Use the Engagement Methods Tool to find the right tool for your community and stakeholder engagement project.
The Full Circle method is a highly participatory engagement approach designed to generate ideas, explore perspectives, and deepen collective understanding. It works by dividing participants into small groups who rotate through a series of “stations,” each featuring a different topic or question. At each station, the group reviews what earlier groups have written or created […]
A Socratic Circle (or Socratic Seminar) is a dialogue-based method that encourages participants to engage deeply with a topic by discussing a shared question, text, or idea. Rooted in the Socratic tradition of inquiry and reflection, this method focuses on thoughtful dialogue, active listening, and respectful challenge rather than debate or persuasion. Often used in […]
Social networking site based on users’ professional expertise.
An Online Open House is a digital engagement method that replicates the experience of a traditional community open house — but in an online format that people can access anytime. These platforms typically host key project information (maps, FAQs, timelines, visuals) and offer interactive tools like surveys, Q&A boards, or comment maps to collect feedback. […]
Live Polling is an interactive method used to gather real-time feedback from participants during a meeting, event, or online session. Using tools like Slido, Mentimeter, or Poll Everywhere, facilitators can pose multiple choice questions, word clouds, or open text prompts, with results visible instantly on a shared screen. Live polling energises sessions, boosts participation, and […]
A Hackathon is a short, high-energy event where diverse participants — such as designers, community members, developers, policy thinkers or creatives — come together to rapidly develop solutions to a specific challenge. Traditionally associated with technology or innovation, hackathons are increasingly used in community engagement to prototype new ideas for civic issues, policy design, or […]
Graphic Facilitation is a visual engagement technique where a trained facilitator captures key ideas, conversations, and themes in real-time using drawings, symbols, and words. This can occur on large sheets of paper, whiteboards, or digital tablets. It is used during meetings, workshops, or forums to enhance understanding, create shared meaning, and support memory retention. This […]
Crowd Funding is a participatory fundraising method that engages individuals to contribute small amounts of money — usually online — to collectively fund a specific initiative or cause. Often hosted on dedicated platforms like Chuffed, GoFundMe, or StartSomeGood, crowd funding campaigns use storytelling, images, and clear goals to inspire people to donate and share the […]
Community Working Groups are small, focused groups of community members brought together to provide input, advice, or co-design support on a specific project or issue. Often established by councils, agencies, or community organisations, these groups operate over a defined time period and are guided by clear terms of reference. They allow for in-depth dialogue and […]
Community Organising is a long-term approach to civic participation that focuses on building the leadership, relationships, and collective power of everyday people to address issues that affect their lives. It typically involves identifying local leaders, building networks of trust, mapping shared concerns, and developing strategies for action. Unlike one-off consultations, community organising is deeply relational […]
Collective Action refers to coordinated efforts by a group of people working together to address a shared issue or pursue a common goal. It is often grassroots in nature and may involve community-led campaigns, rallies, clean-up days, public art projects, or advocacy initiatives. The power of collective action lies in its ability to mobilise people […]
A Citizen Assembly is a deliberative engagement method that brings together a representative group of everyday people to learn about, discuss, and provide recommendations on a specific public issue. Participants are often selected randomly to reflect the demographics of the community, such as age, gender, location, and background. Over a series of facilitated sessions, participants […]
The hui is a sophisticated New Zealand Māori tradition that involves bringing people together for a specific purpose or take (cause for gathering). (O’Sullivan and Mills, 2009)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been using yarning circles for thousands of years to discuss issues in an inclusive and collaborative manner. A conversational process that involves the telling of stories as a way of passing on cultural knowledge.
Citizens working with organisations to contribute to scientific research with the aim to increase scientific knowledge.
Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) also known as Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is a systematic method for evaluating and comparing alternatives based on multiple, often conflicting, criteria, helping decision makers choose the best option. The aim is to allow groups to determine and agree on a set of criteria and weightings to apply to their decision […]
A bundle of mini methods that support groups work towards long-term strategic thinking and problem solving.
Voting on a series of options.
Storytelling helps people make sense of the world and engage with each other on a different level.
Similar to an opt-in e-panel except members are randomly-selected to avoid bias.
Community members opt in to be part of an online engagement panel.
Online forum where invited or self-selected participants contribute to an online discussion about a topic or project for a set period of time.
Can be designed to inform, seek feedback, to gather ideas, and to update the community on the engagement project and how community input/feedback has been taken into consideration.
Online software that engages the community in an interactive way.
Interactive computer application designed for smartphones, mobile devices and computer tablets.
Development of online or non-digital games which participants play to solve problems and accomplish tasks.
A forum where a representative sample of the community deliberates on a topic, issue or proposal. Forums last at least 2 days.
An exploratory, facilitated group method where participants are asked to close their eyes and visualise what their community looks like now and in the future. Uses visualisation and dialogue and may be extended to include creative arts activities.
A structured group of community or stakeholder representatives that meet regularly and operate under a Terms of Reference. Can vary from members providing their own feedback or ideas, to members acting as a conduit between the broader community and organisation.
An online series of posts about an engagement project or issues, which the community can share and comment on.
Research involving a community of practice trying to solve a problem through action. Communities act as “co-researchers”.
Deliberation and decision making is undertaken by decision makers in view of the public, such as in a public gallery or by video streaming, to enhance transparency and accountability.
Open, hosted conversations set in cafes or other places where community members would ordinarily gather.
A website where content is not owned by a specific person or organisation, but is created, deleted or modified by members of the public.
A structured process to host a conversation with community or stakeholder representatives. Includes a series of questions that are objective, then reflective, interpretive and decisional.
A small group discussion hosted by a facilitator about a focussed topic.
A structured process where participants discuss a question or series of questions at a group of small tables.
Can include dedicated websites for an engagement project, a central hub for all of an organisation’s engagement activities, or a specific page on an organisation’s corporate website.
Community and stakeholders are invited to tour a site to gain a deeper understanding or to gain first-hand experience.
A series of questions provided to a sample which may be a representative sample or a self-selected sample.
A structured process where randomly-selected participants explore and deliberate on a topic at a meeting over 2 to 3 days and then their opinions are polled. Results of the poll are shared with the group and publicly. Can include a pre-poll, as well as additional polling that occurs after the engagement activity.
Small groups of people (usually between 5 and 20) who meet multiple times to explore an issue.
A method for hosting a meeting, conference or summit which is focused on a particular purpose or topic, but which has no formal agenda set.
One-on-one discussions to explore and understand community or stakeholder needs, perspectives, insights and feedback, and to build relationships.
A fair or festival involving food and entertainment, as well as activities around an engagement topic, project or proposal. Designed to make engagement topic more appealing and to reach audiences who would not normally attend workshops.
A structured method to explore specific, complex issues, and where participants work in small groups.
Used for planning local areas, a design charette is a multi-disciplinary design workshop held over 3-4 days, involving stakeholders, the project team, planning and design professionals, technical experts and sometimes community members.
Gathering ideas, services and content, from online users, rather than from staff or suppliers. Crowdsourcing can including asking for solutions to a problem, seeking funding for a project such as a start-up (crowdfunding) developing creative content or graphics, or to gather information. Can include a competition or incentive.
Large numbers of people who are selected to be representative of the population and be a part of a panel that deliberates on a range of issues over a set period of time. Surveys are distributed during the time to understand community attitudes, feedback, issues and behaviour. Can track changes as well.
Presentations and discussions with community or stakeholder groups. Can vary widely from informing to gathering feedback, ideas or options.
Process where the community works with an organisation through its budgeting process.
Capturing participants ideas, expressions and discussions in real-time during an engagement activity, to create a visual representation of the discussions.
Citizens edit and shape documents and reports through a series of circulating documents.
A public information session incorporating a series of displays or stations staffed by technical experts, engagement professionals or the project team.
A future planning process where participants undertake a series of sessions on the past, present, future, common ground, and action planning. Designed to develop a shared vision for the future.
A large-scale 2-3 day event where a large number of diverse people come together to consider information, engage in dialogue, participate in interactive activities and make recommendations.
A leaderless meeting where participants take a seat in a central circle to discuss a topic or question, that is controversial. Those watching follow a structured process to enter into the circle of discussion. Designed to voice multiple perspectives.
A representative sample of citizens are randomly selected to form a citizen’s jury which deliberates on a problem or opportunity. The jury hears evidence from witnesses, in front of a public gallery, before adjourning to deliberate and make a recommendation or decision.
Participants individually write their ideas, concerns, issues on cards. These are shared in small groups then categorised by the whole group.
A structured process for decision making that focuses on building on strengths (“what works well”), rather than focusing on problems and limitations.
