Gather ideas effectively

Learn how to make the most of our Idea tool

Gayathri Rajendiran avatar
Written by Gayathri Rajendiran
Updated over a week ago

There is a lot of truth in the saying "An idea can change the world".

Our ideation tool was developed to encourage productive ideas on any particular topic. You can click here to read more about how the City of Yarmouth has utilized online ideation to help them generate a community idea that could help change the future. 

What should I keep in mind while setting up the Idea tool?

1. Purpose of the tool

Since there is no limit on the number of topics that you can list in our Idea tool, we generally recommend sticking to one specific topic or place while encouraging ideas. 

A relevant title with a slightly detailed description of what your audience would like introduced, removed, or changed would get the ball rolling. 

2. Freedom to express

We understand that ideas often require a little creativity, imagination, and discussion. Therefore, we offer the option for users to upload images and add comments in support or against an idea. 

Having all these options enabled would give your target audience the ability to express their creative thoughts in the form of visual or textual information. Admins can also reply and acknowledge productive and feasible ideas. This can give a sense of reassurance that you're listening to their ideas, given that they will invest time and effort in this tool. 

3. Power of social media

We must never underestimate the power of social media. Please be sure to try and share both :

1) Your idea tool on your official social media page to invite more ideas
2) Feasible/controversial idea to generate more debate.

4. Use of scheduled voting

By allocating different time-frames for adding ideas and then scheduled voting on these ideas, you can achieve a democratic setup on this tool! P.S the attached screenshot where a council has clearly defined when engagement should start and end and how a decision will be made based on votes. 

Scheduled voting ensures that ideas can't be added when voting starts; generating support to existing ideas. By splitting the idea generation process into two activities, you're not only encouraging higher engagement but you're also making the analysis of your engagement that much easy.  

5. Keeping participants updated

Once the analysis of the ideas collected is done, you can update your project description with the results of the analysis. You can also choose to send a newsletter with the results, to users who have engaged in your project.

Participants would be keen to know which ideas were selected for implementation in the near future. This is a fantastic way to keep in touch with your community and plan ahead. 

Contact our support team if you need any further assistance via chat or email support@engagementhq.com

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