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Its not surprising that in the feld of public participation and

engagement theres an increasing trend towards the use of
online engagement tools for planning projects. Public sector
organizations are no longer satisfed with face-to-face events
that attract the same small segment of the community. Lets
face it people are busy and not everyone with an opinion
has the time to attend a workshop. Online tools hold the
promise of attracting more participants and engaging a
broader demographic. We all know that its not enough to
have a project website. So what does it take to really engage
people online?
Tis article looks at the most and least successful case
studies from one of the leading online platforms and looks
for patterns and key success factors for online engagement.
MetroQuest provides a good case study for this article for
several reasons: it has been used for over 15 years on a range
of planning projects, it has been used by a diverse group of
consultants, and MetroQuest projects have attracted large
numbers of diverse participants. Examination of these case
studies led to several important dos and donts. Here are
some of the most important fndings.
DO: MAKE IT FAST, EASY AND FUN
Its easy for passionate planners to overestimate the amount
of time the average resident is willing to spend contributing
to a plan. Remember, were talking about the average resident,
not those same few people who show up to everything and
talk your ear of. Te frst thing most people will do is scan
your online tool and make a quick judgment how long is
this going to take? Heres the twist if it looks like itll take
fve minutes, theyll likely dive in and spend ten minutes or
more giving you input. If it looks
like itll take longer, they likely
wont even give you fve.
So if your budget is fve minutes,
its critical to make sure your tool
is so easy to use that little or no
instructions are needed. And dont
be afraid to make the experience
fun. Teres plenty of competition
for peoples time online. Heres a
great example of a simple, fun and
fast tool that Kimley-Horn, Nelson
Nygaard, and KDA Creative used
to gather feedback for the Flagstaf
Arizona Transit Plan. In just two
simple steps people ranked their
priorities and voted on a preferred
vision. Play with it here: http://
p1.fagstaf.metroquest.com/
&
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ONLINE ENGAGEMENT: WHAT DOES IT
TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
Dave Biggs, MetroQuest
coutiuurc ou rtcr 4
Issue 105 - Winter 2013
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A simple and visual interface can make your engagement experience fast and fun
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ONLINE ENGAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
Coutiuurc Feou Ptcr 1
DO: CRAFT YOUR CALL TO ACTION
In order to really motivate people to act, they need to know that your planning project is:
meaningful - there are serious decisions being made;
relevant there are costs and benefts at stake that directly afect them; and,
time-sensitive - they need to act within a well-defned window to have an efect.
Most of these factors relate to the content in the online tools and the marketing material that is used to get them there. Te
most successful projects this article looked at involved communications professionals who were able to see the content through
a marketing lens.
DO: USE SOCIAL NETWORKS STRATEGICALLY
Teres no formula for creating something that goes viral but there are several strategies that emerge from the most successful
planning projects. Firstly, make sure that your tool is easy to share on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Tis will help
your participants spread the word for you. Secondly, if youve done a good job making your tool fast, fun and meaningful, people
will be eager to share it. Remember, social networks are like popularity contests. People who post popular content are rewarded
by likes and re-tweets. Create something that people will be proud to wear on their Facebook wall!
One case study examined was the
Pacifc Coast Highway Safety
Study for City of Malibu &
Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG). Arellano
Associates used MetroQuest as a fast
and fun way to collect the input they
needed and connected it to social
networking tools. Shortly after its
launch, the tool went viral and in
only six weeks collected more input
from a broader demographic than
any other planning process the city
had ever conducted. Play with it here:
http://p1.malibu.metroquest.com/
Finally, if you choose to host a
Facebook page, online forum, or
Twitter account for the project, think
carefully about the voice of your
communication to the world. What
personality do you want to present?
How can you make it more personal and engaging? Te best examples
engaged people by asking questions to draw them into the discussion.
DO: GO TO THE PEOPLE
Sometimes to get to those hard to reach people, you need to go to them.
MetroQuest supports touch screen kiosks and mobile devices like iPads
so its easy to engage people at community centers, libraries, events or
anywhere people gather. Te best case studies examined took advantage
of these capabilities to engage people that would likely never attend a
workshop or fnd the project online. For example, a kiosk in the right
location can attract 200-500 participants per day. In one case study
examined, the Canadian City of Leduc was able to engage over 10% of
their population in their long range planning process using a single kiosk
located in the community center.
Tis confguration went viral in two days
Touch screen kiosks in the right locations can
broaden participation dramatically
Pttuuiuc tuc Trcuuotoc\ Toct\ - Wiutre 2013 5
Its always powerful to leverage partnerships. In each community there are
groups and thought leaders who can become champions of the project. Make
it easy for them to use their networks to promote participation through their
websites, blogs or newsletters.
DONT: HIDE ENGAGEMENT TOOLS
So many times, project or agency websites place the link to their public
engagement tools in obscure places. In one project, less than 100 people found
the site because the link to it was buried on the website. Make sure the link
is front and center with a nice clickable graphic and a call to action. Heres a
great example of a project that drove a great deal of traf c to MetroQuest by
placing a large link on the front page of their project site. Also note how the
branding of the project is consistent throughout ensure a seamless experience.
DONT: USE OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
Open-ended questions are time-consuming to answer and the
output is dif cult to analyze. Make sure you give people easy ways
to give you input in discrete categories. Rather than text input,
invite people to rank or rate specifc items. If you want input
on a map, give people specifc categories so you can subdivide
the results for easy analysis later. Heres a nice example used for
the Village of Carpentersvilles Old Town Plan by the Chicago
Metropolitan Agency for Planning: http://carpentersvillep1.
metroquest.com/.
DONT: USE JARGON
As professionals, its easy to lose sight of which words and terms
are widely understood. A little bit of user testing goes a long way
to iron out kinks in terminology and usability.
DONT: SHY AWAY FROM BAD OPTIONS
Too often planners want to ofer a narrow range of choices
and often exclude even a status quo option. To the public they
can all look alike. Tese projects also miss a powerful educational and political opportunity. As long as your tool clearly shows
tradeofs, people will learn about the pros and cons of the options and make smart choices. Trust them! Heres an image from the
MetroQuest confguration that the Denver Region Council of Governments used to engage stakeholders for their Metro Vision
process. After widespread community voting, sprawling scenarios like this one fell to the bottom of the heap. Play with it here:
http://denverregion.metroquest.com/.
One Last Consideration: Sign-ups
Many tools require that people sign-
up with their email or another account.
While there are benefts of sign-up
systems this can reduce participation
numbers dramatically as it takes more
time and reduces peoples sense of privacy.
Since MetroQuest is focused on broad
community involvement, it does not
require people to sign-up. As a result,
the frm has built intelligence into the
software to make sure people cant abuse
the system by voting multiple times.
Te author can be reached at 604-317-
6200 or dave.biggs@metroquest.com.
A nice example of project branding and web-
site integration
Tis ranking tool is easy for participants and straightfor-
ward to analyze the results afterwards
Tis scenario for Denver educates participants about the tradeofs with the
status quo future