On 2nd October, ACEP convened a 1/2 day webinar on the topic of faster, leaner, better.  The aim was to uncover actionable insights from expert practitioners and thought leaders which focused on the future needs and challenges within our industry.  Two panels sessions and various expert sessions we run with contributions by Andy Mills, ASV Reserch, Nick Duffin, Delib, Granicus, Go Vocal, Grayling, ECF, Olovus, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, IZWE, Thinks Insights & Strategy, and WSP.

• We must battle decision maker impatience
• Consultors must not panic and have courage
• Use of tech can help us speed up – including the ‘time to launch’
• Tech is the gateway to owned audience and subscribers (i.e. re-engagement) and remove the admin tasks
• We ned to do more warming up, starting earlier and understanding our audiences
• Standards and templates can help us speed up
• A government office for public engagement (as an arbiter) would help us avoid length court battles
• Using external support and resources

• Consultors can change their perspectives,  We have a ‘carer’ role and are in a position to distil hope.  Lucy suggested defining what engagement should ‘feel like’ in her presentation
• Consultors are the key to unlocking impact.
• There is a skills gap in terms of the competence of decision makers
• Let’s make and use tailored, trusted technologies not just those off the shelf
• AI can help us spot mistakes, make good consultation designs and improve the user experience
• Consultors can get better at managing pace.  This is complicated by Purdah (election period) which means that sometimes there is a backlog
• Still need to build more trust and legitimacy (building loyalty and stickiness through gamification came up)

• We need to get better at measuring ROI so we can make the case for a bigger budget
• Need to get more strategic about marketing and audience outreach e.g. leverage influencers
• Better planning, right first time
• Less waste, which means better forecasting including our participatory capacity
• Embedding lessons learned, PM discipline
• Anticipate risks or take a risk-based approach to consultation processes

 What was your takeaway?  We’re interested to know.