Communicating with the public
To improve the way you communicate with the public, identify who your audience is, and target your approach to that audience.
There are a variety of situations where your public participation goal is simply to inform.
- You may have a decision to announce or new information to communicate, and you want it to reach the people who are affected or could benefit from that knowledge.
- You may be at an early stage of participation, where you want to provide the public with balanced and objective information to assist them in understanding an issue/problem, alternatives, opportunities and solutions.
- You could be at the end of a consultation or collaborative process, where you want people to know how their input affected the end result and why, and how things will move forward.
Effective communication
- Use the agency's active relationships to find out how much and what kind of information the community wants to know about your agency's policies and programmes.
- Prepare a communications brief as an automatic part of any new community initiative.
- Make use of newspapers - articles (news and features), what's on calendars, advertorials, public notices, other advertising, and radio community noticeboards to tell people about what you are doing.
- Involve communications staff in consultation processes.
- Explore opportunities for online participation.
- Use umbrella organisations to distribute material to members.
- Make key information available at public libraries, Citizens' Advice Bureaux, schools and other public facilities, and online.
- Form working relationships with local authority officials for issues of mutual interest.
- Ensure your agency's websites contain the kind of information the public wants and is easy to navigate.
- Review the accessibility of 0800 phone numbers and telephone systems.
There are a number of resources on this website that can help:
