Beyond the survey: Creative approaches to community engagement

Ever tried to gather views from your community and ended up with only a handful of responses? Or felt the same voices keep coming forward while others stay silent?

Creative engagement changes that. It helps you reach those who don’t usually take part.

This session will explore creative ways to gather clearer insights, richer information and a wider range of perspectives from the people in your community. The session is ideal for anyone looking for new ideas to engage with their community.

If you want more meaningful information (not just more meetings), this is a session you won’t want to miss.

What you'll learn:

Why creative methods lead to better insights than surveys alone

What to think about before preparing your engagement session

Different engagement methods, their purpose and how to analyse the findings

Who this is for:

Anyone who needs to gather views or understand their community better, including:

• Community groups and volunteers
• People preparing a Local Place Plan or other community-led plans
• Local organisations starting a project
• Anyone curious about planning and participation

No prior experience required.

For accessibility requirements, further information or any questions, please contact Anne Krippler at anne@pas.org.uk

Why it’s worth joining

By the end of this online workshop, you’ll have:

• New tools for collecting clear, meaningful information
• Practical ideas for engagement activities that work in real life
• Confidence to design sessions that bring out honest and thoughtful responses
• A better understanding of how to produce strong evidence for your project or plan

This session is friendly, interactive and designed to help you walk away with ideas you can use immediately.

About this training series

This event is part of a new series of training sessions delivered by Planning Aid Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government through the National Planning Hub.

Our programme has been designed to give communities and individuals the confidence and knowledge to play an active role in shaping their local area.

Through these sessions you’ll learn:

• How to engage effectively with the planning system, particularly around electricity and renewable energy applications, understanding the process, knowing where your voice fits in and how to make it count.
• How to prepare strong community-led plans (including Local Place Plans and Community Action Plans), learning about relevant community engagement skills and with sustainability at the heart of your approach.

Each session is practical, accessible and focused on real-world challenges.

This is a one-off programme of sessions and will not be repeated, so we encourage early booking if you’re interested. The sessions will be recorded and will be available to rewatch for 3 months.

Explore the full programme of training sessions on our Eventbrite page to see what else we’re offering and to find the topics most relevant to you.