MSD Project Clear Connect

Reimagining Public Engagement through the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Overview

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health guidelines required MSD to suspend its traditional public engagement practices. Rather than using the situation as an excuse to reduce public engagement, I embraced the challenge and seized the opportunity the reimagine and improve our engagement efforts for years to come.

Goals

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most of MSD’s public engagement practices were in-person. But as new public health restrictions took effect, we quickly shifted into virtual spaces. However, rather than recreating the in-person experience online, we used the interruption to reassess why we hold these meetings and how we can use digital tools to improve them.  

  • Inform affected stakeholders about upcoming construction projects and address any questions

  • Target participation to reduce opportunities for outside interests to overtake engagement

  • Introduce the project team and establish them as trustworthy experts

  • Reinforce MSD’s reputation as strong community partners

  • Put MSD’s people in a position to succeed

  • Minimize additional work for the project team

 

Tactics

To achieve the above goals, we introduced two new virtual engagement tools:

Virtual Public Meetings

Virtual Public Meetings provided an essential substitute for our traditional in-person engagement. Like in-person meetings, they allowed stakeholders to hear directly from the project team while also demonstrating a necessary transparency and accessibility level.

 

Project Webpages

While VPMs provided an adequate alternative to traditional meetings, we knew that transparency and accessibility would be more important than ever as in-person interactions decreased. As such, beyond VPMs, we also created dedicated webpages for our construction projects on the MSDProjectClear.org website.

The webpages ensured customers who were unable to attend the VPM could still educate themselves about the project on their own time and easily contact the project manager with any questions or concerns.

 
 
 

Results

Consistent experience

Whereas public engagement prior to the pandemic was inconsistent and had few standards, now, our customers and stakeholders receive a consistent experience at every public meeting

Improved access

Prior to the pandemic, our stakeholders had to attend the public meeting on a specific date, time and location. Now, they can access a recording of the public meeting at any time.

Consistent, usable data

Previous engagement lacked consistent data collection (if it included data collection at all). The virtual platform allows us to collect both qualitative and quantitative data that is reliable, consistent, and usable.

Greater controls

With in-person public engagement, it was common for one or two highly-vocal customers to monopolize the entire meeting. Through the virtual platform, we can easily separate these types of attendees to adequately address their questions while also allowing full participation from other guests.

Reduced workload

By creating templates and a consistent approach, the overall workload for the project team was reduced significantly, improving efficiency and leading to greater buy-in from staff.

Results are difficult to compare with pre-pandemic data, which are largely unavailable or unreliable. However, feedback from key stakeholders including customers, elected officials, contractors, and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.

Crisis to Catalyst: Harnessing Momentum to Reimagine Public Engagement

International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) North America Conference

September 2021

 

Given the overwhelming success of the public engagement platform, the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) selected me to share these accomplishments with public engagement professionals from across the continent at their North America Conference in September 2021. View or download the presentation slides below.