Virtual Liberating Structures: Open Space Technology in Gather.Town

In times of the pandemic 2020 and 2021 we learned to create amazing human interactions in virtual spaces. If you don't know liberating structures yet, take a look at: https://www.liberatingstructures.com

It is a challenge to make these structures somehow work in virtual environments. Gather Town is a great tool to create virtual spaces for human interactions. This is why I will show how to create a map for Open Space Technology in Gather Town.

Basic infos about the mechanics of Gather Town

A) you steer an avatar around on a map, if you meet other avatars a video conference with the people near you is started. B) You can connect rooms (breakouts, sub-rooms) via portals. C) Private conversations - participants of private conversations can only see and hear the persons/avatars in the same private conversation. D) Spotlight-position: Avatars stepping on these tiles can broadcast to the whole map.

How do Private Conversations, Spotlight Positions and the Map Editor work? You might like to read it in these articles: Impromptu Networking in Gather Town and 1,2,4all (& fishbowl) in Gather Town

How do Portals and an external Map Editor work: Troika Consulting (& coaching dojo) in Gather Town

Open Space: Exchange and decision-making in multiple self-organized groups at the same time

Initial thoughts and iterative testing of Open Space scenarios in Gather Town

First try was to have one main-space for sharing and up to eight small separated breakout-maps for the Open Space sessions. It went well but:

1. Being in separated breakout rooms you need to exit the room to the main session and then enter the next breakout room. This is a barrier to decide to go somewhere else.
2. As a facilitatior of the Open Space it is annoying to enter 8 separated breakout-rooms to remind people of timekeeping and documentation.

This is why I decided to create only one additional map for up to five Open Space sessions to make it easier to use the "Law of the two Feet".

In the image you can see the five green islands. On each island a "field" of green or brown is defined as a private conversation. Additionally I added one broadcast-spotlight to the map (on the yellow island in the middle).

It still makes sense to separate the Open Space sessions from the main-space (session-pitches, marketplace, sharing-sessions...) in virtual environments. In the main-spaces we use different kinds of broadcast functionalities to speak to the whole plenum - but we also have the Open Space principle "it starts when it starts & it ends when it ends" - to respect that, I don't want the ongoing sessions to be disturbed by whatever goes on in the main-space. This is the reason for having separate maps for the main-room and the Open-Space-session-area.

Next iteration: get closer

Next learning: Especially participants experiencing an Open Space for the first time don't dare to use their feet to leave a session and join an other conversation.

This is why I created this map with the "conversation islands" being even closer. The effect is: You can now see at least two other private-conversation-areas and the avatars in this ongoing conversations. This will generate a stronger pull to leave and cross-pollinate other conversations.

The whole concept of Open Space in Gather Town

The stage in the main room (here it is a blue fishbowl area with four spotlight positions) is used for explanation of OS-Technology, session planning, marketplace, sharing- and feedback-sessions. The agenda ist still (in May 2021) created in a different tool (mostly miro or mural).

When the agenda is "good enough to start" participants decide themselves where to go. The teleporters can be used to jump to the conversation-island-map.

On the conversation island map you have one broadcast position to speak to all to remind of timekeeping or asking to come back to the main room.

Thats all... Open Space goes virtual!

Please comment if you try it and let me learn from your experiences.

Alex

Want to experience it? I created this maps for the agile learning lab Berlin (ALL-Berlin). Its a community of practice and of course we test different tools in the online-versions of this meetup. You are welcome to join the group!