What are open sessions?
There's a lot of amazing local knowledge among educators, youth, families, and community members in our area. This conference is designed to provide people with the chance to connect with each other and share that knowledge, and this is the spirit behind the open sessions.
Open sessions are sometimes called “unsessions” or “open space.” They’re an alternative to preplanned panels and workshops, and create a space for the attendees to take some control over the conference. Sessions are for the most part proposed by participants the day of the conference, and are participant-led. It’s an opportunity to share work you’re currently engaged in, put forth a question that’s come up for you in your work or at the conference, follow up on conversations you’ve started today at the conference, network with others with similar interests, or generate new ideas to inform a Boston-based movement for quality education.
How does it work?
As people finish up with lunch in the Cafeteria around 1:30, we’ll make an announcement that Open Sessions will be starting soon. At that time, all conference attendees will have an opportunity to stand up and share a topic for an open session. You can share a few words about how you envision the session, in order to give others an idea of what it will be like. Sometimes two different people propose a session that overlaps in topic, and we’ll provide the opportunity to combine forces in one location if people are interested.
We’ll have a board where we’ll write down the name of the session and assign a room for convening the session. It will all happen right there and then, in the cafeteria. To make it easier to see what’s going on, volunteers will also write down the open session topics and post them on the doors, so that everyone can easily find the session you want to go to.
Who can run a session?
ALL conference attendees are welcome to propose a session.
How do we facilitate a session?
There is no pre-set format for sessions. One person can start with a brief presentation or share their work in some way, or you can start with a set of questions, or whatever other format attendees agree to. Two general guidelines to keep in mind are:
Other questions?
There will be time before Open Sessions start to ask questions or clarify how this works.
As people finish up with lunch in the Cafeteria around 1:30, we’ll make an announcement that Open Sessions will be starting soon. At that time, all conference attendees will have an opportunity to stand up and share a topic for an open session. You can share a few words about how you envision the session, in order to give others an idea of what it will be like. Sometimes two different people propose a session that overlaps in topic, and we’ll provide the opportunity to combine forces in one location if people are interested.
We’ll have a board where we’ll write down the name of the session and assign a room for convening the session. It will all happen right there and then, in the cafeteria. To make it easier to see what’s going on, volunteers will also write down the open session topics and post them on the doors, so that everyone can easily find the session you want to go to.
Who can run a session?
ALL conference attendees are welcome to propose a session.
How do we facilitate a session?
There is no pre-set format for sessions. One person can start with a brief presentation or share their work in some way, or you can start with a set of questions, or whatever other format attendees agree to. Two general guidelines to keep in mind are:
- Think 80:20—the best sessions have the facilitator talking no more than 20% of the time, with participants driving the conversation most of the time
- Trust the space—once you’re in the space together, all participants have something important to offer or bring to the conversation, so be sure to leave plenty of space for everyone to ask questions and share their ideas and experiences.
Other questions?
There will be time before Open Sessions start to ask questions or clarify how this works.