Contents this month
Communicating complex subjects to the public
We facilitated an interesting event at a recent CIRIA conference
on communicating complex subjects to the public. It was clear that
for many people the issue is more when should we be engaging
the public rather than how should we do it.
The group discussed
the process of deciding how to design and choose the best methods
of
public engagement. I tested out the four key questions we ask
in the Dialogue
Designer tool. What do you want to achieve? Who
do
you want to engage with? How sensitive is the subject? And how
much time do you have? Yet again it showed me that if you can
answer these questions you can design an appropriate methodology,
even
if you have extremely complex information to communicate.
Pippa Hyam
