December First Tuesday: Strong Roots Consulting

This month’s First Tuesday discussion posed the question:

"How do we turn YXEVoices.com into a main stream platform for civic engagement in Saskatoon?"

A diverse group of twelve participants gathered in The Common at The Two Twenty, sharing and exchanging ideas on taking YXEVoices.com to the next level. Ideas put forward invevitably landed into three common, broader themes:

Technical.      Community.       Marketing.

On the technical side, the group agreed that the website could benefit from tag clouds, helping to visually portray the strength of the collected ideas. As well, better integration with social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit can help increase engagement. There also is a need to share the monthly schedule of events, for example a countdown timer, as well as a way for organizations to suggestion a question.

For community, it was clear we need to formalize a framework of local partnerships that mutually benefit from the platform. This could include community organizations like CHEP, Great Places, Saskatoon Cycles, media agencies like Metro Saskatoon, Bridges, CFCRand City of Saskatoon officials. Formalizing the launch of monthly question including an event and press release will help galvanize partners and the community. A great idea that bubbled up during conversation was giving the public and community partners the chance to central question put up on YXEVoices.com each month.

In marketing, we need to deepen our focus and intensity both online and offline. Printed material like leaflets, stickers and posters would be a good way to spread the word locally. To target large audiences, there is potential to collect ideas in high traffic locations such as malls through volunteer interviewers or public kiosks. The platform could benefit from media campaigns or celebrity endorsement, for example Jian Ghomeshi from CBC’s Q or locally with John Gormley on Newstalk Radio. Engaging our partners in our community framework is integral to our marketing efforts and success. A summary of results at the end of the month including the top answers, common themes, and result statistics delivered in an executive summary or infographic with the goal of providing local and potentially global context.

As always, First Tuesday proved to be a valuable forum for brainstorming and discussion of a local problem. Following one of the morning’s suggestions of mixing civic related with more lighthearted in nature, this month’s YXEVoices question is:

My favorite Xmas display is...

We know you've got a favorite in town. Share your favorite Christmas displays athttp://yxevoices.com/reports?c=9, and lets make a map of the citys best yuletide displays. 

About YXE Voices

YXE Voices is a civic engagement platform to promote the sharing and discussion of ideas on ways to improve Saskatoon. The project is a partnership between Whitespace.io andDeezine.ca, to spark a new level of citizen participation in Saskatoon. Follow YXEVoices on Twitter https://twitter.com/yxevoices or Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/YXEVoices.