We used OpenSpace-Online® for an internal meeting, and were extremely satisfied with the whole process. I am very certain that OpenSpace-Online® has the potential to become a standard approach not only for internal ideation but also for qualitative research. This by truly collaborating with the formerly so called "respondents" and giving them the possibilty to provide to us insights which were not available before. Thanks to the OpenSpace-Online team!
Andrew Mairon, Global Commercial Director, TNS Global Interactive (world leader in market research)

Wir sind bereits seit Jahren begeisterte Nutzer und Veranstalter der OpenSpace-Online® Echtzeit-Konferenzmethode. Egal, ob es sich um kleine interne Meetings oder größere öffentliche Veranstaltungen handelt - mit der OpenSpace-Online® Lösung können wir ohne Hilfe Dritter über Entfernungen professionelle Vernetzungs- und Innovationskonferenzen unter Einbeziehung unterschiedlichster Akteure zu hochaktuellen Themen durchführen. Das Verfahren verbessert und beschleunigt unterschiedlichste Kommunikations- und Entscheidungsprozesse. Es ist faszinierend, welche vielfältigen Nutzen diese Technologie vereinbart: Datensicherheit für Teilnehmer, Zugangsgeschützte Kommunikation, technisch einfache Vorbereitung, Ablauf eines hochwertigen Austausch- und Lösungsprozesses, schneller Zugang zum kollektiven Wissen der Mitwirkenden aufgrund guter intuitiver Schritt-für-Schritt Führung, sofort verfügbare, sehr gut strukturierte Konferenz-Dokumentation und vieles andere mehr. Aus unserer Sicht ist OpenSpace-Online® ein professionelles, hochinnovatives Internet-Business mit großer globaler Zukunft.
Franz-Reinhard Habbel, Pressesprecher des Deutschen Städte- und Gemeindebundes (DStGB)

OpenSpace-Online® is the next best thing to a face-to-face conference or meeting. It brings people together across the world to explore opportunities and issues, share knowledge and resources, work on tasks, explore ideas, share best practices, challenges and solutions, and feel a sense of community. This is the one tool I know that is designed by a facilitator and field-tested by facilitators from around the world. Gabriela Ender and her team created this by drawing on their rich background of experience with and knowledge of group process, group dynamics, sense of physical space and environment, the nature of invitation, and the wisdom of matching the right process / dialogue tool to the most appropriate situations. They invited other group dynamics / group interaction specialists to field test the tool - to stretch it and share feedback as the tool grew in usability and intuitiveness. The result is a virtual workspace that is based on dialogue and interchange - a workplace for geographically-disbursed teams to come together for effective and productive work.
Lisa Heft, President OSI USA -- Fellow, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution

Vor einiger Zeit sind wir auf eine weltweit einzigartige, in Deutschland entwickelte Internet Meeting- und Konferenzmethode namens OpenSpace-Online® aufmerksam geworden, deren Philosophie und vielfältiger Nutzen uns für Mensch, Umwelt und Organisation rundum begeistert. Wir von B.A.U.M. wollen unseren Beitrag dazu leisten, dass mehr und mehr Unternehmen in den Genuss dieser Innovation kommen.
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Gege, Vorsitzender B.A.U.M. e.V. (Größte Umweltinitiative der Wirtschaft mit über 500 Mitgliedsunternehmen)

The OpenSpace-Online software is stellar in creating the conditions for a highly participatory meeting that can be an effective use of people's time and assist companies in finding solutions in time and cost effective ways. We are committed to its use for furthering the work in our own global organization.
Birgitt Williams, President, Dalar International Consultancy Inc, USA

Tech heads all over the world are looking for good online conference software as if they are seeking a holy grail. Such seekers need look no further: OpenSpace-Online is the best online conference software.
Tree Fitzpatrick, USA

I have been helping an international not-for-profit organization through a major transformation, and through their first strategic planning process. We have used OpenSpace-Online® for two special Board meetings and for a "Town Meeting" open to our constituents, participating from six countries. Quite frankly, I can't imagine how we would have handled this process without OpenSpace-Online. With OpenSpace-Online, however, the process has been much faster, extremely effective, and best of all, joyous. The software and conference methodology has enabled the inherent potential of this community to be revealed in a way that I can only describe as magical. It was a real turning point in the life of this community. The conference software brings everyone through the process in an effortless way. I wouldn’t have thought it possible for a large, diverse group to have a good discussion without a "human" facilitator, but here it is! (And the tech support provided by the software developers is fantastic.) I know that I will be using this software for many years. Thank you!
Martin Boroson, Temenos Consulting

OpenSpace-Online build community and allows for deep discussions and problem solving within the short conference duration ... it is a great stand-alone process as well as a follow-on to live conferences. Through the spreading of the use of this software and conference method, we are contributing to ways of saving the environment while enabling more creativity and team development. This method can be used easily to solve real-time problems at global level. It is CSR at its very best!
Sandy Weiner, Managing Partner, 1-Focus International, Germany

OpenSpace-Online is an eye-opening experience. The software is easy to use and very intuitive. As a first-time participant, I had no problems taking part and playing a role in the conference. I enjoyed the process and learned a lot. I am convinced OpenSpace-Online has enormous potential for all kinds of collaborative projects, large and small, particularly now that resources for travel and face-to-face meetings are becoming scarce. It's great to see that these events can be sponsored. I think the sponsors should be commended for enabling people the share experiences and learn together. Collaboration is the key to innovation, and in Australia we hope to be able to obtain the support of business to run OpenSpace-Online events.
Anne Lowagie, Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY)

As a first time OpenSpace-Online participant, I felt amazed at the power of 'meeting of minds' for borderless collaboration. It is a potent tool to support change .. in mindset as well as knowledge and skills even in encouraging peoples of warring nations to create purposeful dialogue and move towards global peace! Joseph Paulson, India

Unsere Teamarbeit hat sich durch die Nutzung von OpenSpace-Online enorm verbessert. Nicht nur, dass wir viel schneller wichtige Themen bearbeiten und gemeinsam Lösungen finden und dabei auch noch erheblich Reisekosten einsparen. Dazu kommt, dass wir deutlich mehr Freude an der Zusammenarbeit bekommen haben und einige Kollegen sogar sagen, dass sie sich auf nächste reale Treffen viel mehr freuen als vorher. Verwenden Sie diese Rückmeldung ruhig als "Kundenzeugnis".
Michael Schröder, Deutschland

I just wanted to congratulate you on the clarity and attention to detail in your instruction sheets for the online conference. Extremely clear and logical and with all the appropriate information you need (such as the url) clearly present and visually linked. Great work!
David Smith, Australia

For MBA-Sustainability Management, an E-Learning-supported correspondence course, the OpenSpace-Online® conference process offers a welcome supplement to the spectrum of methods. In addition to amazing content results, an OpenSpace-Online® conference can do much to encourage communication and interaction between the students in the correspondence learning phase between the face-to-face meetings in Lüneburg and increase motivation to study and to cooperate. Ana Dominguez, (2nd year MBA student): "Finally, I would just like to say that I am amazed at how much the conference actually helped me. I got several ideas, which I can now implement."
Anja Rawe Dipl.-Pol., MBA, Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

I was very impressed by what I saw and experienced in the conference, and I did have a strong sense of being in a 'real' open space meeting!
Michael Randel, World Bank, Washington DC

Again, congratulations on your event, on your kindness and professionalism. Quality is outstanding.
Luiz Sambiase, Brazil

I have been working with the Government of Ontario (and know others working with Industry Canada) on the development of things like Integrated Service Delivery to Business using IT and Counter infrastructure and previously with a project call Ontario Business Connects with which we have explored and used eCollaboration approaches. We wrote a piece a couple of years ago on the need for the approach and the kinds of synchronous and asynchronous sites that were available. There has been lots of work on facilitating virtual communities, and this was a key topic at the Vancouver OSonOS and several on-line conferences. As for the experience closest to OST, I think Gabriela Ender's OpenSpace-Online is the best.
Larry Peterson, Canada

Fabulous, interactive way to connect with people from around the globe on multiple issues. Like nothing I have ever experienced online before....so simple, yet sophisticated. And very playful, a pleasure to participate! I have made some great connections that I am going to follow up on for sure. I will definitely be participating in these again in the future and recommending OpenSpace-Online to others. Thanks again.
Janine Ogg, Holistica, New Zealand

Nochmals vielen Dank, daß Du Deiner damals verrückt erscheinenden Vision gefolgt bist (so komisch ein solcher Dank klingen mag, denn man könnte ja auch sagen: bedank Dich bei Dir selber!). Klar, es hätte auch schief gehen können, aber so bist Du schon ein mutmachendes Beispiel auch für andere.
Bernd Weber, Austria

The Swedish OST Institute arranged the first ever OpenSpace-Online in Sweden. We had a grand time together. The meeting was a pre-meeting for a larger OpenSpace-Online event we will have the 25th of November. 8 persons participated and we already have 15 registred for the main event. We decided that the conference in November will focus on the development of OST in Sweden and I think quite a few of us are eager to spend a large part of it on how to develop cooperation between facilitators, partly through the OSI Sweden. Everybody experienced the software as very stimulating to use (and lots of fun!). We had great discussions although I think that we will be able to get even more out of it next time. The program is really easy to use. Our meeting lasted for 2,5 hours and included an opening, sessions were posted, sessions convened (3 times 25 minutes), proceedings written and time for commenting them. We also spent every minute available off session in the café, continuing our discussions. Finally a closing circle where a lot of complements were shared to each other and to Gabriela and her team for developing the software. In total we made almost 400 postings! 5 issues were discussed and reported on. After closing we all received a complete report when logging out! Increadible! Sitting all over Sweden we worked intensly for 2,5 hours and all of a sudden had each a "book"! We decided to continue our ongoing dialogue in another virtual space, which is open and running already. I see lots of possibilities to use this software with my customers. I view it as a compliment to physical meetings before and after OST conferences. When there is a missing link and it is hard to find time to meet again this could be a very interesting and inspiring way to work out issues together. I also view it as very interesting for some of the organizations I work with, especially those that are spread out all over our country.
Thomas Herrmann, Sweden

Hi Guys, firstly, let me thank you again for providing an opportunity to try out your software and to meet so many interesting issues regarding Open Space. This was my first OpenSpace-Online session - and I found it really useful. I think you have done a great job in conceiving of this software and developing it. Best of luck with your business - I look forward to the opportunity to use your services commercially at some time in the future.
Peter Fall, Australia

Thank you, Gabriela, and the OpenSace-Online Team for making the four hour open space experiece so wonderful. The instructions for downloading the software were easy to follow and then the software itself was easy to use during the sessions. What is really amazing was that persons from nine different countries were able to share ideas about facilitating global change in "real time." It is amazing to recall that it was evening in Europe; late afternoon in Brazil ; early afternoon in Haiti and Canada; and 4 o'clock in the morning of the next day for participants from Australia and New Zealand. What I really enjoyed was the willingness to respect the ideas as presented about some very serious global problems and then to move on with high play:-) I was prepared to be surprised! One surprise was that I loved the side conversations about wine. This was an extraordinary experience. Clearly the "right people" participated. Again, many thanks for the invitation to participate. I look forward to the next one.
Sheila T. Isakson, USA

OpenSpace-Online was an eye-opener for me. The feeling of real-time contact with colleagues from over the world was special. At first I thought: 3 hours is too long. Afterword thought: if only we had more time for our discussions and to get to know each other better.
Tonnie van der Zouwen, Netherlands

When a very diverse group, and or one who has never met face-to-face, can relax, listen and dialogue in such a dynamic way, we know there is something special here. One day soon many companies will realize OpenSpace-Online could provide a new form of focus groups and ways to innovate with customers. There are certainly exciting times ahead for virtual dialoguing.
Dr. Charles Savage, President, KEE International, Germany

I enjoyed the participation in this conference very much. The small group work to share with colleagues of similar interest could have been a bit longer to produce some real action. Otherwise I found the software and the system excellent, and I really believe that it should be used in some of the developmental contexts, in which I am working. In this connection I will get into touch with you soon.
Claude Ribaux, Switzerland

Kommentare aus    OpenSpace-Online® Schlussrunden ... # Das gemeinsame Ausrichten auf ein Thema erzeugt Energie und bringt Kreativität hervor. # ... diese Energie hat mit aufgeladen, euphorisiert - großartig! #... ich finde man kommt kaum noch davon weg, so spannend sind die Dialoge und Beiträge. # ... was sehr praktisch ist, ist das schnelle und unkomplizierte Schauen, was in einem Raum passiert. # Eine interessante Erfahrung hier. Eigentlich wollte ich nur die Software kennenlernen - doch ich habe wirklich gut angefangen noch einmal übers Thema anders nachzudenken. Prima Lernerfahrung. # Also, der letzte Workshop war so richtig klasse - ich merke, dass ich mich gar nicht mehr auf die Software (wie noch am Anfang konzentriere) sondern nur noch den Themen folge - irgendwie richtig gut. # Besonders hat mich die Software überzeugt - Kompliment. Ich arbeite in einem kleinen Informatikunternehmen und die Kollegen haben mir gelegentlich über die Schulter geschaut und ausnahmslos anerkennende Worte gefunden. Die möchte ich hiermit an Entwickler und Veranstalter weiter geben. # Auf das Lesen der Dokumentation mit allen Beiträgen freue ich mich jetzt schon! # Ich möchte mich bedanken für die Erfahrungen die ich hier machen durfte. # Ich fand es sehr interessant, dieses Tool auszuprobieren und einen weiteren Eindruck davon zu gewinnen, mit welchen Ideen man eine Großgruppenveranstaltung online verlegen kann ... zumal ich selbst beobachten UND erleben durfte, dass auch online emotional die post abgehen kann und damit auch viel bewegt werden kann!!! # ... ich bin wirklich positiv überrascht, obwohl mir real abgeht, habe ich keine sekunde überlegt frühzeitig auszusteigen - wahr spannend. danke an alle. # Und es war spannend, OpenSpace-Online zu erleben - wenn schon nicht zu erfühlen. # Ich fand diese für mich erstmalige technische Form sehr spannend. Danke und (unbekannte) Grüße an alle! # Dies war meine erste OpenSpace-Online Konferenz - obwohl ich den direkten Kontakt vermisse, bin ich beeindruckt von dieser Software. Ich fands toll und spannend! # Das ist sehr dynamisch, macht spass und es bleibt was hängen. Freue mich schon sehr auf die Dokumentation! Gruss an alle .. war spannend! # Eine gelungene Software. Herzlichen Glückwunsch! # Mein erster Eindruck: Man kommt doch irgendwie in ein "Fieber", der Raum ist da (im Unterschied zu "normalen" Chatrooms oder Netmeetings). Gefällt mir!

Comments from    OpenSpace-Online® Closing Circles ... # MY congratulations for the organizers # Thanks for the opportunity to experience this work form in practice # Thanks for the interesting evening. I feel most privileged to be connected to you. # Fantastic! Thanks for first step in knowing about openspace onlines possibilities ... # How can we as an organisation use OpenSpace Online - it devenitely is an interesting instrument! Thanks for setting it up! # Many thanks to the participants and the perfect "environment". # It is funny that though there seemed to be conversations going all over the place at first, some sort of order and actions emerged ... the natural dance of chaos and order happening I suppose. # Now we need a glass of champaign !! Tchin !! Tchin!! to celebrate this OpenSpaceOnline successufull session. # I think that reserving the space and taking the time to think about topics like this one have value. This theme is broader than ideas that I usually think about. Thanks everyone for being willing to experiement with online open space. # I like the experience and meet some interesting new people here. # This is really fun! I think that having this opportunity is very special. # Thanks for this learning experience. Oooaoo lots of space!!!!!!!!!!!!!! # This has been a great experience. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and experiences. # I like the software and appreciate the chance to experience how it works. # This has been a wonderful learning and fun experience for me - thanks everyone! # Thanks to all for making it possible and for turning up :) It's been a great introduction to Open Space Online for me. # We, three in Healeville (Heather, Debby and Allison) are inspired and impressed. # Thanks for all the fun and interesting conversations. love the cartoons on the software. # It is great to connect across the world and I think the sofltware does it well, given the constraints of typing. # I found it a good experience to connect with many people whom i have met online or f2f and new people too. Plus valuable ideas emerged. And I learned about the potential of this online forum. Nicely done all!! # If this is virtual reality.....I can handle it......you were all great. Thanks # I would like to play with this process in the context of needing to make decisions about something..... that would bring an entirely new dimension to what we did today ... # Great work on the software guys and I guess you will let us know how to get it/buy it if we want to use it with our own groups? # I am impressed by the speed of the connection and the great folks who have come # Your software team did a great job. Regarding the complexity of possibilities, it IS intuitive!! # The software is great - still can't get my head round the fact i'm communicating with folk from across the globe real time ... really great to be here!