DEAR COLLEAGUES,

Our Public Involvement Team has heard this a lot recently:  Can public engagement move forward with social distancing restrictions in place?   Simply put: Yes, it can. 

Public outreach has harnessed the power of the Internet for quite some time now. Project websites, email updates, on-line surveys, social media and more already comprise the core elements of most communications toolkits. Even before COVID-19, we were working with public agencies to begin offering online public meeting tools to further extend their reach. Now, online meeting technology is improving daily, offering more and more flexibility to advance public engagement, almost seamlessly.

With all these resources at our fingertips, the public’s voice can still be heard and projects don’t have to stall. Below is information to help keep your projects moving forward. I hope you’re staying well in the midst of so much change. I welcome your input on what you’d like to see in future editions of Rasor Uncut.
Sincerely,

Mimi Rasor, APR
President
THE RASOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT TEAM
SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL PUBLIC MEETINGS

Want to get the most out of your virtual public meetings? Here are some secrets to success as compiled from agencies, participants, providers, and our own team of public engagement experts. 
CHOOSING THE RIGHT VIRTUAL
PUBLIC MEETING TOOL 

Virtual meetings are an excellent way to inform and engage today’s increasingly busy target audiences. People can participate from anywhere, and if their schedule conflicts, they can tune into a recording of the meeting and still submit questions and comments. While a few public agencies have started experimenting with virtual public meetings before COVID-19, we see them now as must-haves in every public engagement toolkit.

There are a growing number of meeting platforms available. To ensure your meetings are effective, choose a platform with the following capabilities when you’re in the planning stages:
  • Easy, free public access
  • No barriers to participation
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Secure protocols that circumvent hijacking
  • Seamless transitions between presenters and visuals
  • Session recordings
  • Public comment monitoring and documentation
  • Demographic and email collection tools
  • Interactive input tools
AGENCY GUIDANCE

Coronavirus is impacting every corner of our lives, and transportation departments aren’t immune. We recently spoke with several agencies about how they’re approaching public engagement in light of current social distancing restrictions and have included some of their directives and links to resources they’ve provided below. 
ODOT

ODOT has released guidance for conducting public meetings and public hearings during declared public emergencies. The guidance addresses meeting content and notification requirements as well as provisions to be made to ensure fair participation opportunities for all. Click for more detail .
KYTC

KYTC is advising project managers to plan for virtual meetings on all projects at this time. The Chief Information Security Officer with the Commonwealth Office of Technology advises teams to be cautious of meeting and conferencing platforms vulnerable to meeting disruption and hijacking, and recommends that teams consider alternatives with proven security features.

FHWA

FHWA’s Every Day Counts round Five (EDC-5) team will soon be producing a series of videos and fact sheets on virtual public involvement tools and strategies in follow up to last year’s Extending Our Reach series. To learn more, check out the March/April 2020 issue of their “Innovator” newsletter.

TUNE UP BEFORE TUNING IN TO THAT NEXT VIDEO CALL

There’s more to conducting a great video conference meeting than sending out an agenda and being on time. See if you were aware of these four simple, but impactful tips in this video from Forbes - thank you ODOT Office of Environmental Services (OES) for sharing!
(Click on bingo card to enlarge)
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