Previous articles:
Experiencing autonomy, mastery, and purpose as attendees
We used any possible touchpoint to make attendees aware of the purpose of the event, and remind them about it, from the invitation, to the framing of the event during the kick-off, from the badge that everybody was always carrying with them, to the dedicated website of the Camp, just to name a few.
As covered in the introduction, our high level agenda for the event was:
Slack and self-organisation
As you can see there is a lot of slack in the schedule, not because we were too lazy to fill up the agendas with activities, but because we intentionally created room for serendipity, ownership, and self-organisation.
On Tuesday we gave people time to arrive at the hotel (that was also the venue of the event) when it was best for them, check-in, and settle in.
We provided meeting rooms with desks, wi-fi, and extension cords for people to work. For some it was the first time they had seen their closest teammates in the flesh, and they used that time to connect and catch up in person. The self-organised dinner gave people the opportunity to explore a bit of Barcelona by night, and to share the meal with whomever they wanted.
During the plenary on Wednesday we stayed all together, while for the ‘Team Time’ in the afternoon every director decided what was more relevant to do with their teams, given the unique opportunity to be all together in person, and given their specific challenges, goals, and the maturity of the team:
- some ran a retrospective
- others discussed how to implement the strategy that was presented in the morning
- some went to the beach for a clean-up activity offered by our Sustainability and Social responsibility team
- others ran a mini hackathon that was the end of a group work started in the weeks before the event
- some bonded through serious games
- others went for a stroll down La Rambla
- some finished preparing together their sessions for the Open Space, and exchanged feedback
- others ran an hybrid scavenger hunt involving also the teammates who couldn’t join the event in person.
We planned on purpose the departure day on a Friday, when we usually only work half a day. The vast majority of people took their flight back in the morning, after having enjoyed the last dinner all together with no hurry, while some teams decided to extend their stay (covering for the cost out of their pockets) to spend more time together outside work.
Open Space
The theme we defined for the Open Space was ‘Sustainable Growth’, and it was wide enough to welcome contributions from everyone. People could present about something, or have a conversation around a problem or an idea, or do something hands-on.
We ended up with 50 breakout sessions happening throughout the day in the six meeting rooms that we had booked (but we also used other public spaces at the venue), covering product and tech topics, but also cultural ones.
Everyone of us was free to join the sessions that we deemed more relevant, and also to leave and switch session in case we felt we were neither contributing nor learning.
In between two breakout sessions a manager who was a bit sceptical about 400 people doing “this Open Space thing” commented: “It’s amazing to see everybody doing their own thing! Who thought they could behave like adults?!”
He was really happy, and the second part of the sentence was genuinely sarcastic…but, but…it is true that sometimes in our ‘corporate lives’ managers seem to forget that they hired fully formed adults, who are intrinsically motivated and care about doing a good job (well, this is how I see it), and they feel better when they feel 100% in control, which is something that cannot happen in the Open Space.
For the vast majority of the attendees this was their first Open Space, and when during the wrap up of the Camp we asked through Sli.do (more on this in a moment) for their Tips, Tops, and Thanks, the biggest ‘Top’ on the word cloud was undoubtedly ‘Open Space’.
Why? Well, the way I see it, because it’s a format that:
- gives everybody the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience, to have their voice heard
- brings together people around similar interests - it’s a phenomenal networking tool
- encourages people to take ownership of their time and invest it where there is something that matters to them
- in a company context, makes you realise how brilliant and knowledgeable your colleagues are, and fosters peer-to-peer learning
We didn’t run it by the book
I want to underline that we built the agenda differently than how you would do it in a standard Open Space:
- During the three weeks leading to the event we ran a Call For Papers, where whoever wanted to host a breakout session in the Open Space shared the main information (title, abstract, hosts) about it. Through the CFP we collected the vast majority of the sessions, and during the entire process anybody in the Product and Tech teams could see what sessions were being proposed by whom.
- Once the CFP was over, we had a short video call with the people proposing sessions, so that they could build together the agenda.
- We welcomed additional sessions on the fly during the kick off of the Open Space.
So we didn’t run it by the book, but I think the pros introduced by the CFP are more relevant than the cons. If from one side we missed the incredible amount of energy that is unleashed when a queue of people starts forming in front of an empty board to pitch and plan their sessions, on the other side:
- we maximised the time available to run the sessions during the event
- we reduced a bit the feeling of uncertainty for the hosts
- people were able to form an interest in the sessions before the event
- we avoided duplicated topics, and we also had people who wanted to cover similar topics who joined forces to prepare a session together
- the quality of the contents was far higher than the first time we ran an Open Space and we built the agenda on the fly during the kick off.
The fingerprint principle
When people play a part in defining and designing or refining something, they are much more likely to feel ownership of it… And they’re much more invested in helping whatever it is to succeed.
Esther Derby, The Fingerprint Principle
Enabling attendees to leave their fingerprints on the Camp in several different ways, from the self-organised time to the Open Space, from the involvement in the organisation to other smaller initiatives, such as building a shared playlist on Spotify, or a shared timeline with pictures on Padlet, placed them ‘at the centre’ of the experience, and contibuted to foster active participation and shared ownership of the event.