[TIPS]

Strategies to Drive Engagement for Your Project The movie ‘Field of Dreams’ got one thing wrong. When it comes to public participation, the adage “if you build it they will come” is terribly naïve. In the online world, many people think if they launch a web tool, everyone will come flocking. Veterans in the business know that it isn’t that easy. In order to compete with...

8 Tips to Help You Reach Targeted Populations It’s no secret - the best public involvement is inclusive and increasingly it is being enforced as a requirement of planning efforts. Agencies around the world each have their own way of describing inclusiveness. In the US the EPA’s term is Environmental Justice (EJ) or Title VI. This requires the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people...

I think we can agree that the types of people who show up to public meetings are not very representative of the general population. This observation raises an important question. When we design our public engagement process, who should we be targeting? The keenest and most motivated participants are easy. They will show up no matter what. Unfortunately, there’s few of them and they usually hold...

Increase engagement and save time and money with higher returns Public engagement budgets seem to be shrinking while expectations are heading in the other direction. Now that some of the online engagement tools have reached maturity, they can be the most cost-effective way to meet your community engagement targets. It’s no secret that traditional public meetings can be labor intensive and costly. A single public meeting can...

The next generation of community engagement: blending high-tech and high-touch public involvement We need to rethink our entire approach to public engagement. The 1st generation of public engagement, version 1.0, was dominated by traditional public meetings. Rent the hall, buy the muffins and see who shows up. The issue with these is that you just end up getting the same ten people showing up to your events....