Fredericton’s Great Gathering – Using Open Space to Build a Community Consensus on Priorities

DATE: MAR 15, 2014

TIME: 8:00 AM-5:00 PM

LOCATION: FREDERICTON CAPITAL EXHIBITION CENTRE, FREDERICTON, NB, CANADA

The third Great Gathering takes place on Saturday, March 15 at the Fredericton Capital Exhibition Centre.

The Great Gathering is for everyone in the Fredericton and greater area. The Great Gathering uses a meeting style called Open Space, which builds community consensus on priorities. The Great Gathering is organized around this question, “How can we work together to make Fredericton and surrounding areas better?” The question invites citizens to identify their passion or issue/concern that they think will make our community better, and through facilitated discussions solutions are identified which integrate individual passions and concerns. There is no pre-set agenda, only a pre-set process as participants actually create the agenda based on the issues that are brought forward. Participants attend only the sessions they wish to attend. As Lunch is provided those wishing to attend are asked to register at www.frederictongreatgathering.com.

In brief, the day flows as follows: we gather in a circle (outline the process); the agenda is built as people come to the center of the circle to share (and write) their passion/topic on a sheet of paper; the passion/topic is posted on the Marketplace wall and a time and space for discussion is assigned; people then survey the Marketplace and choose which passions/topics they wish to join. After lunch the outcomes from the morning sessions are organized around a smaller number of shared concerns/themes, which form the topics for a focused and action oriented discussion.

We make our best decisions when we make them together and The Great Gathering provides the opportunity.

YouTube Video: http://bit.ly/1gOE9lL