Ask The Audience

There’s probably never been so much public consultation as there is now. Suddenly it’s all about bottom up decision making, stakeholder involvement, public engagement, consumer feedback, response mechanisms, user surveys…

And while it’s generally a good thing to take into account people’s views before implementing change, the challenge for PR professionals is to do it in a way that works. Fundamentally it has to be easy for people to take part, clear what you’re asking them and concerning something that they care about.

Not exactly rocket science, but why does it sometimes go so wrong? Take this week as an example.

Basically, the owners of some woods near where I live want to chop the trees down and build houses. Now, the first most people knew about it was when surveyors were spotted taking measurements and hammering in stakes. Outrage and uproar ensued, immediately putting the would-be developers on the back foot. And from what I’ve seen their week has gone from bad to worse, highlighting a few lessons to be learned:

• Don’t underestimate people’s passion for the environment
• Tell people what you are planning - before they get wind and are forced to draw their own conclusions
• If you’ve gone to the expense of spending a lot of money on leaflets and flyers make sure they actually get delivered
• Don’t expect people to plough through wordy literature – or to accept your point of view
• Don’t hold consultation sessions at short notice in venues that are difficult to get to
• Try to avoid holding important meetings on World Cup match nights
• Don’t expect people to ‘engage’, especially if they smell a rat (who wants to dig their own grave?)
• Remember that most people have better things to do than ‘engage’ with you
• Take comprehensive notes at public meetings – don’t expect people to have to tell you twice
• Make it easy for people to respond – via post, email, telephone and in person
• Choose your representatives with care – and make sure they know their onions and speak the same language as your audience

Only time will tell what the outcome of this week’s shambolic public consultation process will be. But what it has done is brought the community together – now at last people are getting to know their neighbours.