Coffee Mornings Return: What are the Topics (Season 1)

We’re relaunching our Thursday morning sessions from February, and we want to know what you’d like to explore

Good news: our coffee mornings are coming back. We ran these back in the early 2020s and they were really valuable, so we’re bringing them back from February. We’d love to hear what topics you’d like us to tackle.

We’ll be running regular Thursday morning sessions (11am) where our Fellows lead discussions on the practical challenges you’re actually facing. Think of them as focused conversations over coffee, not formal webinars or training sessions (although they are held on MS Teama). Just an hour where you can explore tricky problems with people who get it.

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Details for Joining

To register, please email  hello@consultationinstitute.org and we’ll send you an invite for the whole of Season.

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What happens in a coffee morning?

Each session focuses on one topic. One of our Fellows kicks things off by sharing their thinking and practical experience, then we open it up for discussion. You can join from wherever you’re working, ask questions, share what’s worked (or hasn’t) for you, and pick up ideas you can use straight away.

When we ran these before, we covered all sorts: managing campaign responses, designing engagement for seldom-heard groups, handling contentious service changes, making equality impact assessments actually useful. We also looked at sector-specific challenges in health, planning, policing, and local government. The conversations were genuinely useful, and people kept asking when we’d do them again.

Topics for Season 1

Starting 5th February 2026, we’re running weekly sessions through to the end of April (excluding Easter). Browse the topics below and mark your calendar for the sessions most relevant to your work. Please check the schedule, before joining

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12 February | The Benefits of Co-production Done Well

Co-production gets talked about a lot, but what does it actually look like when it’s done properly? This session explores the real benefits that genuine co-production can bring to your organisation and the services you deliver. We’ll look at practical examples, discuss what separates authentic co-production from tokenistic involvement, and share insights on how to make it work in practice. If you’ve been curious about co-production or struggled to make it stick, this is your opportunity to learn from those who’ve made it happen.

Facilitator: Anna Collins
Perfect for: Anyone wanting to move beyond tokenistic involvement, practitioners seeking practical co-production strategies

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19 February | Using AI in Questionnaires

Artificial intelligence is changing how we design and analyse questionnaires, but is it always for the better? Join us for an honest conversation about the opportunities and pitfalls of using AI in consultation surveys. We’ll share real successes and failures, discuss ethical considerations, and explore practical ways you might integrate AI into your work. Whether you’re already experimenting with AI or just AI-curious, bring your questions and experiences to this collaborative session.

Facilitator: Barry Creasy
Perfect for: Anyone designing surveys, those curious about AI applications, practitioners wanting to learn from others’ experiences

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26 February | Building Trust with Diverse and Marginalised Communities

Trust isn’t built overnight, especially with communities that have good reason to be sceptical of formal consultation processes. This session brings together experiences and practical strategies for developing genuine relationships with diverse and marginalised groups. Hear how others have successfully built trust, compare approaches, and gain new ideas for your own engagement work. We’ll tackle the real challenges openly and honestly, focusing on what actually works rather than what sounds good on paper.

Facilitator: Rory Hegarty
Perfect for: Practitioners working with hard-to-reach groups, anyone seeking to improve community relationships

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5 March | Consultation and Engagement in Service Change in 2026 and beyond

Service changes can be some of the most challenging and sensitive consultations to manage. This session explores the specific considerations, legal requirements, and practical approaches that make service change consultations robust and defensible. We’ll look at how to handle difficult conversations, manage expectations, and ensure your process stands up to scrutiny whilst genuinely involving those affected by proposed changes.

Facilitators: Peter Edwards & David Mallet
Perfect for: Anyone managing service change consultations, practitioners needing to understand legal requirements

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12 March | Consultation and Engagement During Transition to Unitary Status

With local government reorganisation creating new unitary authorities, consultation and engagement requirements during transition can be complex and unclear. What are bodies actually required to do at each phase of the process? What does the law say about consulting on the preferred model? This session cuts through the confusion, providing clarity on statutory duties and practical guidance for managing engagement during these major structural changes.

Facilitator: Mike Bartram
Perfect for: Local government professionals involved in reorganisation, anyone navigating unitary transition

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19 March | When Can Engagement Replace Consultation?

It’s one of the most common questions we hear: do we actually need to do a formal consultation, or will engagement suffice? This session examines the scenarios where engagement might be appropriate, explores the legal framework and case law, and discusses both the risks and benefits of different approaches. We’ll help you navigate the grey areas and make informed decisions about when formal consultation is essential and when alternative approaches might work.

Facilitator: Nick Duffin
Perfect for: Anyone uncertain about consultation requirements, practitioners wanting to understand legal boundaries

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26 March | Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis: Have We Got It Right?

Most of us use some form of stakeholder mapping, but evidence from legal challenges suggests we might be getting our priorities wrong. This session takes a critical look at common stakeholder mapping methods and explores what the courts tell us about who we should really be focusing on. We’ll discuss different approaches, share experiences, and challenge some assumptions about who counts as a key stakeholder in consultation processes.

Facilitator: Anna Collins
Perfect for: Anyone responsible for identifying stakeholders, practitioners wanting to strengthen their approach

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2 April | Keeping Up with the Law of Consultation

Whilst the number of consultation judicial reviews has decreased in the 2020s, the legal landscape hasn’t stood still. New case law continues to emerge, and the risks have evolved. This session helps you stay current with recent legal developments, understand emerging risks, and ensure your consultation practice remains legally defensible. We’ll translate complex legal principles into practical guidance you can actually use.

Facilitator: Barry Creasy
Perfect for: Anyone wanting to stay legally compliant, practitioners responsible for consultation governance

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9 April | The Benefits of a Continuous Engagement Strategy

Remember when continuous engagement was the goal we all aimed for in the mid-2010s? Somewhere along the way, many organisations lost sight of this approach and the significant benefits it brings. This session revisits why continuous engagement matters, explores how digital strategies can help you get back there, and shares actionable insights for building ongoing relationships with your communities. Discover how a good continuous engagement strategy can actually reduce your reliance on formal consultations.

Facilitators: Rory Hegarty & Rachel Richardson
Perfect for: Strategic thinkers, anyone wanting to move beyond one-off consultations

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16 April | Engagement and Consultation in Temporary and Emergency Service Change

When services need to change quickly due to emergencies or temporary circumstances, what are your legal obligations around consultation? Case law confirms there are duties even in urgent situations, but what exactly must you do? Are there any exceptions? This session examines the legal requirements, explores relevant case studies, and provides practical guidance for managing engagement when time is of the essence.

Facilitator: Nick Duffin
Perfect for: Anyone who might face emergency service changes, practitioners in health or social care sectors

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23 April | Digital: Reaching the Parts Other Methods Cannot

Struggling to reach certain groups through traditional engagement methods? A smart digital approach might be exactly what you need. This session explores innovative digital strategies that can refresh your efforts to connect with people you’ve found hard to engage. We’ll share clever techniques, discuss what works (and what doesn’t), and create space for you to ask questions about implementing digital approaches in your own context.

Facilitator: Rachel Richardson
Perfect for: Anyone struggling with engagement reach, practitioners wanting to strengthen digital capabilities

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30 April | Turning EDI into a Consultation and Engagement Asset

For many organisations, Equality Analysis and Impact Assessments feel like a compliance exercise, an add-on to the ‘real’ consultation work. But what if we flipped that thinking? This session explores how EDI considerations can be transformed from a tick-box activity into a genuine asset that strengthens everything you do. Learn how to integrate equality thinking throughout your consultation processes in ways that add real value and improve outcomes.

Facilitator: Anna Collins
Perfect for: Anyone doing Equality Analysis, practitioners wanting to embed EDI meaningfully

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tCI Coffee Mornings run every Thursday from 11am to 12pm

Free virtual sessions via MS Teams. Drop in whenever topics interest you.

Register via LinkedIn or email hello@consultationinstitute.org. Or you can use these credential in MS Teams to access the meeting directly.

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/31495630246464?p=hcoJ9yJQQfZfbkhHY1 or you can use these credentials

• Meeting ID: 314 956 302 464 64
• Passcode:: 2Po22qd2

We are all very much looking forwards to restarting these.