Open Space Fishbowl
Larry Peterson & Andrew Rixon
03/12/06
“We were pleasantly surprised with the number of participants willing to brave the
fishbowl, and even more so with the conversation that followed. This was a format that
engaged those within the fishbowl to offer the type of forthright commentary that may not
have surfaced in another meeting format”. (VPSCIN participant)
“I would suggest using the fishbowl approach in other sessions. I liked the way the silent
space is filled by those who have something to say - It is a great way to build
discussion/conversation around the topic of the day.” (VPSCIN participant)
“Very enjoyable and as I expected, valuable also. This will bring about a bit of momentum
to do-it better in implementing change in our organisation.” (VPSCIN participant)
In Australia, we discovered and tested a great way to apply the Principles and Law of
Open Space Technology to a “fishbowl” to create a dynamic, energized conversation
with a whole room in a short time frame. The traditional “fishbowl” meeting format with
its small circle of chairs in the middle of a larger group and an “empty” chair to engage
one participant at a time was transformed by the Principles and Law of Open Space. It
became a generator of high energy connection and stimulated discussion of ideas
important to the whole group. Andrew proposed the idea of the Open Space Fishbowl
stimulated by Larry’s visit to Melbourne in October 2006. Larry added his thoughts and
we did the first implementation together. It was great fun!
The VPSCIN Story
A year earlier, Frank Connolly had become the network coordinator for the Victorian
Public Services Continuous Improvement Network (VPSCIN), a community of interest
around all things related to government improvement. Frank’s vision had led him to
working with more interesting and engaging formats. From Dr. Feelgood to Edward De
Bono to Laughter sessions, Frank wanted to tap into core issues. That new energy saw
consistent lunch time crowds of over 150 people.
Andrew as an Anecdote consultant had worked with Frank. When he learned from Fr.
Brian Bainbridge that Larry would be visiting Melbourne and had a preference for a
conversation rather than a stock standard ‘presentation’, he thought of Frank’s
Continuous Improvement Network and wondered about a fishbowl type process.
Andrew raised the idea with Frank who loved the idea of the fishbowl. Larry did also, but
was concerned most about the theme for the conversation and what the process was to
be called. Through a mixture of emails and skype calls with Larry in Toronto we
developed the lunchtime theme of “Leading complex change and opening space”. This
was a theme which Frank felt confident would be engaging for Continuous Improvement
Network members.
It made sense to Larry to apply the Principles and Law of Open Space to a different
“technology”, the fishbowl, for the meeting. Since the phrases “Open Space” and “Open
Space Technology” mean the same thing to many, he believes the differences get
muddled between applying the principles and carrying out a particular event. This event
would have some self-organizing characteristics, but not be a full self-organizing OST
meeting. To prevent this confusion Larry encouraged Frank and Andrew to not call it an
Open Space meeting. Larry was confident that they would find a way to make it work no
matter what the name.
As we proceeded towards the day, Andrew thought about how to make the fishbowl
work. How would we get people into the fishbowl and the conversation? He imagined
how the principles of Open Space Technology could also apply to the fishbowl. He
realized there seemed to be a good fit. Whoever comes to the fishbowl are the right
people. Whatever happens in the fishbowl is the only thing that could have. Whenever it
starts is the right time, and when it’s over it’s over. And the Law of Two Feet certainly
seemed to make sense as well – “If you’re not learning or contributing in the fishbowl,
move away and open some space for someone else to join”.
In good improvisational style, about an hour before the event was scheduled to start,
Larry and Andrew sat down and went through the design, roles, and the nuts and bolts
of the fishbowl process. Given the group, we agreed to informally encourage some
people to join the fishbowl at the beginning, to seed the early discussion. Andrew
proceeded to do this before the session started.
The room was set up with both the traditional podium along one side and a fishbowl
circle of seven comfortable chairs, on risers in the middle. The rest of the room was full
Larry Peterson & Andrew Rixon 2
of round tables that soon became full of people. The first half-hour was for lunch and
networking for the 160 participants. After a half-hour, the CEO sponsor Karen Cleave
welcomed the group and introduced the session and then called upon Larry.
Larry spoke for about fifteen minutes, introducing himself, his experience, thinking and
ideas related to the theme in order to stimulate participants to join the upcoming
conversation. Andrew then introduced the fishbowl, describing the process, encouraging
the participants to join the fishbowl. Larry and Andrew worked together to “open the
space” of the fishbowl invoking the Four Principles and One Law of Open Space.
Andrew described the five-minute chair and that he would monitor the time. He
encouraged tables to discuss questions that they might want to bring to the fishbowl.
With Larry sitting in the fishbowl, Andrew invited those who felt passionate, those who
had taken responsibility and ownership for a question to bring their question and their
body into the fishbowl.
Of the three “seed” people Andrew had encouraged to come, only one did, but behind
him, were 5 other volunteers! Larry facilitated the fishbowl and also gave input as
appropriate. Fishbowl participants started discussions, initially with queries or ideas in
relation to the initial presentation. The conversation then flowed from there following one
emergent theme or another. Then, the Principles and Law began to kick in. Some
members of the fishbowl left, allowing others to join with their ideas or queries. There
were good conversations on a number of topics dealing with leadership of complex
initiatives, organizational support for such change, what to do if you are asked to lead a
major change with which you disagree, living systems, Open Space Technology and
many others.
Some topics or questions got applause when they were brought into the fishbowl – an
indication that the whole room was engaged. Others stimulated enough controversy that
the formal leadership got a bit defensive. Issues of real importance to the participants
went into the fishbowl. Some of the initial members of the fishbowl came back later in
the conversation, because they wanted to put more in.
For the next 45 minutes the whole room appeared to be totally engaged, with people
joining and leaving the fishbowl. The conversation flowed beautifully. The one thing
Larry Peterson & Andrew Rixon 3
Andrew noticed was how Larry with his calm caring way took the time to invite others
thoughts and comments before answering. This approach seemed to create a real
atmosphere in the fishbowl and in the room. The CEO formally closed the session as
she had opened it with kind words and “thank you’s”.
Some of the feedback from participants at that session was quoted at the beginning of
this piece. Fr. Brian Bainbridge was sitting outside the door near the end of the event,
waiting to collect Larry and Becky (Larry’s partner and York University professor who
jointed him on the trip). Brian stated that few had left the session early and that he
overheard a quite positive buzz when people did leave. Those he asked about the
session gave glowing comments.
Sydney Facilitators Network
Larry then used the same approach in Sydney near the end of his visit to Australia. The
Sydney Facilitators’ Network operates intentionally on Open Space Principles. Once an
invitation goes out gatherings happen, people appear, conversations takes place. There
is a core group that initiates the conversations. The normal meeting is about two hours
and before the event Larry was told by that there was particular interest in the
connections between OST, Spiral Dynamics and Ken Wilbur. Harrison Owen’s visits
were remembered with great fondness by a number in the group.
Larry Peterson & Andrew Rixon 4
Becky and Larry were warmly received at UTS (University of Technology at Sydney) by
Professor Elyssebeth Leigh but she, for good reasons, could not attend the session.
Although, she ensured the room and cookies were available. For a short time, Becky
and Larry were left in an empty room with a few cookies. They pushed the tables to the
side, made a circle of about 40 student chairs to fill the perimeter. A core member of the
network did appear to host the event, as did, all of a sudden, a lot of people ready to
participate. They were more people than chairs, so some were borrowed from other
classrooms.
After the session was convened and Larry and Becky introduced, Larry did a similar brief
overview to that of VPSCIN, but with more emphasis on complexity theory and his
application of Spiral Dynamics Integral. He then created the fishbowl in the centre of the
room, described the process and invoked the Principles and Law of Open Space. He
was surprised that a substantial number of people in the room had not experienced OST
and wanted a description. So he made a slight departure to describe OST using Open
Space in Pictures from his web site. (The technology classroom had great internet
access.) Mary Jamieson, who was at 4 events in Melbourne including VPSCIN,
volunteered to monitor the five-minute chair in the fishbowl.
With this group, however, the seeding was certainly not necessary. There was an ebb
and flow of conversation in the circle that was great fun. Some questions were very
specific about OST and its impact and what Larry does before and after opening the
space. Some were about relationships between approaches. Others were deeper with
regard to personal/spiritual preparation for this kind of work. It was great fun and again
few people in the room used their two feet to leave, mostly they joined the fishbowl for
conversation. Becky joined the fishbowl for part of the time, but was mostly watching
from the larger circle and commented on the high level engagement she saw throughout
the room. The approach worked again.
Conclusions
This is a small sample of two uses, but the Open Space Fishbowl seemed to work
extremely well in these situations where some sort of “expertise” was a reason or
stimulus for the gathering and the focus was on learning or conversation.
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Thanks to Andrew’s initiative, we discovered and practiced a great way to have a
conversation with larger groups in short time frames. We believe that Open Space
Fishbowl is an example of using the Principles and Law of Open Space to take another
meeting form, or technique, to a higher level. It increased the energy and selforganization
of participants and produced better learning and more spirited
conversations. It was not a use of Open Space Technology to engage the full room in
self-organized conversation groups with emergent leadership around the theme. It did,
however, create the conditions for a powerful and engaging conversation.
A quick review of Open Space Fishbowl process:
Context:
• One or two people are perceived to bring substantial experience or expertise to a
gathering with regard to a theme. The “content” or “persona” they bring is part of
the reason for the invitation and focus of the meeting.
• Time frame is relatively short (e.g. 1-2 hours max.)
• The group size is 40 participants or more. It would likely work with groups up to
200.
• Physical space allows for set-up of the fishbowl
Set-Up
• A circle of chairs in the middle of other chairs or round tables with chairs. There
needs to be some space between the bowl and the other chairs so that people
can choose to join.
• Fishbowl circle of chairs is visible to all with appropriate mikes for sound. In large
groups, especially those with tables, the fishbowl will need to be on risers
somewhat above the round tables with chairs.
Traditional Fishbowl
Traditional fishbowl is a simple process with 5-8 chairs in a circle and one empty chair.
Others in the room are in a larger circle and hence look in on the “fishbowl” in the centre.
Fishbowl members are sometimes pre-selected or emerge from the group, but tend to
stay in their chairs for the duration of the session. The empty chair is for those from the
larger group who want to ask questions or give comments, but usually they are then
asked to leave and let the discussion continue. The empty chair is intended to help
others stay engaged in the discussion. The fishbowl usually has a moderator or
facilitator in the group.
Possible Flow of Open Space Fishbowl
• Sponsor’s Welcome (5 Minutes)
• Content presenter(s) suggest areas of content for the conversation (15 minutes),
before getting into the fishbowl. (So as to distinguish the two processes.)
• Describe the OS Fishbowl process and rules (10 minutes)
o Describe the circle and the 5-minute empty chair
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o Invoke the Principles and Law of OST for all fishbowl members and other
participants and be clear that it is not a full Open Space Technology
meeting even with the same Principles and Law
• Presenter (or a facilitator) initiates the discussion by asking for a question or idea
generated by the content framework presented. Follow good small group
process to engage, make input, tell stories, acknowledge newcomers questions
or ideas.
• When it’s over it’s over! There is usually a time frame for such formal meetings.
If it’s over before then, then it’s over.
• Sponsor’s closing comments. (2 minutes)
What makes it work!
• “Presenter(s)” who are willing and able to let the majority of the content for the
session emerge in conversations related to participants’ questions and ideas.
(Trust the people in the room, the process, emergent learning and the collective
consciousness.)
• Could try a facilitator in addition to the “expert” in the bowl if concerned about the
above, but we have not tried this yet.
• A group that is interested in the topic, in watching some of their colleagues get
engaged in conversation and free to use the Law of Two Feet if they are not –
either jump in the fishbowl, learn or leave.
Other Comments on the VPSCIN OS Fishbowl:
“I really enjoyed the openness of the fishbowl, next time I will be in there swimming.”
“We were pleasantly surprised with the number of participants willing to brave the
fishbowl, and even more so with the conversation that followed. This was a format that
engaged those within the fishbowl to offer the type of forthright commentary that may not
have surfaced in another meeting format. Congratulations to Andrew and Larry for being
able to engineer such a frank exchange of views.”
“This was a really refreshing change to the normal VPSCIN lunch. I’m glad I came in on my
normal day off! I have been involved in other kinds of discussion circles and would be
keen to see open space used more particularly in whole of Government sessions.”
“I was surprised how readily people took to the fishbowl! Why not apply this format in
future VPSCIN events?”
“Would suggest using the fishbowl approach in other sessions. I liked the way the silent
space is filled by those who have something to say - It is a great way to build
discussion/conversation around the topic of the day.”
“The principle that ‘whoever comes are the right people’ - that leaders will identify
themselves – struck a chord. We see this clearly in community groups and social settings,
and even in the non-core business of our work (social functions, for example). It is more
challenging to foster and support leaders to identify themselves in our core business as
public servants where hierarchy can be stifling.”
Contacts:
VPSCIN: www.vpscin.org
Andrew Rixon: andrew@anecdote.com.au
Larry Peterson: larry@spiritedorg.com
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