Defining Success in Community Engagement: Key Takeaways from Our Customer Peer Exchange

Our recent Customer Peer Exchange, Set Goals and Define Success in Community Engagement, was packed with valuable insights on setting goals, measuring success, and overcoming common engagement challenges. From aligning demographic data with census information to exploring strategies for long-term engagement, participants shared practical tips on how others could improve their efforts.

If you missed it, no worries, here’s our summary:

• • Defining Goals: Participants shared how they define and quantify success, using metrics like the number of responses, demographic representation, and engagement rates. A common goal for many was achieving as close a match as possible to the community’s census demographics, with some adjusting outreach efforts when certain groups, like women, were underrepresented populations.
  • Measurement & Tracking: A variety of strategies were discussed, including the fan favorite using PublicInput’s dynamic dashboards to monitor engagement activity along with the segmentation feature for analyzing engagement data (ex. by council district, demographics, and geography).
  • Overcoming Challenges: The session discussion also included an exchange of ideas and experiences around overcoming common obstacles, such as survey fatigue, challenges in reaching vulnerable populations, and the pressure of short timelines. Creative solutions included focusing outreach on specific geographic areas for better representation and working on interdepartmental teams to better align engagement goals.

Key Insights

Here are some quick key insights and takeaways from the session:

• • Goal Definition: Participants emphasized the importance of aligning demographic data with census information to ensure broad representation. They also highlighted the need for clear, achievable goals, recommending frameworks like SMARTie to guide the process.
  • Best Practices: Staying connected with industry peers and accessing resources such as PublicInput exchanges, articles, and organizations like the Insights Association, Greenbook, and Quirks were identified as critical for staying up to date on community engagement trends. Webinars from groups like USDOT and NOAA were also mentioned as valuable sources of ongoing learning.
  • Sustaining Engagement: Many participants noted the challenge of maintaining long-term engagement, especially when dealing with survey fatigue. To combat this, strategies such as post-engagement surveys were shared as ways to measure resident understanding and perceived impact, helping to keep participation energized.
  • Challenges Addressed: Common challenges included keeping residents engaged over time, overcoming collaboration roadblocks caused by limited resources, and educating residents on complex or technical topics before seeking input—especially when time is limited.

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