Use each stage of the timeline tool as a mini consultation to help boost engagement throughout the life of the project.
Including participation tools at each stage can encourage community input, and can offer valuable insights to inform each stage of the project.
It’s a great way to ensure that your project has community buy-in every step of the way!
Enhancing the Timeline
The Timeline provides a visual representation of the different stages of project. By showing at a glance where the project is up to, and what is coming up next, it demonstrates accountability and builds a sense of community expectation.
The Timeline can also be used as a series of mini consultations to boost engagement at each stage of the project.
Consider adding surveys, polls, map feedback, events, hotspots and idea boards to each timeline stage. Together, these tools will gather community feedback which can be analysed to inform the next part of the project.
You can populate each timeline stage with engagement tools using content blocks.
To add content blocks to a timeline stage:
- In the dashboard, select Projects in the Left-hand menu.
- Select the Project you want to edit.
- In the left-hand sub menu, under Content, select Timeline.
- The stages of the timeline will be displayed. (If no Timeline exists for the project, click here to find out how to make one.)
- Select a Stage to edit.
- To add a content block to this stage, click Add block.
- Select a block from the dropdown menu, such as Events, Surveys and Hotspots to display on the Timeline stage.
NB: When adding content blocks to a project, only content that already exists in the project will be added to the content block. For example, when you add an Event Content Block to a Timeline stage, only existing events will appear in the block.
Find out how to create Events here
Find out how to create Hotspots here
Find out how to add a Survey here.
Find out how to add an Idea Board here.