Amanda discusses five creative ways to engage people when you think they don’t want to be involved.
1. Create a brand for your engagement
It’s not enough to say ‘come and hear about this work’. Create a brand and a campaign.
2. Talk about community topics
They might want to talk about how they can deal with climate change adaptation in their local area, or water fluoridation.
3. Use new tactics
A simple newsletter, a survey and an information session is no longer enough. We need to come up with new ways of engaging interest:
Digital mapping, intergenerational forum where millennials and baby boomers are working together to come up with ways to build the kind of society they want, on-the-street digitised sculptures that record community responses,
4. Think about new ways to talk about old topics
For example, use a ‘boundary expert’, someone from an associated field, to talk about town planning, someone like a climate change expert. This works across all fields of practice.
5.Work hard to engage youth
Get young people, or older people with a youthful outlook!
Creativity will cut through and encourage a whole lot more people to engage in our work and help create the way in which we live.
