What happens if no one comes to your public meeting or open house? What does it mean? Or what happens if your public meeting turns into a zoo of yelling and screaming? What does this mean? Are public meetings or open houses true reflections of how and what the public feels, or just those who show up? Do you and the agency requiring public consultation understand that input from open houses and public meetings can be skewed to one side and not be truly representative of public opinion?

• Providing an Open Forum – How do you ensure all voices will be heard in your chosen forum? How do you deal with attendees who are intimidated by strong voices at your forum? What format should you use with public meetings – facilitated round tables, or a managed meeting?
• Providing Objective Information – Half of the success of an open house or public meeting depends on the provision of full and accurate information about your topic. This can be done before and during your forum. You may also need to provide information in follow-up to your forum.
• Seeking Public Input – How do you get the most public input out of your forum? How do you identify minority opinions and majority opinions? How do you ensure you have accurate information?
• Reporting Back – Will you report back to your forum attendees? How about to the stakeholders who didn’t attend your forum? Is there a need to report back to the public?

We Can Help You:

• We know how to organize public meetings and open houses so that attendees have full information and can get their questions and concerns answered.
• We help provide information in a manageable, simple and graphic manner to ensure that the majority of people can understand it.
• We facilitate communications in a respectful and fair way.
• We also ensure that various stakeholder positions are aired in the context of the project being discussed.
• We ensure that the context of public input is understood so that the representativeness of opinions is understood.