The Ideas tool is an online space for your participants to post, comment on, and vote for ideas. It can be entirely open to encourage imaginative ideation or targeted towards a specific issue or topic.
As a tool, it is easy to set up, highly visual, and can be easily engaged with. We’ve seen a vast array of ways people have used the ideas tool, including:
Generating ideas about redevelopment projects, such as parks or precincts
Sourcing feedback about projects or plans your council has created
Creating vision boards of what your community sees as the future of your council
Competitions or contests in which users can upload photos and text and vote for their favorites
Voting on a curated list of topics or projects to understand community priorities
There are many creative uses of the Ideas tool and ways you can optimize them. Consider the following options when you build projects and decide if an Ideas tool is right for the consultation.
The Tool’s Purpose
The Ideas tool features a prominent About panel that can be minimized by users. This space is your opportunity to clearly explain the purpose of the board and give it an engaging title. We recommend using one topic per ideas board.
When writing the tool description, consider explaining:
What kind of ideas you’re looking for. Is this a competition to choose a mascot from previously designed options? Or are you looking for ideas for your next consultation?
How participants can contribute. Provide instructions for posting an idea and comments, if you allow them. If this is a competition, explain the rules and how participants can cast their votes.
The details of your voting period. State the dates for the ideation period and when voting begins and ends.
Allowing Images and Comments
Admins can choose if their Ideas tool will allow image posting and comments. The Ideas tool was designed to be highly visual and allowing images and comments can encourage deeper engagement and more meaningful discussion.
If you choose not to allow images, participants can still choose to style their posts with accessible colors determined by EngagementHQ, so the board will always be visually appealing.
Sharing on Socials and Websites
As a highly visual tool, Ideas is also a good option when promoting your site and broadening your audience.
Ideas boards look great and they’re quick and easy to engage with. As such, they can be highly effective tools to share on social media sites.
Additionally, the Ideas tool can be embedded into external websites or your homepage. For example, the board in the image below has been embedded into an OpenCities corporate website.
Scheduled Voting Periods
Add another dimension to the project by enabling scheduled voting. Participants vote by selecting the like (thumbs up) icon on ideas. Admins also have control over how voting works for each board. They can choose to:
Have a period of idea posting, followed by a voting period, so participants can generate ideas before voting starts and posting is blocked when voting begins.
Indefinite voting in which participants can post ideas and vote simultaneously.
Schedule voting to begin when the tool is published, so participants can only vote on ideas that admins have already posted.
Closing the Loop
While the ideas tool is designed to be visual and fun, you can still gain valuable insights from the contributions. As such, it is essential that you report back on your findings and keep your community informed. You can do this in several ways:
Newsfeed updates
Updating the project and tool description with your findings
Newsletters or other emails
Updating your corporate site to announce the results