a modest donation is requested. Take a look at the
 invite
 <https://theworldcafe.com/engaging-the-heart-of-social-innovation/>, and
 please come if curious.

 Deeply appreciate everyone's reflections, be well,
 Greta


 On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 8:25 AM Tony Budak via OSList
 <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:

     Michael, yeah — Open Space always delivers the invitation, not
     the fantasy. If you ask people to look backward, they’ll look
     backward; if you want forward motion, you actually have to
     point the arrow that way. And every time someone treats OS
     like a once‑a‑year special event, it behaves like one. But
     when we invite it to be everyday practice, it quietly takes
     root and starts showing up in all the cracks. It’s funny how
     reliable that is.

     On 8/12/2026 2:34 AM, Michael Herman wrote:

     -- 

     In Solidarity for more joy, and less stuff,
     *Tony*
     Click HERE to Meet with Tony <https://bit.ly/3WtAIgT>

     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

OSList mailing list --everyone@oslist.org
To unsubscribe send an email toeveryone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here:https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org

Michael, I think you’re naming the key tension: OS event practices
travel pretty well, but the behaviors that make OS work almost never
travel unless someone actually invites them to.

I’m not talking about the agenda wall, the law of two feet, or the novelty
of a “big meeting.” Those are great, but they’re just the scaffolding. The
real innovations — the ones I’m interested in watching for spread — are the core
OS behaviors:

-

people stepping up for what they care about
-

people initiating instead of waiting
-

people treating each other as peers
-

people surfacing what matters instead of performing what’s expected
-

people trusting self‑organization enough to act

Those aren’t invented in OS. They’re revealed by OS. And they rarely
travel unless someone names them and invites them, i.e. If nobody
says, “Hey, that thing we did in the circle — where folks stepped up
instead of waiting for permission — let’s try that in our Tuesday staff
meeting,” then it stays locked inside the event. People assume it only
works when there’s butcher paper on the wall.

You also pointed out that OS often gets used as a one‑off novelty. In
those cases, the behavior that spreads is “try something different,” not
“work this way.” Exactly right. That’s why I’m not trying to spread OS
itself — I’m looking at whether and how the underlying norms can spread.

And this is where Centola’s work is useful. It gives us a way to see
whether those norms actually move beyond the circle — and what kind of
reinforcement they need, i.e. If five people start using “ask before
advise” in everyday conversations — and each of them sees two or three
peers doing it too — that behavior has enough reinforcement to spread. If
one person tries it and nobody mirrors it, it dies on the vine. Centola
lets us watch whether the norm jumps clusters or stalls at the edge of the
room.

So the bottom-line is:

*I’m interested in whether the core OS behaviors can become “how we do
things,” not “that neat thing we tried once.” *Thanks,
Tony
On 8/12/2026 2:02 PM, Michael Herman via OSList wrote:

Apologies if I missed something earlier in this thread, Tony... but what
behaviors are we wanting to travel?  What innovations are we talking about
wanting more of?  Innovations that get invented during an open space
meeting?  Innovations in behavior that are commonly adopted during the
meeting, like taking, typing and sharing the notes or like the law of two
feet?  Innovations like the agenda-creating that is part of the design and
calling of the meeting itself?  Stuff people invent during a meeting seem
quite frequently to have legs.  At the other end, there are relatively few
people in organizations convening what I sometimes call "big meetings"
(with big groups, big questions, and/or the big bosses in the room).  So
one OS meeting isn't necessarily replicated or even seen by many of the
convener(s)' peers who could replicate the experiment.  And sometimes the
original convener(s)' interest in OS comes more from wanting something
novel, different from what they always do or have done, than from wanting
exactly what OS is.  In those cases, the behavior IS replicated... but OS
isn't the behavior, choosing a novel approach is the actual behavior.  So
what are the innovations or behaviors that we're really wanting to see
repeated and take hold?  Which ones are we talking about? Thanks, m

--

Michael Herman
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 10:58 AM Greta Anderson greta@theworldcafe.com
wrote:

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

--

In Solidarity for more joy, and less stuff,
Tony
Click HERE to Meet with Tony https://bit.ly/3WtAIgT
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

Thanks for making this perfectly clear and positively thorny, Tony!  Yes,
this is the challenge.  And... it's what's happened in the OS events that
are my favorites over the years.  Some of these brush up against authority,
(what would Dan Mezick say?) or potentially personalities, in practice,
beyond events... and some of them will have had significant foundations
laid in advance of meetings.  The very first thing I ever did in open
space, as a participant, in 1996, was to convene a session called "Imposing
democractic self-organization OR how do we teach responsibility?"
Practice, practice, practice!  Never finished.  Jumping clusters sounds
related to Gell-Mann's sparse connections a pre-condition in
self-organizing environments.  Harrison used to have a medicine wheel story
that tried to encourage some of this.  I have tried to convey/invite these
possibilities in various ways along the way... though I realize now that
that has been in side conversations during the event with curious ppts, and
in the closing, when Harrison used to tell his medicine wheel story.  Also
in the gap before action planning work.  But I'm thinking now that morning
news, assuming people are too tired at evening news on day one, might be
the fertile moment where people have seen enough to understand AND still
have time enough to dig a level deeper and start to think about
incorporating/keeping some of the cultural/process learning they're doing,
without distracting from getting the actual work done.  Some of those
favorite events had an important mid-program moment where some of this
could be seen and understood by all.  And if we searched the decades of
this list, I'm guessing there's been almost no questioning or answering
about "what do you do in the middle of an OS meeting" -- not a single post
against the heaps and heaps of posts about what to do with the sponsor
before, how to set up the room, what to say in the opening and even what
about the closing circle... nothing, i bet, about how to invite a next
level from WITHIN the open space, again, where people have had enough time
to learn and still have enough time to process and integrate into the
work.  Very interesting.

--

Michael Herman
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 6:31 PM Tony Budak via OSList everyone@oslist.org
wrote:

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