Designing Public Engagements/Mighty team of one

Setting up

Each activity includes instructions and guiding questions, as well as a completed examples based on the following fictional scenario. You may want to write down your own scenario that describes the public engagement issue you or your team are examining.

At this point you'll want to print out the activity pages here so that you can fill in your own information as you move through the workshop activities.

If you are working on a team you could print the activity pages as posters and work together, or you can project these activity pages or the deck onto a wall or dry erase board and use markers and sticky notes to work as a larger group.

Hacks: If you laminate the paper it becomes re-useable with dry erase markers. You could also get a graphically inclined colleague to sketch the activities on a large whiteboard.

Fictional Scenario:

You are an employee of the Fictitious Engagement Department (FED). In the last five years, health studies have revealed potential damaging effects of sugary drinks on human development. This has led lobbying groups to put pressure on the federal government to place a ban on sugary drinks. Based on your minister’s mandate, your team has been asked to propose government intervention on sugary soft drinks to address these health concerns. This may include legislative options.

Public Opinion Research suggests that Canadians hold strong opinions on both the benefits and disadvantages of continuing to sell sugary soft drinks. Media analysis reveals strong interest in Central Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta, with 14 related editorials written this year. Recommendations for any new legislation must be tabled within eighteen months.