Ten Smart Engagement Techniques

CPD/APC Credits: 25

A workshop based on the feedback of needs from public bodies across the UK. Using examples and exercises based on real scenarios and actual practice, the trainer will run through the latest ‘smart’ techniques for 2020 and beyond.

This workshop considers what constitutes ‘smart’ engagement depending on the profiles of people that need to be engaged with. It starts by considering how well we undertake stakeholder mapping and using this to build an engagement plan, before considering the nature of the interest people have in whatever you are engaging or consulting upon, and how these two factors might determine what ‘smart’ engagement might look like.

It asks questions of delegates, such as, “Do you limit yourself to using the same method of engagement for a group of elderly residents as you do for a group of young activists when they have
very different interest, perspectives and position? How do you engage them to get the best from them?”

Course Aim
• Allows participants to consider and debate what might be ‘smart’ in different scenarios
• Helping to develop participants thinking about how they might improve on engagement planning in future
• Participants are invited to consider a range of engagement techniques, some of which they may not be familiar with, in terms of how and when you use them to maximum benefit
• Importantly, delegates will explore how to design engagement that reduces risk of challenge and reputational damage

Key Learning Points
• Advanced stakeholder mapping principles and practice
• How to dissect a person’s ‘interest’ and use this to understand what effective engagement would be
• How to design new forms of engagement to meet your objectives more effectively
• How to plan and deliver forms of engagement with greater precision to achieve better outcomes
• How to engage the most challenging and obstinate stakeholders constructively
• Ten smart engagement techniques, including at least one you have designed