For governments, it will become easier to capture and analyze input at scale, and act on it; whether it’s shared online, at public meetings, or in everyday encounters.

The hybrid engagement challenge: two siloed worlds

Most governments struggle with fragmented participation.

Online engagement generates broad input and is efficient, but often lacks the context and emotion behind responses. In-person participation produces valuable discussions but typically reaches only a small group of residents.

Worse yet, the insights from face-to-face conversations often remain trapped in handwritten notes or people's memories. Teams spend hours manually transcribing key points – if they do at all – and crucial details inevitably get lost in the process.

This makes it nearly impossible to share these insights with colleagues who weren't present or to integrate them with broader engagement data.

Bringing participation to the community

The solution makes blended engagement more efficient and scalable for organizations of any size, eliminating the traditional barriers between different participation methods.

"Successful engagement means meeting people where they are and adapting to how they want to participate," said Wietse Van Ransbeeck, CEO and Co-Founder of Go Vocal. "The most authentic conversations often happen outside formal settings. Our partnership with Dembrane ensures those insights connect to the broader engagement process, giving governments the complete community perspective they need."

This integrated approach also benefits residents. Community members can participate in ways that work for their schedules and preferences, knowing their input contributes to decisions regardless of format.

Evelien Nieuwenburg, Co-Founder of Dembrane, adds: "Our shared solution particularly strengthens outreach to underrepresented voices – residents who work non-traditional hours, prefer face-to-face conversation, or find formal meetings intimidating. We’re making inclusive engagement a reality.”

Supporting deliberative democracy at scale

Beyond broadening access, the solution strengthens deliberative democracy by opening up what has traditionally been a limited and often exclusive process.

Tools like citizens' assemblies and participatory panels enable thoughtful dialogue, but they usually involve only a handful of residents. Until now, including more people in these processes has required significant time and manual effort.

Governments can now bring more voices into the process, while making it easier to analyze input, report transparently, and close the feedback loop.

“Deliberative processes are only as strong as the diversity of the voices involved,” said Wietse Van Ransbeeck. “Now, even spontaneous conversations or group discussions can be captured, analyzed, and woven into the bigger picture without adding pressure to already stretched teams.”

This shift allows for a more complete and accountable engagement process, from listening to learning to acting.

“Too often, residents share their views but never hear what happened next,” said Evelien Nieuwenburg. “With this integration, governments can hear from more people and show them how their input shaped decisions. That’s what builds long-term trust.”

How this works

This partnership delivers a seamless way to unify diverse engagement channels.

Dembrane's ECHO technology makes it simple to turn any device, such as a smartphone or tablet, into a recording instrument. This allows government staff to easily capture conversations wherever meaningful engagement happens – formal meetings, conversations at local events, and street interviews.

Once recorded, the ECHO system automatically converts the speech into searchable text and uses AI to identify the key themes, concerns, and ideas shared by the community.

These insights can then be uploaded into the Go Vocal platform and analyzed alongside digital feedback. As a result, public officials can understand not just what their community thinks, but why residents hold those views and what specific concerns drive their feedback.

Want to explore what this could mean for your team? Book a call with us today!

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