Open space technology

Open space technology (OST) is a method for organizing and running a meeting or multi-day conference, where participants have been invited in order to focus on a specific, important task or purpose.

In contrast with pre-planned conferences where who will speak at which time will be scheduled often months in advance, and therefore subject to many changes, OST sources participants once they are physically present at the live event venue. There is less organised before the meetings than usual.

The agenda and schedule of presentations is partly or mostly unknown until people begin arriving. The scheduling of speakers, topics and locations is created by people attending, once they arrive. At the end of each OST meeting, a debriefing document is created summarizing what worked and what did not work.

OST was created in the early 1980s, by Harrison Owen. It was one of the top ten organization development tools cited between 2004 and 2013.