Deliberative panels across Victoria, Citizens Juries in South Australia, and the Queensland Plan deliberation all included equitable payments or compensation for travel, accommodation, meals, and time, which helped boost participation. Now, local governments across Australia are discussing how these compensation methods, successfully used in large-scale projects, could be applied to support projects that typically see lower participation.

This shift highlights a broader trend towards prioritizing inclusivity, equity, and professionalism in community engagement, with the goal of enhancing both the quantity and quality of participation data. As a practitioner in this field, it’s crucial to understand the benefits and challenges of compensating individuals for their time and efforts in community engagement initiatives.

The Benefits of Compensating Community Engagement

Before we delve into the benefits of compensating community engagement, let’s set a scenario to help provide an example.

Community Engagement Scenario:

Now, consider a local council initiating a consultation process to develop a series of pedestrian crossings. In their community engagement plan, they identified the need to gather ideas via an online social map to help pinpoint potential locations for new crossings within the council area. Additionally, they planned to hold pop-up chats at key pedestrian traffic hotspots and organize a representative meeting with community members in the mid-afternoon. This meeting would include participants from various pedestrian groups, such as individuals with disabilities, parents with strollers, the elderly, and children.

Five Benefits of Compensation in Community Engagement

Using the scenario above, let’s explore five benefits of using compensation in community engagement.

1. Inclusivity
2. Equitable Representation
3. Acknowledgement of Time and Effort
4. Increased Engagement
5. Professionalisation of Community Engagement

1. Inclusivity

One major positive aspect of compensating people for participating in community engagement is that it promotes inclusivity. By providing financial compensation, we can ensure that individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds can actively engage in community activities without facing financial barriers.

For instance, looking at our scenario, some individuals might be unable to attend the proposed meeting due to travel expenses. However, by offering compensation, such as covering taxi or Uber fares, the local council can make it easier for participants to attend by arranging transportation bookings for community members.

2. Equitable Representation

Compensation helps achieve equitable representation in community engagement initiatives. It encourages individuals from marginalized communities to participate, by ensuring that their voices are heard and their perspectives are considered in decision-making processes.

Building on the above example, if people use a wheelchair and cannot access transport due to costs, pre-booking a wheelchair-accessible taxi can allow people with chronic health impairments to travel to the meeting without worrying about any expenses.

3. Acknowledgment of Time and Effort

Compensation recognizes the time, effort, and expertise that community members contribute as experts by (life) experience. It validates their contributions and encourages continued involvement by showing appreciation for their commitment. Compensation is not a benefit of participation and should not be discussed as such. It is a way to honour the time and energy of the community.

Using the example above, providing travel compensation ensures participants are not out of pocket and makes attendance easier for representatives of individuals with accessibility needs. However, they may also need to take time off work to travel and participate in the meeting. By offering financial compensation, you acknowledge and value the participant’s time and effort.

4. Increased Engagement

Financial incentives can lead to increased engagement levels. When people are compensated for their participation, they are more likely to be able to prioritize and dedicate time to community activities, leading to more meaningful and sustained involvement. Continuing the example, our participant has their travel covered, are being acknowledge with a payment and is able to do so at a time of day that overlaps with work hours.

Some members of the public with disabilities may work extra hours each week to earn overtime pay needed for their care expenses. This can prevent them from participating in civic activities they are interested in. Despite their eagerness to contribute, their involvement is often limited to filling out surveys, leading to frustration. However, by offering compensation for participation, they can afford to take time off work, allowing for increased engagement in initiatives of interest.

5. Professionalisation of Community Engagement

Offering compensation contributes to the professionalisation of community engagement practices. It sets a standard for valuing the work of community members and promotes a culture where community engagement is seen as a legitimate and respected field.

Finally in the example above, while budgets are generally small in the community engagement process, by adding in an element of compensation, budgets should be increased and shared across project partners to help compensate more participants.

Professionalism increases and community engagement becomes more representative as, in our scenario, people with high interest are able to successfully contribute thanks to the compensation that’s been received.

Challenges and Considerations

Considering that compensation for participation in community engagement has numerous positives we must also look at and consider the obvious challenges that also comes with it. Below we have listed five challenges and considerations.

1. Resource Constraints
2. Perceived Motivations
3. Equity Issues
4. Sustainability
5. Balancing Incentives

1. Resource Constraints

One of the challenges of compensating community engagement is the potential strain on resources. For instance, organizations may face budget limitations, especially in the area of community engagement, which makes it challenging to offer financial incentives to all participants.

2. Perceived Motivations

There can be concerns about the motivations of participants when compensation is involved. Some may worry that people participate solely for monetary gain rather than genuine interest in community betterment. Or potentially, there could be a bias toward telling the engagement officer what they think they want to hear. (i.e. being paid to be ‘agreeable’)

3. Equity Issues

While compensation promotes inclusivity, there’s also a risk of unintentionally creating inequities within the community if it’s not implemented thoughtfully. So, ensuring fair and transparent compensation structures is crucial. But, also in the issue of compensation, consideration must be given to the impact it has on those on benefits/pensions. Research what amounts, forms, and methods of compensation might be most appropriate for certain groups.

4. Sustainability

Sustaining compensation programs in the long term requires careful planning and ongoing funding. Organizations must consider the feasibility of maintaining such initiatives beyond short-term projects.

5. Balancing Incentives

Finding the right balance between offering enough compensation to incentivise participation without creating dependency or overshadowing intrinsic motivations is a delicate task that requires thoughtful design and evaluation. In these cases, tokenistic payments with gift vouchers or prize draws to illicit submissions should not be considered compensation.

Another crucial aspect to consider is minimizing meeting barriers during the initial stages of planning community engagement. Offering amenities like meals, childcare, transportation, translation services, wheelchair access, virtual alternatives such as Social Pinpoint, and providing masks/sanitizers, before even discussing compensation greatly enhances equity, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging among participants.

The rise in compensating people for participating in community engagement can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, there is a growing recognition of the value that community members bring to the table as experts by experience. Their insights are seen as essential for creating more effective and inclusive solutions to complex social challenges. Secondly, there is a heightened awareness of the need for equitable practices within community engagement, ensuring that everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, has a fair opportunity to participate and contribute meaningfully.

Lastly, the professionalisation of community engagement as a field has led to a shift in mindset, where compensating participants is viewed as not just a gesture of appreciation but also as a strategic investment in building stronger, more resilient communities and relationships both in the short term for one off projects and the long term where panels are developed to provide advice to organizations more broadly than for a specific project mandate.

Explore South Metropolitan Health Service’s audio message evaluation, discover Western NSW Local Health District’s expansion of Palliative Care Units, check out The Social Deck’s National Autism Strategy, plus much more!

Audio Message Evaluation

The South Metropolitan Health Service, part of the Government of Western Australia, sought input from the community to help determine the preferred audio message that will be played over a loudspeaker at Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals’ entrances.

By introducing a button for residents to listen to the audio message, the South Metropolitan Health Service utilized the Form tool to engage with residents by asking questions about their preferences. A slider option was also used allowing residents to indicate if they agree or disagree with the following statement: “The second part of the audio message is an effective way to remind people that the hospital grounds are smoke-free.” The Health Service also featured images of the hospital entrances where the audio message would be located. Well done to the South Metropolitan Health Service for encouraging community feedback! Listen to South Metropolitan’s audio message here.

Expansion of Palliative Care

The palliative expansion at Orange is a part of the $93 million commitment by the NSW Government to redevelop and refurbish Palliative Care Units across the state. To support this initiative, the Western NSW Local Health District actively sought input from the community to gather feedback on the planning and design aspects of its palliative care expansion for Orange Hospital. This feedback will play a crucial role in shaping the design and supporting individuals in need of palliative care or end-of-life care.

During the consultation period, the Health District employed a combination of face-to-face and online engagement techniques, including the use of the Form tool. This tool enabled community members to prioritize options from most to least important based on their preferences, including how to make the hospital more comfortable and calming, as well as room features and support services. Great job, Western NSW Local Health District, on actively involving the community in the decision-making process. Explore the expansion of the Palliative Care Unit.

Autism Strategy Discussion Board

The Social Deck (a for-purpose business specialising in strategic communications, stakeholder and community engagement, digital strategy, social marketing campaigns and evaluation) is currently seeking input from community members regarding ideas on what should be included in the National Autism Strategy and how it should be structured. Social Deck is particularly interested in ideas surrounding four discussion areas:

1. Social inclusion

2. Economic inclusion

3. Diagnosis, services and supports

4. Health and mental health

To support this initiative, the Social Deck utilized Feature Grids to present information visually and reduce text-heavy content. This allows community members to explore each of the four sections according to their interests and preferences. For each section, the Social Deck employed the Gather tool, enabling people to leave comments, discuss, and share ideas on what should be included in the National Autism Strategy. Congratulations to Social Deck on fostering an inclusive space for community engagement and for gathering over 270 ideas to improve the National Autism Strategy! Discover ideas for the National Autism Strategy here.

Message of Hope and Recovery

Murrumbidgee Local Health District is actively encouraging community members to spread messages of hope and recovery as part of their initiative to support individuals facing mental health challenges, drug and/or alcohol use, or similar difficulties.

As part of this initiative, Murrumbidgee has implemented the Gather tool, which invites community members to leave comments tagged with relevant issues. This feature also allows others to like these comments, fostering a supportive and interactive environment for those in need. Well done, Murrumbidgee, for creating a collaborative space where positive messages can uplift and provide encouragement to individuals during their recovery journey. While feedback has just begun, we hope you will see lots of public participation! View Murrumbidgee’s messages of hope and recovery.

How to Promote Meaningful Engagement in Healthcare

Promoting meaningful engagement in healthcare requires a multifaceted approach that prioritizes inclusivity, transparency and elements of privacy and empathy.

Firstly, gather diverse perspectives by actively listening to your community’s needs and concerns and using digital and in-person surveys, focus groups, and public forums. As this is health related sometimes this will need to be done on a 1 to 1 basis which can be achieved online in private or in-person.

Next, establish clear and open channels of communication where consumers and patients can easily access information and provide feedback in a safe and secure way. For instance, you can utilize digital tools via engagement platforms like Social Pinpoint, which offers a wide suite of fun and interactive digital engagement tools to better reach a larger audience and facilitate real-time participation from members of the community. These platforms offer a safe way to engage and can ensure complete privacy of the often personal health related data being shared.

Incorporate advisory groups or similar forums to maintain privacy in engagements discussing sensitive topics, ensuring a safe environment for open dialogue. This can be facilitated through private pages, allowing for more focused and confidential discussions and can even be completed in small groups, even 1 to 1 where more empathy is needed in the stories being shared .

Lastly, always remember to have close-the-loop communication by regularly updating consumers and patients on how their input has or is influencing decisions. Where clearly possible demonstrate that their contributions are valued and impactful.

By implementing these strategies, healthcare professionals can create a more engaged and empowered community, leading to better health outcomes and stronger relationships.

How does digital engagement bring in new voices and improve outcomes?

• Connect with broader and more diverse audiences
• Distribute information more effectively with passive engagers
• Create shared understanding of outcomes with interactive communications tools
• Increase disability and language access through online accommodations
• Empower project managers with actionable data, dynamic analysis, and tools for prompt follow-through
• Enable public agencies to build cross-project databases and newsletters

What does digital engagement mean?

Let’s explore the five different types of digital engagement and what they all mean.

1. In-Person Public Meeting
2. Digital Public Meeting
3. Hybrid Public Meetings
4. Asynchronous Engagement
5. Continuous Engagement

1. In-Person Public Meeting

Traditionally dominated by public hearing-style formats, organizations use breakout rooms, sticky notes, dot exercises, and storytelling, etc. to make meetings more interactive, engaging and trust-building.

2. Digital Public Meeting

Digital meetings take place over a video interface and generally copy the format of an in-person meeting. Some digital meetings will use webinar features to create a more controlled environment, or breakout rooms to allow for smaller discussion groups.

3. Hybrid Public Meetings

Leveraging the benefits of in-person engagement with the flexibility of online opportunities, this can involve hosting a physical meeting and allowing participants to join the meeting from an online video interface as the meeting is occurring. Sometimes, the in-person event and online meeting will be held separately to full build activities and conversations around what is most conducive to each format.

4. Asynchronous Engagement

This method does not require physical or even virtual attendance at a specific meeting time. Using digital engagement tools like Social Pinpoint, you can share information, create conversation spaces, and allow community members to provide feedback on their own time from wherever they can best access the information and interactive forums.

5. Continuous Engagement

Using all of the previous engagement mediums, input can happen over an extended period of time. Continuous engagement also opens the opportunity for non-project-based engagement.

Engage Pittsburgh

EngagePGH is an online engagement portal oriented to the public, where stakeholders can explore City planning and policy projects, learn about past and upcoming work, and provide input in efficient and innovative ways. The platform meets and exceeds ADA-accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0), and enables a more robust and transparent feedback loop for stakeholders. Users experience more transparency and predictability with projects, and can engage on their own time, with ease, and with access to any smart-enabled device.

• Six different City Departments and the Mayor’s Office use the portal and have published 145 projects in the last three years
• Residents and stakeholders know that they can come to EngagePGH for specific projects, or to find engagement opportunities for various topics and locations of interest
• Since July 2020, EngagePGH has been viewed over 435,000 times by more than 172,000 individuals (the population of Pittsburgh is 300,000)
• In 2022 alone, over 4,230 people responded to surveys, interactive maps, and visioning exercises, leaving over 6,500 comments
• Engagers came back for more– over a third of all site visitors participated more than once, and about 18% of all comments came from people who were also registered on the site (total registered: 3,000)

A Pittsburgh Example: Pre- and Post-Pandemic

In the summer of 2019, the City of Pittsburgh hosted two in-person open houses about urban design in the Oakland neighborhood. Each session lasted three hours (10-1 pm and 5-8 pm), requiring a great deal of staff time in preparing and facilitating the open house events. In total, 120 people attended these open houses, which were broadly advertised and centrally located, with only 44 completing surveys.

Fast forward to the fall of 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Pittsburgh hosted a two-month, virtual open house for the Oakland Plan. This open house received 2,475 unique visitors, 256 unique contributors, 785 individual contributions, and 121 new followers. Purely from a staff capacity perspective, this virtual, passive engagement reached a significantly larger audience with less personnel hours.

Top visited projects on EngagePGH during project period (July ‘20-March ‘21)

Lessons Learned in Digital+ Engagement

We need to adjust our strategies for key drivers of equitable engagement for digital settings.

Data is powerful but hard to use.

There are some cool, innovative opportunities with digital+ engagement!

We can use digital tools to move away from only project-specific engagement

We need to adjust our strategies for key drivers of equitable engagement in digital+ settings.

1. Psychological Availability: having the capacity to engage
2. Psychological Safety: having the freedom and safety to engage
3. Psychological Meaningfulness: having a reason to engage

Having the Capacity to Engage

Acknowledging that for many people, there are more urgent, difficult needs in their daily life than providing feedback on a City project, despite how theoretically connected they may be to the work. It is imperative for project managers to do their best at utilizing existing community forums, events, and communication channels to reduce the number of meetings or interfaces someone is being asked to engage with in order to shape the projects in their neighborhood or interest area. Use stakeholder mapping to understand which tools will reach which audiences and identifying where efforts can be combined, and where you need to have more targeted outreach. This is not an either/or situation — you will need to use a variety of engagement tools to reach your audience. In Pittsburgh, City Planning staff translated all presentation and survey materials so the Spanish-speaking residents in a particular neighborhood could engage to the same degree as English-speaking residents.

Having the Freedom and Safety to Engage

This should be the baseline for all practitioners, period. Digital and hybrid mediums provide an alternative when in-person meetings cannot be a physically or psychologically safe space. For example, in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, there are many competing voices and complex power dynamics. Where in-person and video meetings are great tools, not all participants felt safe sharing their voices, so EngagePGH offered an alternative where their voices would have equal value without the social pressure.

Having a Reason to Engage

EngagePGH allows site visitors to search by project, or by geography, categories, and keywords that are most meaningful to them as individuals. Bringing in new voices through digital tools that let people choose what they want to engage with, and create structures that don’t require stakeholders to be experts on their own government to find input opportunities. Make it easy, and center their narrative as the position of power, while identifying the direct connection between their feedback and the specific decisions it might influence.

Data is powerful, but hard to use.

• GARE Equity Toolkit (page 8) emphasizes a data audit of your stakeholders before starting a project. Collecting non-project-based data can help with this.
• Use digital engagement tools that automatically show results to easily compare/contrast between input and final decisions.
• Use data to see if your strategies are working to “meet people where they are”.
• Combine data collected from in-person & digital mediums. One is not more valuable than the other.

There is limited data to actually address questions about digital access and its implications for public engagement projects. Below, we’ve assembled some national-level and Pittsburgh-specific data to show how you can have these conversations in your own communities.

These five initiatives benefit local residents’ specific needs and interests and help beautify our neighbourhoods for increased tourism for future visitors and residing community members for years to come. Each project is a living testament to the transformative power of thoughtful placemaking. They empower residents to shape their surroundings and cultivate a sense of belonging and ownership.

Here’s our round-up of five placemaking community engagement examples to draw some inspiration from:

1. Informing Residents of New Precincts in a City Centre
2. Neighbourhood Activity Centre
3. Long-Term Frameworks
4. Community’s collective vision
5. Enhancements for a Park

1. Informing Residents of New Precincts in a City Centre

The City of Kalgoorlie Boulder had embarked on a multi-million dollar project to revitalize key precincts within the Kalgoorlie Central Business District in St Barbara’s Square. Kalgoorlie’s goal for Kal City Centre was to create vibrant, economically robust, and diverse spaces that would help benefit community members within the area.

To keep the community informed about the new precinct features, Kalgoorlie utilized various visual elements including a Photo Gallery showcasing a bird’s-eye view of St Barbara’s Square, a video, Feature Grids, and a Newsfeed for project updates. To further engage residents, Kalgoorlie has included a Call to Action button, prompting community members to subscribe and stay updated on the project’s progress.

2. Neighbourhood Activity Centre

The Woodville Neighbourhood Activity Centre (NAC) in Wyndham is an established hub featuring a local shopping centre, schools, open spaces, and recreational facilities. However, it lacks a vision or guidelines for its operations and future growth. To help address this, Wyndham City Council worked towards a Woodville Place Plan and sought input from residents, businesses, and visitors to shape the area’s future.

Wyndham has since released the draft of the Woodville Place Plan and has encouraged locals to participate through different engagement tool methods. For instance, by utilizing the Form tool, Wyndham asked residents to read and submit their feedback on the plan. Wyndham also displayed the objectives and actions of the plan in a visually engaging format to simplify information and reduce text-heavy content. In addition, Wyndham utilized a Quick Poll as an easy way to get real-time responses from community members by asking them the following question: ‘How do you rate the plans for our Draft Woodville Place Plan?’.

Wyndham had also expanded its engagement efforts by making its engagement site multilingual, allowing residents to translate the content on the page according to their preferred language. This initiative aims to enhance accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring that all residents can easily engage with the information and have their say in community discussions regardless of their language proficiency.

3. Long Term Frameworks

The City of Port Phillip has prepared a new draft for its South Melbourne Structure Plan to help establish a long term vision for the next 20 years of South Melbourne. This plan will also be used to identify actions to manage change and help respond to challenges such as climate change, population growth and COVID-19.

As a way to educate and inform residents of the plan for the long-term framework, Port Phillip has utilized the Hotspot tool to help indicate to residents where the four precincts have been identified to deliver place-specific outcomes for South Melbourne. By clicking on each dot, members can view further information on the specific recommendations of each precinct as a way to help reduce text heavy content on the page. The City has also used other elements such as FAQ’s, a Document Library, and Facts cards as a way to provide further information to residents.

4. Community’s Collective Vision

The City of Boroondarra created a ‘Glenferrie Place Plan’ to help guide the future revitalisation of the Glenferrie precinct in Hawthorn. As a product of closing the loop, this plan showcases extensive community feedback, research and analysis. It features urban greening and sustainable transport, arts events and smart technology, sports, recreation and revitalised laneways, tapping into what’s special about Glenferrie and its community.

As part of the Glenferrie Place Plan, Boroondara has utilized engagement tools like Feature Grids to highlight the nine initiatives and showcase the community’s shared vision for Glenferrie. By leveraging this engagement tool, Boroondara encourages residents to explore the plan visually, enabling them to delve deeper into information regarding their specific needs and interests.

Boroondara has also utilized the Timeline tool and a Follow button, encouraging residents to keep up to date with the long-term plan.

5. Enhancements for an Ideal Park

The City of San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Department has engaged AEA Consulting to develop a Prioritization Framework for future Balboa Park capital projects, to inform future decision-making and provide better alignment between available resources and what residents want to experience when they visit.

Using a mixture of online and in-person engagement to seek input from the community, San Diego utilized digital tools such as the Social Map, where they asked residents the following question – “Where would you like to see improvements in Balboa Park?”. This allowed residents to add a marker to specific locations of the map and add a comment with what they would like to see renovated or enhanced. As a result of their engagement efforts, San Diego garned over 400 contributions!

San Diego had also used the Gather tool to ask for additional feedback which encouraged residents to either add a comment or a photo to share their story. Along with the Fund It tool by using the posints system to get community members to vote on ‘Which draft criteria do you want to prioritize?’.

Bonus Project: Low Barrier Engagement

Here’s a bonus project, which highlights one of our predicted community engagement trends for 2024; low barrier engagement. The City of Holdfast Bay have been engaging the community on what they think about ‘Parklets’. Parklets are little pop-up spaces that utilise one or two car parking spaces to extend the public realm. For example extra seating for a cafe, the installation for a popular food truck or safe lock up spaces for bicycles.

In this project Holdfast have utilised two engagement tools, timed how long each will takes to participate in to respect participants time and given the community the choice on which one suits them for providing feedback. Information is clear and to the point and utilises tools like the Fact Cards and FAQ tool to keep things brief.

These community engagement placemaking projects showcases the power of collaboration and shared input for public participation between government staff and residing residents. By involving community members in the planning and decision-making processes, these initiatives will not only help to support their specific needs and interests, boost tourism and the neigborhood area, but also fostering a sense of ownership and belonging among residents.

As we look ahead to the future of placemaking, these examples serve as inspiring models for empowering communities and creating vibrant, sustainable, and people-centric spaces.

Here are our top 5 online community engagement predictions for 2024:

1. Hyperlocal Engagement
2. Elevated Data Transparency
3. AI Adoption at the Organization Level
4. Community Empowerment in (Private) Digital Workspaces
5. Low Barrier Engagement

1. Hyperlocal Engagement

Communities are very familiar with public engagement, and since COVID, they have become increasingly hyperlocal in their thinking and acting.

In most cases, this would be defined along the lines of geography. For example, a street, a neighbourhood, and a suburb. But it could extend to digital groups such as defined groups, panels, and boards. Organizations will need to and are adapting to this shift with appropriate information and consultations targeted at specific communities on hyperlocal projects.

For example, most local governments across Australia run tree planting schemes on a street-by-street basis where old trees and non-native species are replaced – this is known as Street Tree Renewal projects. Usually, the engagement around this is specific to the residents of that street only where trees are being replaced. This process limits the local government to maybe a handful of streets a year if they follow a process of mail-drop, feedback, and tree planting one street at a time.

By using a digital engagement platform like Social Pinpoint, consultations like this can be run concurrently or consecutively at a very hyperlocal level to scale engagement. These spaces can be built out to discuss and help local governments manage the process in an agreeable timeline, collaboratively with their communities.

An example from Canada, the Resort Municipality of Whistler is hosting two tandem engagement projects – one more general and one hyperlocal. The more general project is collecting broad feedback on Municipal Facilities, while the more focused and hyperlocal engagement is collecting feedback from youth and parents surrounding a specific Youth Centre. By dividing these into separate consultations, they’ve been able to create engagement strategies that reflect the need to bring younger and more diverse voices into decision-making processes.

At the City of Melbourne, hyperlocal has been on the agenda for a while now. Their Neighbourhood Portals allow community members to find projects in their neighbourhood and provide feedback using a variety of tools, including adding comments on maps. The data collected is then fed into a knowledge database for the various City of Melbourne staff teams to access and benefit from in the long term. This helps to cut down on engagement fatigue and repetitive questioning. In some cases, we know it has also had a big impact on giving a participation boost to ‘less attractive’ projects by associating them with the ‘more attractive’ ones.

Likewise, the City of Melbourne’s Urban Forest project has focused on reviewing Urban Forest Precinct Plans as implementation guidelines that underpin their wider Urban Forest Strategy. The 10 very specific precinct levels are where people can provide hyperlocal feedback by commenting on a Social Map. The project started in 2023 and will continue at least until 2025.

2. Elevated Data Transparency

Similar to the above, we’ve seen a growing expectation from the public for transparency on how their input is being actioned. They’re asking for greater detail on how engagement data is analysed and used for smarter decision-making. They want to feel that their opinion is valued.

Today, organizations are receiving larger data sets, not just from traditional in-person activities, but also digitally from platforms like Social Pinpoint and social media. With that, managing data has become increasingly important and using the data appropriately even more so.

Many organizations use tools, like Consultation Manager, to track stakeholder interactions in one place, cross-reference data across projects and use data beyond a single project. At the project level, they use Social Pinpoint to further analyse sentiment using AI, create thematic word clouds and highlight comments using visualization tools like maps, charts and graphs. The recent integration between these two solutions is helping engagement professionals save time and take their analysis to the next level. Still, others are turning to dedicated BI tools using our open API.

In Australia, the Cities of Melbourne, Wyndham and Casey are just a handful of Social Pinpoint users now accessing high levels of data via our open API to feed into PowerBI tools to create amazing custom dashboards for internal use and charts, some even sharing live feedback with their communities. This use case is on the rise as organizations want to show how data is working for them and their community.

Having recently completed the public feedback portion of their Target Vision Zero Action Plan, the City of West Hollywood in California is now using its Social Pinpoint project page to close the loop and push the results and conclusions from that feedback back to the public. With an overview of the process, they use Social Pinpoint’s Tabs tool to break down their feedback into easily digestible sections. For example, under the Community Outreach tab, they use a screenshot of their final Social Map and under the Crash History tab, they review historical data.

While the plan has now been adopted by the City, they are still encouraging anyone who lives, works or spends time in West Hollywood to review the plan and provide feedback. This ongoing feedback will inform the next stage and the implementation of the proposed safety improvements recommended in the plan.

In 2024, we will certainly see more organizations transparently sharing engagement results online, like Hobsons Bay City Council. They close the loop on projects using a variety of content tools, like Facts and Hotspot in their Social Pinpoint toolkit, to share what they heard back to the community. They also use the data beyond the single project to promote smarter use across projects.

We are already seeing growth in data transparency and smart use this year, whether it’s sharing data internally for others to benefit from across departments (like the City of Melbourne’s, Neighbourhood Portals) or by including older yet still relevant data in project decision-making.

3. AI Adoption at the Organization Level

AI is here to stay and grow, hopefully with us. In 2023, early adoption was all about the ‘wow’ and exploring what AI could do for us as individuals. We saw no formal training, no rules and quickly developing products. Now, as we move into 2024, what we predict is that the ‘wow’ factor will fade and we’ll see serious adoption to enhance speed and efficiency at the organizational level. 

Organizations have been working to explore the organizational risks and benefits of applications like ChatGPT and Dall-E, slowly trying out different systems and prompts to improve internal processes around survey writing and data analysis.

While data privacy and reputational risk remain major stumbling blocks to more mainstream application of AI in government, we anticipate that organizations will spend the next year developing robust internal systems and norms to establish acceptable use of these tools specific to the government context and even choosing preferred tools and creating “closed loop” AI systems.

The intersection of AI and community engagement offers a promising horizon. AI introduces efficiencies, personalisation and data-driven insights that can redefine the participation experience. Yet, balancing this technological prowess with the intrinsic human touch that has always underpinned interpersonal relationships is crucial. For more, see our blogs on ‘Will AI Replace Community Engagement’ and ‘10 Ways to Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Community Engagement’, including a downloadable prompt guide below.

For AI to be used responsibly and ethically in a way that fosters positive and inclusive community engagement, organizations will need to create systems that ensure data privacy, avoid biases in AI algorithms and maintain transparency. It will be interesting to examine the differences in how different parts of the world, with varying data protection laws, approach the normalization of AI tools – perhaps a topic for next year’s trends article.

4. Community Empowerment in (Private) Digital Engagement Workspaces

“Empower” has now been on the IAP2 Spectrum for 34 years and in 2024, we expect social empowerment in digital engagement workspaces will become more popular as a tool to aid deliberation, collective impact and ongoing relationship building. In particular, we predict growth in open dialogue models being applied both in private and semi-private workspaces to facilitate citizen panels, strategic planning and budgetary processes.

We’ve seen many Social Pinpoint users leverage private projects to create mini-collaboration and empowerment spaces that are specific to one issue or group. This can range from a birdwatching group to a greenway cleanup coalition, to a collection of nonprofits working in refugee resettlement.

Our Recovery is an example of a semi-private workspace hosted on Social Pinpoint – it combines public-facing transparency about members and the work of various groups. It facilitates private discussion spaces that empower those committees to work together during recovery after a natural disaster, using a place-based, community-led approach to ensure projects, grants and support programs developed are the right fit for the community.

5. Low Barrier Engagement

This is a trend that has slowly been gathering steam globally over the last few years and covers the ability to offer your community the opportunity to engage in a project with little barrier to participation but maximum impact. In digital engagement, this means creating a pathway for engagement that reduces clicks, offers rapid feedback opportunities and avoids text-heavy documents. The idea is that you can carve out a path to engagement that reaches those who have very little time or capacity and a parallel path for those who have more time or capacity – yet both sets of input are aggregated and equally valued in the final decision-making process.

At Social Pinpoint, we see an increasing number of organizations designing participation strategies in this way and we expect this to trend up in 2024. Organizations will, for example, offer different digital, hybrid and in-person engagement options and indicate how much time each will require.

We will see more project pages that say:

• “If you have 30-seconds, take this Quick Poll;
• If you have 5 minutes, leave an idea via the Visioner board;
• If you have 15 minutes (or more!), visit us in person at the pop-up at this place, on this date and at this time.”

There’s also an opportunity here to use various content tools to break down large text-based documents into bite-size relevant information to help people access the key elements of a project without the barrier of needing to download a heavy-weight document. A popular tool being used here is the Facts Card.

In 2024, we think we will see a big increase in the skill of producing low-barrier engagement. The ability to offer participants a choice of engagement opportunities based upon their self-determined interest and capacity is not an easy thing to do or manage, but an important part of bringing in more diverse voices. With the support of a high-level Customer Success Team, like the one at Social Pinpoint, we anticipate a move away from the question-heavy survey and associated survey fatigue and a shift towards more deliberative and interactive tools like Gather and Social Map.

What do you think? Were we right with our review of 2023 in part one, and do you think our predictions for 2024 will be correct?

1. The Solidification of Hybrid Engagement
2. Staged Engagement
3. Community Development and Going Beyond the Project
4. Participatory Budgeting
5. The Initial Adoption of AI in Community Engagement

1. The Solidification of Hybrid Engagement

We predicted this two years ago and it was certainly de rigueur for most when planning community engagement over the past year. Various forms exist, but many projects showcased a mix of online and offline engagement strategies.

The City of Port Adelaide Enfield represented this trend well with their ‘School Idea’s Pitch’ Project, which saw students act as elected members and make mock Council decisions on various issues offline. Their ideas were then shared online for community comment and support through upvoting, with some ideas being taken to the Council’s chamber for discussion. This was a great way to get younger members of the community engaged in what local government does at an early age and a good example of the value of hybrid engagement. 

On the Canadian side, Clarington in Ontario implemented a robust hybrid engagement strategy for their Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan, which included pop-up open houses around town, online meetings at various times of day, asynchronous digital engagement surveys, and even in-person kiosks at City Hall. The kiosks in particular saw great positive feedback on bridging the digital divide and high levels of engagement throughout the second half of 2023. It will be exciting to see how the kiosks are used going forward, and how peer municipalities learn from Clarington’s example.

2. Staged Engagement

When we say staged, we don’t mean fake news. Instead, what we mean are consultations with multiple stages of engagement from early engagement, even pre-engagement, through to closing the loop. Using a digital engagement platform makes staged engagement even easier​ and facilities a more robust process.

This was perfectly presented in Strathbogie Shire’s ‘Public Art’ Project, which started with pre-engagement to engage the community before the project had officially begun to see what community members were feeling, and ended with closing the loop to ensure that the participants were able to see the results of the project once it was concluded and so they could see their influence on the outcome.

With large and long-term planning projects, a similar goal can be achieved by using the same project space over time. Island County, Washington (USA), recently launched their Comprehensive Planning process with the intention of collecting ideas in the visioning stage, before later moving into the plan development stage. This will allow participants to influence the process while it’s still being developed and to find upcoming engagement opportunities both in- person and online.

3. Community Development and Going Beyond the Project

Late in 2023, at a conference in Canberra one of the speakers said, “people don’t live in projects, they live in places.” We couldn’t agree more. In the online space, what we have seen in the last year is the ‘traditional’ online community engagement starting to go beyond the project and transitioning to include more ongoing relationship and community development type projects. This will certainly continue into 2024 as it adds more value to the online space and also helps maintain and engage the online community.

In 2023, a stand out project in Australia was the City of Port Adelaide Enfield’s ‘Get Shady’ project which engaged the community long term to distribute over 3000 native species of trees to help create a shade canopy to tackle climate change. This simple yet important project has helped the local government develop its relationship with the community on an issue that is on everyone’s minds while not providing a strict timeline.

We also saw elements of this ‘beyond the project’ style work in North America in towns like Deforest, Wisconsin, where they are using Social Pinpoint to capture community spirit and a little bit of Citizen Science around birdwatching and acknowledging the role of community advocates to preserve and support this activity.

4. Participatory Budgeting

Participatory Budgeting started in Brazil in the 1980s, and it was used across Europe as a recovery tool to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). It is now growing in use throughout Australia and North America. It’s not surprising that we are starting to see a big increase in the use of Social Pinpoint’s Fund It tool. 

Now a popular tool, Fund It is certainly seeing more use in local government budgeting processes. It’s also often used in funding community projects; for example, participatory budgeting and tradeoff exercises can be used to engage the public in choosing everything from building elements of playgrounds and dog parks, to voting on the final designs for public art and mural projects. 

A favorite of ours is Bayside City Council’s ‘Library of Things‘ because it encapsulates the local government’s desire to spend public money on items for the library, like lawn mowers and kitchen utensils. But it takes away the stigmatic cost element by first asking the Community to choose items using points in the Fund-it tool and secondly by asking them to provide their own ideas via the Gather tool. While there is no project decision here to be made, the community is using participatory budgeting to own its Library of Things.  ​

In Monterey, California, they deployed the Fund It tool to assess community values around distribution of housing units (instead of dollars or points!). The question posed was: “We need to accommodate X many additional housing units in Monterey over the next X many years, how would you distribute those units among the following neighborhoods?” The Fund It tool gave project managers space to explain the tradeoffs involved in choosing different neighborhoods while still keeping the budgeting exercise simple enough to be accessible to a broad cross-section of interested community members. 

5. The Initial Adoption of AI in Community Engagement

While we are only just really learning the possible impacts (good and bad) of AI in community engagement, ChatGPT set the world alight earlier in 2023 with talk of how AI could help us with our everyday lives. If you attended any conference between September and December 2023 in the community engagement space, you would have surely encountered at least one workshop, session or keynote on the subject. Earlier last year, IAP2 North America even hosted a six-part series on the role of AI in public participation while at least three sessions at the IAP2 Australasian Conference were about AI. 

What we have learnt is that there are both advantages and disadvantages to early adoption with AI. Speed and efficiency are great at an organizational level; however, the human element is often critical in a community engagement context, and data privacy and reputational risk must be carefully considered in the deployment of AI tools. Are your communities and stakeholders ready for it, even if you are?

We were excited to see these trends advance the field of community engagement in 2023. While some of these trends, such as hybrid engagement, continued to build from previous years, we expect many of these trends, like the growth of AI, will certainly continue to take shape into 2024.

Community engagement has played a crucial role in being responsible for societal progress, fostering connections, shared visioning, and better placemaking. However, as AI technologies evolve, there’s been a growing curiosity and an increasing amount of uncertainty about if and how it can change the way people engage in communities.

Within this article, we will explore the benefits and challenges of AI while discovering ways to strike a balance between technology and human connection for community engagement.

The Benefits of AI in Community Engagement

The relationship between AI and community engagement offers a promising horizon. It introduces efficiencies, personalization, and data-driven insights that can redefine the participation experience. It’s crucial to balance this technological prowess with the intrinsic human touch that has always underpinned customer relationships. Here are 5 advantages of using AI in your community engagement strategies:

1. Speed and Efficiency​

2. Consistent Moderation​

3. 24/7 Availability​

4. Reducing Human Error ​

5. Helping in a Repetitive Job

1. Speed and Efficiency

Successful community engagement projects, particularly when online tools are used, can lead to massive volumes of data. While quantitative datasets can be easily visualized using colourful graphs to garner instant insights, analyzing qualitative data can be daunting and time consuming. This is where AI can drive speed and efficiency.

For instance, you can use Social Pinpoint’s Analysis Assistant to analyse vast amounts of unstructured, qualitative data in real-time. This means that you can utilise your engagement data to quickly gather sentiments, themes, and insights.

2. Consistent Moderation

Through programming, AI can enforce consistent community guidelines and moderation to ensure that all users are treated fairly and equally. By utilizing AI driven moderation such as Social Pinpoint’s anti-SPAM technology, you can leverage AI to automatically identify and address any potential violations and harmful content, which results in a safer and more inclusive digital environment.

3. 24/7 Availability

AI never sleeps, allowing AI-driven humanized chatbots and virtual assistants to provide round-the-clock community support to residents in real-time. AI possesses the capability to accommodate diverse time zones and work schedules, enabling you to promptly address various needs and concerns, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience for community members. This 24/7 support contributes to a more engaging and accessible platform for users worldwide.

If you look at FranklyAI for example, you can move away from surveys and forms and effectively chat with AI who is actively listening using user led conversations. It’s more conversational that the standard chatbot that will normally find out information from you to then provide information back, normally with choices. 

4. Reducing Human Error

While mistakes are bound to happen, you can harness AI for community engagement to reduce human errors. While human moderation will always be highly valuable, AI has automated processes that can consistently analyze data and interactions, reducing the risk of oversight or mistakes in content moderation. Additionally, AI algorithms can adapt and learn from patterns, ensuring a more accurate and efficient identification of issues, further enhancing the overall reliability of community management.

5. Helping in a Repetitive Job

To help assist you with tedious repetitive tasks, AI can also help you by automating repetitive procedures so that you can concentrate on more intricate and other creative areas of your work. So, not only will it accelerate particular workflows, but it also has the ability to reduce the likelihood of humans feeling fatigued, to help promote a more sustainable and fulfilling work environment.

Let’s turn our attention to the challenge of using artificial intelligence for community engagement now that we have explored what benefits it can bring.

The Challenges of AI in Community Engagement

AI, however, lacks the human touch to create an authentic connection. While AI offers numerous advantages, it is important not to overlook the value of human interaction in building and maintaining thriving community engagement. Some key aspects that AI cannot fully replicate include:

1. Emotional Intelligence
2. Body Language
3. Active Listening
4. Building Rapport
5. Adaptability

1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotions hold significant importance in community engagement, particularly in handling sensitive or emotionally charged situations. While AI can replicate and simulate emotional responses to some degree through data and algorithms, it is unable to truly ‘feel’ emotions, as it lacks essential biological systems.

Humans, on the other hand, possess the ability to understand and empathize with emotions, making them better suited to navigate such situations than AI. This is why human interaction and moderation will always be valuable in community engagement, with support from AI to respond to more common comments and to flag areas of concern.

2. Body Language

Communication is more than just words. It also entails expressing our genuine emotions and thoughts through body language. In fact, body language contributes to over 90% of the information we convey. Nonverbal cues like gestures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and tone of voice also plays a crucial role in conveying meaning.

Despite AI’s diverse capabilities, it becomes more of a challenging task for it to understand elements like sarcasm. Humans, however, possesses the ability to interpret body language, which allows individuals to gain insights into others’ true feelings, enabling context-aware communication in various interpersonal interactions.

3. Active listening

While some AI models claim to have active listening capabilities, that’s obviously with the data that is shared. In a human situation, whether in a room or online, additional and off-topic comments can be as valuable as during a community engagement session.

4. Building Rapport

Genuine, human connections foster trust and relationships among community members, which in turn helps to create a supportive and engaging environment. Incorporating human intuition and empathy into community interactions can help Council’s to understand the needs and desires of their residents and effectively handle their concerns. In addition, genuine connections can contribute to a sense of belonging and strengthen the bonds that go beyond the capabilities of AI-driven communication.

5 Adaptability

Community engagement professionals can adjust more easily to unique circumstances by identifying and responding to the evolving needs and preferences of their communities. Individuals are able to cope with such situations with greater sensitivity by understanding and addressing the needs and concerns of their community members through personalised and tailored approaches through human touch in their involvement in the community.

Striking the Perfect Balance: AI and Human Collaboration

The integration of AI in community engagement poses challenges and opportunities. Achieving the optimal balance between AI and human interaction allows you to leverage the strengths of both, fostering a more efficient, supportive, and engaging environment for participants. With the correct approach, AI becomes a powerful tool that enhances, rather than diminishes, the distinctive human connections fundamental to any community engagement process.

However, it’s essential to use AI responsibly and ethically. In order to promote positive and integrated community engagement, it is essential that key factors be taken into account, such as data protection, avoidance of bias in artificial intelligence algorithms or the preservation of transparency in AI-driven processes. The potential of AI to improve the community’s involvement and strengthen connections with users is going to increase as it evolves.

Achieving the full advantages of AI in online communities, while maintaining the human touch, hinges on striking the right balance between technology and human interaction. Here are a few ways you could strike this balance:

1. Hybrid Model
2. AI as an Assistant
3. Continuous Improvement

1. Hybrid Model

Employ a combination of AI-driven tools and humans for things like moderation and analysis. Use AI to handle routine tasks, such as basic moderation, sentiment analysis and answering FAQs, while reserving more complex or sensitive issues for human intervention. Social Pinpoint has a wide range of participation tools, including optional moderation levels and the ability to turn the assisted analysis on and off when needed. 

2. AI as an Assistant

Artificial intelligence virtual assistants, like chatbots and ChatGPT, contribute to improved interaction between humans and AI, by utilizing data-driven insights to make better-informed decisions. Consequently, this can also help address concerns within communities and enhance a council’s community engagement strategy. To see how AI can help you, our team created a ‘ChatGPT Cheat Sheet for Community Engagement’ so you can get started on utilizing AI to streamline content creation.

3. Continuous Improvement

It’s important to regularly evaluate the performance of your AI tools and to make adjustments when necessary to maintain a harmonious balance between AI and human engagement. By doing so, you can ensure that technology will compliment and augment human capabilities rather than overshadowing the essential aspects of genuine community connection.

In summary, AI can serve as a valuable tool for aiding community engagement professionals with capabilities like data and sentiment analysis, communication automation, and to save you time. However, it is not likely that AI will replace community engagement. This is because within community engagement, authentic human touch and interactions remains essential for cultivating stronger relationships with residents, which is something that cannot be replicated by technology alone.

Although older adults previously trailed behind younger generations in online engagement, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), “Internet use for 65-to 74-year-olds’ has increased from 71% in 2019 (before COVID-19) to 98% in 2022. Similarly, the proportion of those aged 75 and over who are now online has almost doubled, from 52% to 94%.”.

While there may still be some barriers to overcome, online community engagement can be a powerful way to empower older adults by facilitating their ability to remain socially active, share their accumulated wisdom, and engage in meaningful activities.

But how can you effectively target older adults in order to seek feedback? In this article, we will explore how to combat these challenges by sharing five ways to empower online community engagement in older adults.

How Should We Define ‘Older Adults’ in Our Community?

In many countries, older adults are typically classified as individuals aged 65 years or older. This age group can be further categorized into three distinct subgroups:

• 65 to 74 years
• 75-84 years
• ≥ 85 years

While communicating with this demographic, it’s typically advised to avoid using phrases like ‘seniors’, ‘elderly’, ‘the aged’, ‘aging dependents’, ‘old-old’, or ‘young-old‘ as this can be perceived as discriminatory and can contribute to ageism. Therefore, it’s essential to use more respectful and inclusive language such as older persons, older people, older adults, older patients, older individuals, persons 65 years and older, or the older population to foster a more welcoming and equitable environment while promoting positive interactions with older individuals.

While it’s true that some older adults may need more support or technological assistance to keep up with the ever changing technological environment, it’s also important to be mindful to not make any assumptions, as this demographic can also possess a range of abilities and different skill sets, including being fully capable of using technology independently. Remember, this age group invented most of the technology we use today, like mobile phones and the internet, just to name a few.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults had swiftly embraced technology, especially in the healthcare sector, through digital health solutions. They utilized applications like telehealth and smartphone apps to improve access to care, maintain communication with healthcare providers, and manage their health conditions.

Technology is also used in this age group to improve older adults’ social well-being and quality of life. With the help of technology such as calling and messaging, older adults can stay connected with loved ones and maintain social connections, which can help to reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Therefore, to engage and empower older adults effectively, councils must tailor their approaches to match individuals’ specific life stages and align with their aspirations, interests, and objectives.

Five Ways to Empower Online Community Engagement in Older Adults

So, how can you empower older individuals to engage in public participation? Let’s explore five ways to help foster meaningful connections and promote community engagement among older adults.

1. Pop-up Stalls at Community Events
2. Training and Support
3. Actively Listen to their Needs
4. Accessible Content
5. Usability testing

1. Pop-up Stalls at Community Events

Empowering older adults can be achieved by honing in on their hobbies and interests, by recognizing what brings them joy or holds significance. For instance, you might consider having a pop-up stall at a local community event.

Kitimat, is a great example of a municipal council featuring a pop-up booth at a local craft fair. Showcasing features such as a large screen to assist with accessibility and visibility, along with flyers and brochures to educate residents, it allows councils to connect with diverse range of stakeholders in a manner that may resonate with their current interests.

2. Training and Support

Providing comprehensive training and support – particularly to those less technologically advanced – offers an additional method to assist older adults in navigating and utilising tools effectively.

To cater to varying preferences such as mobility and transportation, you might consider offering hybrid engagement by offering both online and in person face-to-face sessions. This is because while older adults may prefer in-person guidance, others may prefer online resources.

Workshops and Tutorials: Consider conducting workshops and tutorials both online and offline that are specifically tailored towards older adults. These sessions should primarily focus on teaching them how to use online digital platforms, the importance of community engagement, social media, and how to utilize other digital engagement tools.

Tech Support Hotline: It’s highly advised to ensure older adults have access to a reliable source of assistance and support for whenever they encounter issues or have questions about using online platforms. Having knowledgeable customer support staff available via phone or email can significantly reduce frustration and enhance their online experience.

Buddy System: Implement a buddy system by pairing tech-savvy volunteers with older adults to provide one-on-one assistance and guidance. This not only fosters a sense of community but also ensures that older individuals receive personalized help from a peer.

These sessions can also act as virtual spaces for older adults to connect with like-minded individuals who share their interests, hobbies, and life experiences. By participating in discussion forums, social groups, and workshops, participants can engage in meaningful conversations, sharing ideas and stories, and building friendships, encouraging older adults to view these platforms as valuable tools for social interaction.

3. Actively Listen to their Needs

Effective communication is the key for building stronger relationships. Therefore, ensure you are actively listening to the needs, concerns, and interests of older adults within your community to enhance public participation.

To enhance communication even further, implementing an easy feedback system for continuous improvement can prove to be beneficial for gathering input from older adults. This feedback loop then allows community leaders and service providers to receive direct and timely information about the effectiveness of their initiatives, programs, or services.

The City of Banyule’s Banyule Older Adults Framework 2030 project is great example of a Council gathering feedback from older adults by looking for areas of improvement within a community.

For this initiative, Banyule received input from its residents on ways to help enhance the quality of life for older individuals, considering that 24.7% of the population in Banyule is aged 60 and above. Between July and August 2023, a total of 388 individuals engaged in the community involvement endeavor. This participation included 53 attendees in a community focus group, 201 participants in a meeting with their community group, and 134 respondents who completed either an online or paper survey.

The feedback that Banyule received from its residents had aligned with the eight Key Domains that’s outlined in the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly Cities Framework. Here’s a summary of what was gathered.

4. Accessible Content

Creating accessible content is a key element in supporting older adults as they engage with online platforms. Therefore, to cater to a wide range of learning preferences and abilities, it’s important to make content available through multiple formats.

Videos: Videos equipped with captions are an excellent way to visually demonstrate how to perform certain tasks or navigate online platforms for older adults who are more comfortable with visual learning. These videos should be short, focused, and easy to access online, allowing older adults to view them at their own pace.

Audio: Another aspect of accessible content is by providing audio resources. Some older adults may prefer to listen to instructions rather than read them. Consider incorporating audio recordings that guide users through various online tasks or provide explanations.

Printed materials: For those who may struggle with technology use or access to equipment, offer printed materials featuring step-by-step screenshots, QR codes, user-friendly guides, and easily understandable text. Materials such as flyers, magazines, and quick step guides can be distributed during face-to-face sessions and workshops, and focus groups.

By simplifying your information, you can help improve memorability in older adults. With Social Pinpoint, you also have the ability to print out surveys or encourage the use of tablets at pop-ups to centralize data capture.

The City of League City is a great example of utilizing printed materials to engage with their community, by incorporating QR codes onto their flyers, to guide residents directly to their digital engagement platform, League City Listens.

“We also highly recommend printed materials to guide residents to the platform. This layout is nice because it describes the steps in a simplistic format. It’s always good to remember people who are not familiar with your online platform are probably seeing it for the first time. It’s never wise to assume they will know their way around each tool. A quick description and “how to” can really change your level of engagement with residents.”

– Amber Pedigo-Byrd, Manager of Community Engagement and Special Projects at City of League City

5. Usability Testing

Empowering older adults can include conducting usability tests with this demographic before the platform’s official launch, ensuring easy navigation and user-friendliness. This process typically entails having a group of older adults interact with the platform, then providing feedback on their user experience. This might be through avenues such as community reference groups and private projects.

During these usability tests, designers and developers observe how older users interact with the platform by paying close attention to their navigation patterns and how they interact with the user interface, and ease of use. Test participants might also be asked to perform typical actions on the platform, such as signing up, searching for information, or engaging in specific tasks related to the platform’s purpose.

The feedback obtained during usability testing is invaluable for making necessary adjustments and improvements to the platform. It helps identify potential pain points, areas of confusion, or features that may need simplification or enhancement to make the platform more accessible and user-friendly for older adults. This iterative process ensures that the final product is well-suited to the needs and preferences of the target demographic, ultimately promoting a more inclusive and engaging digital experience for older users.

Engaging with older adults through a blend of hybrid community engagement strategies by combining face-to-face interactions with online tactics, can greatly enhance feedback from this demographic. This is because they can recognize the significance of their involvement empowers them to make meaningful contributions to the community’s progress, guaranteeing a more inclusive and promising future.

By leveraging the capabilities of online platforms, we can establish a secure environment where the voices of older adults are recognized, listened to, and valued.

Concerning this surge in mental health disorders, we spoke with a well-known mental health agency to understand the implications for engagement levels between individuals and agencies post-pandemic.

When it comes to mental health engagement, a local focus is preferred. Those accessing mental health services tend to favour local services with regional knowledge, often avoiding online relational engagement tools. Mental health services predominantly engage online by sharing resources and facilitating support groups, including reference groups comprising individuals with specific mental health conditions and groups involving their families and caregivers.

Present engagement activities primarily involve surveys conducted by various agencies, while face-to-face grassroots engagement occurs at the local level through offices, established meeting places, or social media where data management and analysis are challenging.

Despite agencies utilising social media for organic content and advertising outreach, engaging service users with privacy and confidence remains a challenge.

Considering the ongoing outreach, feedback, and engagement, why not explore the use of a digital engagement platform to consult individuals, involve groups, and promote resources and outcomes from these collaborations, especially at a local level?

Five Benefits of Utilizing Digital Engagement for Mental Health Professionals

Here are five benefits of utilizing digital engagement for professionals in the mental health field when the focus is on staying local:

1. Enhanced Local Connections
2. Increased Accessibility
3. Tailored Support Services
4. Reduced Stigma at a Local Level
5. Collaborative Local Initiatives
   

1. Enhanced Local Connections

Digital community engagement facilitates mental health professionals in establishing stronger connections within their immediate geographical area. This approach fosters a sense of community and solidarity, exemplified by the City of Melbourne’s successful Neighbourhood Portals on Social Pinpoint.

Peer Support Groups – Facilitating online peer support groups where individuals can connect, share experiences, and provide mutual support. Peer support has shown to be effective in reducing feelings of isolation and promoting a sense of belonging.

2. Increased Accessibility

Digital community engagement platforms broaden the reach of mental health professionals, connecting with a more diverse audience locally. This accessibility extends support to individuals who may face barriers to traditional in-person services due to geographical limitations or disabilities. Social Pinpoint’s bespoke translation tool enhances engagement diversity across different languages in your locality.

Crisis and intervention resources – Ensuring that the platform includes easily accessible crisis intervention resources, such as helplines and mental health crisis services is vital. Having immediate access to support in times of crisis is crucial.

3. Tailored Support Services

Professionals can use digital engagement platforms to collect local information, offering support services and resources tailored to the unique needs of their community. Social Map simplifies data collection for a more effective understanding of local challenges.

Interactive Assessments and Screening Tools – Include evidence-based mental health assessments and screening tools to help individuals self-assess their mental health. These tools can guide users to appropriate resources based on their needs.

4. Reduced Stigma at a Local Level

Engaging with digital communities allows mental health professionals to address stigma directly. By participating in local conversations about mental health, they can break down stereotypes and promote open dialogue, ultimately reducing stigma on a community scale. Social Pinpoint’s Conversation tool facilitates open discussions in groups or privately.

Psychoeducational resources – Provide evidence-based psychoeducational resources on various mental health topics. This can include articles, videos, and infographics that offer practical tips and information for managing mental health challenges.

5. Collaborative Local Initiatives

Digital platforms provide a space for mental health professionals to collaborate with local organizations, government agencies, and community leaders. This collaborative approach ensures that solutions are well-suited to the local context. Social Pinpoint’s Private Project functionality allows professionals to work together confidently before launching any initiatives.

Community initiatives – Engaging the community in collective challenges or initiatives that promote a sense of unity and purpose. Collaborative efforts can contribute to a supportive community environment.

In summary, digital community engagement offers mental health professionals a range of benefits, including enhanced local connections, the ability to tailor support services, reduced stigma at a local level, collaborative local initiatives, and targeted outreach and services. These advantages empower professionals to make a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of their local communities.

Let’s explore how community engagement can be adapted during the festive period, considering the travel and festivities that often pull residents away from their usual life cycle routines.

Three Strategies for Festive Community Engagement

In the spirit of the holiday season and nurturing connections, here are three strategies that can be utilized to boost your upcoming community engagement for the festive season.

1. Closing the Loop
2. Planning Ahead
3. Celebrating the Wins

1. Closing the Loop

Closing the loop in community engagement involves creating a feedback system that ensures once everyone’s voice has been heard, they get to hear how their input has influenced an outcome. The festive period often brings a sense of reflection, making it an ideal time to address projects that have advanced or closed throughout the year.

By actively closing the loop on community feedback, residents will feel valued and heard, fostering a stronger sense of belonging. With Social Pinpoint and Consultation Manager’s in-built emailer, you can use it to showcase all the excellent projects that you have closed, much like a family Christmas newsletter.

2. Planning Ahead

While the festive season is a time for joy and celebration, it’s also a crucial period for planning your community engagement initiatives for the year ahead. Therefore, use this time to gather input on potential projects from colleagues around the organization, possible events you could support, and improvements that can be made from what you have learned in the past 12 months.

Hosting visioning sessions or collaborative workshops both with colleagues and community groups can help identify community priorities. Planning ahead not only ensures a smoother execution of future initiatives but also demonstrates a proactive commitment to better community engagement.

By utilizing the data you have collected on tool use and participation levels in Social Pinpoint and/or reports on issues learnt and interaction types in Consultation Manager, planning how best to engage next on that sticky upcoming project should be well informed and easier than pulling a Christmas cracker when the time comes to deliver.

3. Celebrating the Wins

Reflecting on the achievements and positive changes within the community after a successful project is essential for morale and motivation not only for the community who participated but also the staff that have spent many hours planning, executing and delivering. Take the time to celebrate the wins, both big and small.

Whether it’s completing a project, reaching an engagement goal, or fostering positive stronger and bigger relationships, ensure you acknowledge and share these successes. Celebrating these wins not only boosts morale but also inspires a sense of pride and accomplishment, encouraging continued active participation. With over 30 content tools in Social Pinpoint, showing these wins off in a high visual and active way is simple. It’s like putting the icing on the Christmas cake.

As we immerse ourselves in the festive spirit, let’s not forget the power of community engagement. While we certainly don’t advocate doing any engagement over the Christmas period – unless it’s something fun like City of Canada Bay’s Christmas Window competition or helpful like City of Pittsburgh’s Snow Angels, using this time for closing the loop on feedback, planning ahead for the future, and celebrating the wins are three key components that can elevate your practice during this joyous season.

By fostering connections, being actively prepared for the next 12 months, and recognising achievements, organisations and communities can lay the groundwork for a thriving and engaging future together. Happy holidays!