One of my early errors in the use of Open Space was with a small team at the beginning of its mandate for a particular task. The chair was also unclear about many aspects of the task and that was part of the problem. We developed the wrong theme for the state of the group. The one day Open Space meeting worked and produced useful results, but they were not the appropriate results for the stage of the group. Since then, I have been much more careful in the identification of a theme and the parameters for action. Mistakes are still possible for all of us and the world sometimes changes between the announcement of the theme and the event itself. If it is a two day event, then the event usually finds the topics that it needs to address in spite of the stated theme. Amazing.
Larry
