Supporting Community Engagement

Supporting Community Engagement during the “Covid-19 lockdown”.

It seems inevitable that the current lock-down and social distancing “regime” will continue for at least 4 months, perhaps longer.

Many of the clients of Negocio have asked how they can continue to manage neighbourhood meetings, community engagement meetings, even town hall meetings that are required by contracts, conditions or are just good practice.

Community meetings are routinely used by contractors, government agencies, contractors working on community impacting projects, local government engagement teams, and others who know the value of sound public participation.

Community engagement does not have to cease or be postponed by the lockdown rules. To do so would be letting the virus “win” and would be seen by stakeholders as diminishing any commitment to engagement.

In some respects, while we are required to socially distance keeping connected with stakeholders is even more important. 

My experience is that your stakeholders will value being engaged and enjoy not just the social connection, but also the distraction from the small world that, right now, is contained by their home.

AND right now stakeholders have plenty of spare time to notice and think about the issues that are important to them. It is an ideal time to discover what they are thinking.

Almost everyone is using some video conferencing facility to hold team meetings, to socially engage with friends and loved ones, and to speak with clients. Some of those facilities are particularly valuable for engaging with stakeholders.

Negocio has used many such facilities to conduct mediation, meetings, deliver “webinars” and to have social contact, drinks or play games with friends and colleagues. We have facilitated and participated in virtual meetings attended by 2 to 200 people.

Wikipedia has produced a useful comparison of the leading virtual meeting software.

I have been using Zoom for meetings and consultations. Note from the Wikipedia comparison that Zoom “ticks most of the boxes”! That is not to say that the other facilities do not have merit. Microsoft Teams, for instance, is good for your inhouse and client meetings, some platforms have better “security” functions. 

My experience is that Zoom is familiar to many, even if they have not used it often. It is quite intuitive and easy to use.

I would like to share with you some of the features of Zoom that I find valuable. I am keen to hear your reviews of other platforms that you have used for conducting consultation and holding meetings.

For community consultation these are some of the valuable features of Zoom:

·     Participants do not need to “join” or download an “app” or “log in” to participate. Only the facilitator needs to have the software and an account.  Great for those with limited IT skills or who do not want yet another subscription! 

·     Zoom is free to invited participants.

·     Zoom allows the facilitator to produce personalised “invitations” that can be sent very easily via email. Great for ease AND accountability of attendance, and RSVP can be sent with a click!

·     The Zoom invitation includes a URL, participants “click” to connect, with ease. No fiddling around to participate.

·     Participants can engage with or without video and can “dial in” just like (old-fashioned?) teleconferencing services, except the facilitator is the person who invites and sets up meetings not someone in a call centre. Great for those who still prefer the telephone!

·     The moderator or facilitator (the person who invites you) maintains control and for instance can mute participants, or place them in separate “breakout rooms” if small group work is necessary. There is the possibility of a very flexible meeting format in the online world!

·     All participants can “share” their screen, files, a portion of their screen, play music or content from a camera. There is even a way to share a “whiteboard” so that if you are using a tablet with a pen you can write notes or agreements, and everyone can see what you are doing. Most of the features you use in a face to face meeting are available online!

·     You can record the meetings. Great if you need to produce a written record!

·     The basic version of Zoom (needed to facilitate a meeting) is free. Useful in the current economic environment!

·     Mostly video and sound are clear. Not perfect and bandwidth in different locations can impact quality. Mooting sound and turning off other features can minimise the impact. Most similar platforms suffer from the same issues from time to time, especially now there are many accessing the world through the NBN.

Of course there are some shortcomings of video conferencing that need to be managed with appropriate “ground rules”. I suggest that when facilitating a group of more than 3 the facilitator circulate “ground rules” in advance of the meeting. These are some of the that I think are worthwhile to ensure an effective meeting:

·     Participants are to keep their computers or phones on mute when they are not speaking.  Ambient noise makes it really difficult to hear if not masked. For instance at my home/office when a plane flies overhead, no one can hear what I am saying.

·     One person at a time is allowed to speaks. In large meetings you might consider a rule that the facilitator must “recognise” the person to speak next and then “unmute” them.

·     A signal from someone who wants to speak, a raised hand or finger will support facilitators to ensure that those who want to be heard have that opportunity.

·     Participants should be encouraged to use the chat facility for questions or comments. Relevant chat messages can be saved to include in meeting notes. Anyone who can use messaging apps like WhatsApp, you can use the chat facility. I have found that properly used chat facilities in meetings can create rich conversations, even conversations that might not be possible in a face to face meeting.

·     Participants should indicate when they have finished what they want to say. This makes it easier to follow the “one person speaks at a time rule”. You can see how this works on live television when studio hosts cut to reporters on location and vice-versa.

·     An agenda with named speakers, presenters and ground rules should be distributed in advance so that the meeting runs smoothly.

·     The facilitator should specify a time limit for the meeting. It is much harder to remain focused for a long period when looking on a screen.  Face to face consultation meetings often get a little “ragged” at about 1.45 hours. I suggest limiting a video conference to 1.5 hours.

·     Participants should be encouraged to avoid distractions.  Reading and sending emails while in a meeting ends up with people not comprehending the information and asking repetitive questions.

·     Visual aids and presentations are highly valued in virtual meetings. It is easier to see plans, maps and pictures when they are projected on your own computer screen than when projected on a distant screen. If you are using PowerPoint, the same rules apply as for face to face meetings, not too many words per slide, not too many slides, don’t read from the slide and include interesting visual content.

·     I recommend that participants who are not familiar with video meetings be invited to log in 15 minutes before the meeting starts. The facilitator can use the time to explain how the meeting will be conducted and to demonstrate the features of the video conferencing facility.

·     All participants should be advised if the meeting is to be recorded. This is an important privacy issue.

·     The facilitator should articulate the ground rules at the start of the meeting.