In a world of busy schedules and tight budgets, there is constant pressure on professionals to meet increasing consultation requirements by cramming more and more process points and objectives into each event and activity.

Excellent planning and very careful resource management are prerequisites as the output requirements for each activity increase. And never has comprehensive stakeholder analysis and detail in your communications and engagement plan been more important to the success of your consultation. But what of the ‘one activity, multiple output’ expectations many programmes build in out of necessity? Can you reliably hit two birds with one stone?

Magic bullet theory was established during the investigation into President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 with the notion that a single bullet changed direction several times, twice in mid-air, to hit the President and an aide a total of seven times.

The objectives for your public consultation exercise will be many and varied. Each will be in your plan for legal reasons, as best practice, or simply because you put it there. Each is there with a valid purpose. Each is an important target to hit. Each is worthy of specific activity to achieve it.

An event can be an opportunity to combine similar objectives and complete them in sequence, or in parallel. A carefully written briefing for one audience can be re-purposed for another. But do these things carefully and conscientiously or you may find you miss your targets, because bullets can’t change direction in mid-flight.