Tips for live engagement
Good communication is the most important element for achieving local engagement in your classroom, school, youth organisation or local community.
Effective communication allows you to inspire the community and stakeholders to join forces and create positive change together.
This section provides some tips and tools that will help improve the way you communicate and find creative ways to implement your strategy.
Storytelling and the “Four P” Method
Storytelling is a powerful tool, as it provides a good structure to get people to listen and engage.
Some characteristic elements of of storytelling are:
* an artistic ability to tell and share with words, sounds and images so that the listener’s attention is encouraged to remain active and focused;
* interactivity so that an exchange is created between the parties;
* the use of words that can be accompanied by images and sounds.
Good storytelling has four main elements, sometimes known as the Four P’s: People, Place, Plots and Purpose. Find out more about these elements
Creating a campaign slogan
Developing a campaign slogan which uses a catch phrases, which sticks in people’s minds and can clearly and concisely states your idea, is an essential tool for communicating and ensuring that our message is received.
Activity: Read the advice on creating a campaign slogan and then try to make a slogan for a climate awareness raising campaign that reflects the characteristics.
Improving communication skills
Practice helps increase the effectiveness of communication. For instance, rehearsing scenarios, narratives, and techniques with others can make communication itself more fluid and spontaneous.
In addition, asking others to give focused and honest feedback is helpful. Practice is also useful to take into account different points of view, whether there is something you are not comfortable with, or how you are communicating with non-verbal language. Find out more about non-verbal communication
This video provides some tips on being assertive when communicating.
Stakeholder mapping
The term “stakeholder” refers to the people, groups and organisations that have an interest and may have influence regarding the project, campaign or activity you want to organise.
Stakeholder mapping is the process of identifying key individuals or groups with a vested interest in your project and understanding their relationships with each other. This helps you to develop an informed strategy for involving and engaging stakeholders throughout the campaign development process.
Activity: From the diagram, consider the types of organisation in your region that may have a strong interest in climate action.
Click image to enlarge
In general, some stakeholders are more important than others, such as beneficiaries and key influencers, as they are central for the success of your actions. Find out more about key stakeholders
A useful way to identify these figures and to properly address their needs according to the level of involvement and relevance they may have for you, is to use a Stakeholder Map. Find out more about Stakeholder Mapping
Click image to enlarge
