The next OPEN Conference will be held on the 6th of October in Budapest, Hungary
For more information on OPEN Conference, or attending as a delegate, speaker or sponsor, contact us using the link below.
The OPEN Conference Approach
OPEN Conference is more than just a conference: it’s the real-life community of business leaders and experts from all over Europe who are determined to act on diversity and inclusion and trigger positive change on a large scale.
At OPEN Conference, we offer tangible and specific ideas, and inspiring case studies for those who are at the beginning of their journey; and for those who have already gone through positive changes, the possibility of sharing their knowledge with others. And we are building the hub for those who would like to better understand the context that they may navigate in the not-too-distant future and who would like to stay the ones who lead by example. From experts around the globe, you will hear stories of people who drove an organization toward greater openness, stories about how a diverse group leveraged their different background as part of innovating, how diversity and inclusion supported the core business of a company, how creating an open corporate culture contributed to the sense of belonging, and about the change that a more realistic representation of people, minorities brought to companies and communities.
OPEN Spotlight Award
We launched the OPEN Spotlight Award in 2019 at OPEN Conference and to shine the spotlight on organizations that have gone through an inspiring journey in which they worked for diversity and inclusion. Our aim is to cultivate an international community of business and experts promoting openness, who inspire each other by sharing stories and knowledge and lead by example to start positive changes on a large scale.
Make your work shine through the OPEN Spotlight Award if…
The OPEN Spotlight Award is for organizations that have gone through an inspiring journey in which they worked for diversity and inclusion. It features companies who are willing to talk about these challenges, and how they have mastered them to become a source of inspiration for others.
Tell your unique story and inspire others
We are looking for case studies that demonstrate the challenges and impact of building a more open, diverse and inclusive work environment.
Who is qualified to shine through the OPEN Spotlight Award?
Businesses, small and large alike, and experts from a wide variety of backgrounds (creative industry, architecture, communications, etc.) may share their stories.
We accept nominations from Europe. The awards may or may not be divided based on geographic regions.
The nominated stories shall come from the past two years or from 2019 (2018-2020).
What happens with your submission?
Once we receive your nomination, our panel will review the details to ensure it qualifies as per our guidelines. We may reach out in case of any questions or clarifications.
We may also feature your story on our website in the form of a case study to inspire others.
The impact of sharing your story
- Leading by example: The collection of the shortlisted nominations will be published as an e-book distributed by WeAreOpen to inspire many other organizations out there.
- Speaking opportunity: Shortlisted organizations will get an invitation to speak at the OPEN Conference.
- Receiving the OPEN Spotlight Award: The winners will be announced and will get their Award on the first day of OPEN Conference.
- Belonging to the OPEN Community: To be able to build their belonging to the community of openness-promoting organizations, for the shortlisted works, we offer two free and additional discounted tickets (35% discount from the Regular Two-Days Ticket price) for OPEN Conference 2020 and two discounted tickets for OPEN Conference 2021.
OPEN Spotlight Award Categories
- Engine of Change: stories of people who drove an organization toward greater openness
- Innovation through Diversity: stories of how a diverse group leveraged their different background as part of innovating
- Excellence in Belonging: stories of how creating an open corporate culture contributed to the sense of belonging
- We See You Here: stories of the change that a more realistic representation of people, minorities brought to companies and communities
Nominations and Review Timeline
Nominations close – 21 June 2023 (23:59 CET)
Shortlist announced – 01 July 2023
Judging sessions start – 01 July 2023
Awards ceremony at OPEN conference 2023
- The timeline may be subject to change.
There is no nomination fee
Participation Process
- Click on “Submit Case Study” and fill the details requested in the form.
- Fill in the details as per the instructions provided.
- Case studies submitted for the OPEN Spotlight Award must be in English. Submissions only in Hungarian will not be accepted.
Send any questions you may have to [email protected]
Instructions
- Please ensure the submission is prepared in the manner you would like it to be seen as WeAreOpen will not make any corrections.
- WeAreOpen reserves the rights to edit the submission as it deems necessary.
- Stories submitted for an OPEN Spotlight Award may be featured on our website as a case study in the Resources page.
- We may share stories that inspire others in order to reach positive change on a large scale.
- Nyitottakvagyunk.hu is a bilingual site available in Hungarian and English. This allows organizations and people not just in Hungary, but all around the world to have access to important diversity and inclusion information. If you are a Hungarian organization, we strongly recommend you share the case study in both languages so people around the world may benefit from your experiences. WeAreOpen will not be able to translate the case studies.
- Organizations not based in Hungary who would like to share their story may do so only in English. Note in that case, your story will appear only in the English language version of our website.
Send any questions you may have to [email protected]
Previous OPEN Conference Events
We introduced OPEN 2029 – The future is here. Our aim was to bring together a real-life community of openness-promoting business leaders and experts in Central Europe, who are determined to act on diversity and inclusion and bring positive change. This year we also launched the OPEN Spotlight Award to honor organizations that have gone through an inspiring journey in which they worked on diversity and inclusion
In 2018, the theme for OPEN Conference was to establish how organizations can build competitiveness through openness. With participants from more than 10 countries, it brought a fresh and diverse perspective to the business case for being open.
Building on the 1st edition, OPEN Conference focused on role models and tried to show through them how top-down and bottom-up initiatives can make a workplace more diverse thus more successful.
2016 was the first year WeAreOpen organized OPEN Conference. We sought to lay out the business case for openness through talks, discussions and workshops and sought to make real change in the short term.