Open space: A structured format for your topics

Scheme of the Open space format

In 1985, Harrison Owen planned a large professional conference. It took a year to organise, but afterwards, many participants said the most valuable part was the coffee breaks. That’s where the real conversations happened: spontaneous, relevant, and energising.

So he asked: What if we designed a format that gave space for exactly that?

The result was Open Space Technology: A structured method to give participants ownership of the agenda and engage in the discussions they find most important.

At the NECE Festival 2025, we’re offering dedicated Open Space sessions. Here’s how it works:

  1. Anyone can propose a topic, idea, or question they want to explore with others.
  2. These topics are posted in a central “marketplace” and assigned a time and space.
  3. Participants choose freely which conversations to join, according to their interest and energy.
  4. You can stay in one session, move between sessions, or start something new.

There is a clear framework and facilitator to guide the process, but what happens inside the sessions depends on you and the people who show up.

Open Space is ideal when:

  1. You want to dive deeper into issues that haven’t been addressed elsewhere.
  2. You have experience or insight to share, or are looking for others who do.
  3. You’re curious to connect across roles, regions, or disciplines.

It’s not chaotic. It’s emergent.

And often, it’s where the most important work of a festival begins.