CLADA Courses

Leading edge CLADA annual seminar

Participants that joined us for the special weekends in 2006 and 2007 believed learning can change people's lives and all sort to: generate more momentum into ‘co-operative learning' in the UK; explore new methods and techniques; create a more collaborative way of working with each other in the future; have fun, alongside a serious and constructive use of personal time.

An Open Space format is used to enable participants to create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme. The common result is a powerful, effective connecting and strengthening of what's already happening in the field, planning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance.

Open Space works best when the issues are complex, the people and ideas involved are diverse. It's been called passion bounded by responsibility, intentional self-organisation, chaos and creativity, evolution in organisation and a simple, powerful way to get people and organisations moving.
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We never know exactly what will happen when we open the space for people to do their most important work, but we can guarantee these results when any group gets into Open Space:

• All of the issues that are MOST important to the participants will be raised
• All of the issues raised will be addressed by those participants most qualified and capable of getting something done on each of them.
• In a time as short as one or two days, all of the most important ideas, discussion, data, recommendations, conclusions, questions for further study, and plans for immediate action will be documented.

 

Open Space conferences have no keynote speakers, no pre-announced schedules of workshops and no panel discussions. Instead, sitting in a large circle, participants learn in the first hour how they are going to create their own conference. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion or activity, writes it down on a sheet of paper in big letters and then stands up and announces it to the group. When everyone who wants to has announced and posted their initial offerings we will build a provisional timetable by consensus, then it is time for "the marketplace". Participants mill around the wall, putting together their personal schedules for the remainder of the weekend.

Open Space is chaotic, productive and fun. No one is in control. Individual and group energy is channelled by a handful of simple Open Space principles. The most basic principle is that everyone who comes to an Open Space conference must be passionate about the topic and willing to take some responsibility for creating things out of that passion.

Key principles - Whoever comes are the right people; Whatever happens is the only thing that could have; Whenever it starts is the right time; When it is over it is over; The ‘law of two feet': If you find yourself in a situation where you aren't learning or contributing, go somewhere else.

We encourage people to think through what you would like to explore, share, discuss over the weekend - collect together any resources and information to bring .Participants gathered together on the Friday evening to share experiences and publish the topics they wish to explore.

On the assumption that such a system contains within it the seeds of everything that needs to happen with it, Open Space provides an opportunity to self-organise into an approprite. For this to work CLADA lets go of control so that true self-organisation can take place.

CLADA sorts the administation and organisers the event and brings the resources to make the event work

• facilitates the gathering of workshop ideas
• facilitates the initial programme
• runs the closing session
• co-ordinates the typing, editing and dissemination of any collectively owned outcomes

 

Both events have been hugely satisfying to all that participated and definitely moved everybodys thoughts and practice onwards!