Engagement benchmarking: plan your 2027 with data from 35,000 projects

One sign-up, both parts

Part 1, global: Thursday 12 November · 3 pm GMT · with Wietse Van Ransbeeck and Aline Muylaert
Part 2, UK session: Wednesday 25 November · 11 am GMT · with Lora James and Fraser Henderson

Signing up here registers you for both. You'll get a separate Zoom confirmation for each session. Can't make one? Cancel it from its confirmation email, and you stay registered for the other.

Most engagement calendars are built from scratch, one request at a time. But there's a lot to learn from what other councils have already done.

We analysed 35,000 engagement projects. In part 1, Wietse Van Ransbeeck and Aline Muylaert share the big picture: what residents engage with and where engagement is growing.

In part 2, a hands-on UK session, Lora James and Fraser Henderson take what we found for the UK and show you how to turn it into your 2027 engagement calendar, with examples from councils like yours.

What we'll cover

• What UK residents show up for: the topics and project types that draw the most participation, and how they compare with council priorities.
• What similar councils are doing: which projects they run, and when in the year they engage residents.
• Where engagement planning goes wrong: the patterns behind projects that struggle, and how to spot them before launch.
• Your 2027 plan, started: a first look at our free planning tool, so you leave with a first draft of your engagement calendar.
• Your questions: a live Q&A to close.

Who it's for

Engagement teams, communications leads and directors who are starting to plan next year's projects and want to base that plan on more than last year's calendar.

Setting next year's budget? Your engagement plan belongs in it.

45 minutes: 30 minutes of findings, then 15 minutes of Q&A. Can't make it live? Sign up anyway and we'll send you the recording.