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Publications
Effective Focus Groups
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Published in 2007 by The Consultation Institute, Effective Focus Groups is a 40-page step-by-step guide to planning and using focus groups as part of a public consultation exercise. The book’s layout allows easy reference, and includes the use of icons to highlight tips, important information, and decision points. The following areas are covered:
- The definition of a focus group –including recommended size and duration
- Reasons for holding a focus group (and how it relates to other dialogue methods)
- Saturation – how many focus groups to use
- Participant mix, sampling, and how this affects the design
- Planning a focus group exercise
- Question construction, including stimuli other than spoken questions
- Moderation skills (including techniques for discouraging dominant participants)
- Recording and reporting a focus group
- A brief outline of related ways of collecting information from a group
- Bibliography – a list of further reading
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Effective Public Meetings
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Published in 2008 by The Consultation Institute, Effective Public Meetings is a 52-page step-by-step guide to planning and running public meetings as part of a public consultation exercise; it is, so far, the only book published in the UK to cover the subject in such detail. The book’s layout allows easy reference, and includes the use of icons to highlight tips, important information, and decision points. The following areas are covered:
- The definition of a public meeting in relation to standards of good practice in public consultation
- Deciding when a public meeting is appropriate, and how this way of consulting fits in with other dialogue methods for consulting stakeholders and the public
- Planning for a public meeting, including timing, venues, layout, access, and equipment.
- Documentation, presentations and speakers
- Getting people there – advertisement, invitations, incentives, audience-targeting, and accessibility
- Choosing and briefing chairs and speakers
- Staffing a public meeting (including security considerations)
- Advice for chairs on handling participant contributions (including dealing with difficult or verbose participants)
- Responding to questions
- Recording, reporting and follow-up Involving the press/media
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Both books can be obtained from The Consultation Institute
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