Embedding engagement
Managing expectations: anticipating perceptions
When planning a community engagement activity, it can be helpful to think about it from the perspective of participants. You could also check out with colleagues/ friends what they find useful/ enjoyable and makes them feel comfortable and engaged. Here are some commonly expressed views from the community. You might want to think about how you can maximise the positive perceptions and minimise the negative in your engagement exercise.
Positive expectations and thoughts |
Negative expectations and thoughts |
|---|---|
I'm pleased that they want to listen to people like me |
They've decided what they want to do anyway |
There seem to be a good range and mix of people here today |
Why would they listen to me, I'm not important |
It's good to see the decision makers here today, they are more likely to take on board what we say if they are here |
Some people at the meeting will dominate it, I'm not going to go |
I'm glad there's a real opportunity to discuss everything we want to say - they've given us a lot of information |
They won't tell me what happens as a result of being involved - you never get feedback after these things |
They've sent me the report of that meeting the other week - it's good that we're being kept informed |
This group of people all look old/young/white.they can't want to speak to me or my friends |
They've done some of what we asked - that's great! |
They're not asking the right questions - why can't I say what I think on this survey? |
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