public engagement masterclass 21: organising a public ... · •impact – what message do you want...

Public Engagement Masterclass 21: Organising a public engagement

event

10/03/2015 © The University of Sheffield

Professor Richard Jones & Professor Vanessa Toulmin


Outline of session

2pm Welcome

2.05pm Professor Richard Jones

2.30pm Professor Vanessa

Toulmin

3.15pm Group Work

3.45pm Round up and questions

Introduction to the project and Public Engagement and Impact

Team

• Introduction to the Public Engagement and Impact Team

• The masterclass series

• What we can do to help?


Masterclass series Masterclass title Date

21: What to think about when organising your public engagement event Tuesday 24 February 2015

22: Working in partnership with others

Wednesday 25 March 2015

23: Coordinating large scale public engagement, e.g. faculty based events, film or lecture series etc

Wednesday 29 April 2015

24: Public Engagement or Widening Participation/ Outreach? Things to

think about when organising events for children and young people

Wednesday 27 May 2015

25: Grant writing and impact Wednesday 24 June 2015

26: Writing a risk assessment for your event/ event planning Wednesday 29 July 2015

27: Engaging the public as researchers and different types of engagement

Wednesday 30 September 2015

28: How to communicate your event

Wednesday 28 October 2015

29: Storytelling in public engagement Wednesday 25 November 2015

30: Some ideas about how to evaluate your public engagement event Wednesday 16 December 2015


Which faculty are you in?

A. Arts & Humanities

B. Engineering

C. Medicine Dentistry & Health

D. Science

E. Social Sciences

F. Other


Arts &

Hum

anities

Engineerin

g

Medici

ne Dentis

try &

Health

Science

Social S

cience

s

Other

22%

15%

7%

22%22%

11%

Are you…?

A. Academic staff

B. Non-academic staff

C. Post-graduate student

D. Other


Academ

ic st

aff

Non-aca

demic

staff

Post-g

raduate

student

Other

15%

0%

59%

26%

How many public engagement events have you organised?

A. None

B. 1 or 2

C. 3 to 5

D. More than 5


None

1 or 2

3 to 5

More

than 5

54%

8%

0%

38%

How much do you know about how to organise a public engagement event?

A. A lot

B. Quite a lot

C. A little

D. Nothing


A lot

Quite a

lot

A little

Nothin

g

4%

30%

52%

15%

How much do you know about shaping your event around the audience?

A. A lot

B. Quite a lot

C. A little

D. Nothing


A lot

Quite a

lot

A little

Nothin

g

0%

30%

48%

22%

How much do you know about different kinds of public engagement events?

A. A lot

B. Quite a lot

C. A little

D. Nothing


A lot

Quite a

lot

A little

Nothin

g

4%

37%

56%

4%

• The University’s Good Research and Innovation Practices policy

www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/grip

• Minimum accepted practices in public engagement

• Higher practices to aspire to


What is Public Engagement?

• “Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit”

National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement

Professor Richard Jones

Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation


• Why public engagement is important

• University of Sheffield catalyst funding: Remaking the Civic University: Creating New Cultural Standards for Public Engagement

• Future beyond the catalyst

• Sheffield 2022

• Some examples of public engagement


Public engagement at the University of Sheffield

• Think about the University’s reputation

• You are the expert … to an extent. BUT be prepared to listen

• Start with a small scale event and build up from there


Top tips

Professor Vanessa Toulmin

10/03/2015 © The University of Sheffield 17

Things to think about • Reasons for holding a public

engagement event • Why will the audience come

to your event? • Most effective way of getting

your message across • What do you want to get out

of it? • How will you engage with the

public?

Getting started


• Who will be in the audience? General public or specialist group

• Specialist groups may be approached through a network or forum and may need a targeted approach

• Think about a hook to get the

audience interested in your research. Why will they want to come?

Sensitivity around audiences

• Child protection issues/ Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously CRB checks)

• You will need to seek permission before photographing and recording the event

• You will need to consider the cultural sensitivities of your audience to ensure widest possible appeal

• Consider barriers to attendance e.g. transport, childcare, time of the event

• Ethics


Different kinds of events


Types of events

• Lecture

• ‘In conversation with…’ format

• Panel debate

• Participatory dialogue event (e.g. focus group, workshop)

• Demonstration

• ‘Hands-on’ event (e.g. museum workshop)

• Film screening

• Theatre performance

• Exhibition etc

Need to consider the pros and cons of each to promote your message in the best way


What will a successful event look like?

• Success – how will you measure it?

• Impact – what message do you want the audience to take home? In some cases, just taking part can be a success, in other cases you may want to stimulate thinking or a debate

• Communication – you will probably need to adapt the language of your research to appeal to the audience.

Public engagement is about a interactive process of information and knowledge exchange


• Consider involving an external organisation to generate interest in your event or to promote your message in a different way

• Tell your story in a way that is likely to appeal to a wide audience – consider using artists, street theatre, interactive events etc

Event promotion

• How are you going to get people to come to your event?

• Where is the venue?

• Internal support: events can be promoted using email, events listings, Open Campus, What’s On etc


Event promotion

• The Public Engagement and Impact Team can help you with advice about producing leaflets, social media (twitter and facebook etc) and general promotion

• Media, Marketing and Digital Engagement Teams

• Filming facilities are available in most teaching rooms in the University and support is available from CiCS


Location of the event

• Is the university the best location or should you take your research out to the public?

• What is the room like? Does it work for your event?

• Think creatively about location and format – local parks, neighbourhoods, community centres, supermarkets

• Venue accessibility – Consider the availability of public transport, accessibility, cost to get there, etc.


Timing of the event

• Make sure the event does not clash with another event your target audience is likely to attend

• Can you piggy back your event onto something else?

• Activities may have to be run at unsociable times to attract the audience – e.g. weekends or evenings


Practicalities

• Staff/ student volunteers

• Contingency planning for bad weather or last minute cancellations

• Risk Assessment and Health and Safety

• Non-university outside spaces will need permission

• You may also want to think about audience reaction – what if you are heckled?

• Appoint volunteers to manage audience numbers, deal with queries etc

Budgets and costings

• Venue: External venue might charge but it could make the difference between getting the right audience and not

• Free or paid for event? Even a small fee means that people who have bought tickets are more likely to attend. Free events make it accessible to all

• Refreshments

• External advertising and promotion – posters/leaflets etc

Evaluation and Feedback

• Evaluation methods: Response comment cards, interviews, focus groups, graffiti walls, observation, drawings, video, photos, images, filming etc

• Think creatively about engaging the audience to tell you what they thought

• Some methods: before and after evaluation, video clips on exit, voting using tokens

Evaluation and Feedback

• Short films, pod casts and video clips are becoming very common. We can also help you with Vimeo, TEDx and filming.

• What did you want to achieve from the event and can you measure it?

• What difference did the event have on the audience?

• How was the event received?

• Could you do it better next time?

Interactive activity 1: • Examples of good/ bad public engagement

• In round table groups share your experience about what has gone well and what has not gone so well (15 minutes)

Interactive activity 2:

• In your tables discuss how you would approach organising the following event from the brief below. What are the key tasks to putting on a successful event from start to finish? (20 minutes)

• Your group is organising a public engagement event in September 2015. This particular event will involve a presentation about youth politics by a leading academic from the University, followed by a panel debate with questions from the audience. The panel should have up to 5 members and be representative of different political groups.

• Your venue is the Town Hall and your audience is made up of young adults and the public. Your group are responsible for the event from start to finish and the event itself will last around one and a half hours.


Some answers

• Develop an event plan

• Decide roles and responsibilities

• Book venue with Council city centre manager in plenty of time

• Book panel members

• Any VIPs may need some special treatment

• Identify someone to chair the debate

• Devise invitations and send out in plenty of time

• Prepare a risk assessment

• Promote via University and local media

• Create a social media communications plan

• Be prepared for a lively event – heckling, security, differences of opinion

• Evaluation techniques – be creative!

• Full briefing on day of event for all involved

• Share your success story

How much have you learnt about how to organise an public engagement event?

A. Greatly improved

B. Slightly improved

C. Stayed the same

D. Don’t know


Greatly

impro

ved

Slightly

impro

ved

Stayed th

e sam

e

Don’t kn

ow

58%

5%5%

32%

My knowledge has…

How much have you learnt about shaping your event around the audience?

A. Greatly improved


C. Stayed the same

D. Don’t know


Greatly

impro

ved

Slightly

impro

ved

Stayed th

e sam

e

Don’t kn

ow

35%

5%10%

50%

My knowledge has…

How much have you learnt about different kinds of public engagement events?

A. Greatly improved


C. Stayed the same

D. Don’t know


Greatly

impro

ved

Slightly

impro

ved

Stayed th

e sam

e

Don’t kn

ow

35%

5%

20%

40%

My knowledge has…

Opportunities for engagement – what is coming up?

• Doc/Fest (March and June 2015)

• Science and Engineering Week (March 2015)

• Ideas Bazaar (September 2015)

• Mobile University (September 2015)

• Festival of Social Science (November 2015)

© The University of Sheffield

For further information contact:

[email protected]

@UniShefEngage

#GetEngaged


Questions


To Discover And Understand.

public engagement masterclass 21: organising a public ... · •impact – what message do you want...

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