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  3. 2024 seminar series verdict is in – ‘Brilliant event’

Engage always takes time at the end of each of our events to ask participants to fill in a Feedback Form before leaving, so we can work to improve what we are delivering for residents and stakeholders in the city centre and waterfront. The results this year are perhaps the best we have ever received.

We asked people to answer 4 main questions around learning something new, meeting someone new, coming to en event run by Engage in the future and have you been to one of our events in the past? The responses give us an idea if we are reaching new audiences, if what we are doing attracts people and inspires them to come again, if we are educating our residents and stakeholders by sharing new and important information with them and if we are fulfilling an important social function to enable people to meet one another and engage in conversation.

The results have amazed and humbled us. After the first seminar 96% said they would come to an event like this again and 93% said they had learnt something they didn’t know before. Also after the first seminar 91% of respondents  said they had met someone they hadn’t met before. With the final question about having been to an Engage event previously we had the second lowest number ever reporting they had been to one of our previous events meaning that 63% were people we had never reached before, a new demographic for us which was wonderful.

You can read all the unedited Feedback Comments below:

I LEARNED SOMETHING I DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE

93%, 93%, and 83%.  Slightly above average for one of our seminar series. Also an excellent outcome for our educational focus.

I MET SOMEONE I HADN’T MET BEFORE

91%, 78%, 83%. Community connections are critical at all our events. We try to make time for residents to meet each other before, during, and after our seminars.

I’D COME TO AN EVENT LIKE THIS AGAIN

96%, 91%, and 87%. Bang on average (91%) for our events and a very strong sign of the quality of our work and the reputation we are building.

I’VE BEEN TO AN ENGAGE EVENT BEFORE

37%, 50%, 74%. This is a question where we want to see low figures, because it suggests we’re reaching new people. The 37% figure for the first seminar is our second lowest figure ever. The percentage would typically be around 60%, suggesting this series has successfully reached outside our usual demographic. You can also see how the number rises across the series, as a number of attendees returned, seminar after seminar, through the series. But still, even by the end, a quarter of people in the room were brand new to Engage.

Great figures evidencing a hugely successful seminar series for 2024.

How did people find out about the series?

27% of participants heard about the seminars from Word of Mouth; 24% from our Grapevine newsletter; 17% from the seminar flyer posted to some apartment blocks (5000); 14% from social media and 14% from another source.

Anything else?

Finally, here are all of the comments attendees left, over the course of our three seminars this year:

  • Thank you!
  • Would like to learn more!
  • The need to address serious “Forever Chemicals” from the Mersey
  • Brilliant event – really well run
  • I’m a 2nd year planning student at the Uni of Liverpool and this seminar has been extremely insightful for me!
  • A great event, I look forward to the next
  • Will there be any session with businesses take part as either panel or speaker?
  • Good mix of people on the panel – didn’t talk about what we have done – new port in docks, L1 estate rain gardens, etc
  • Longer Q&A section / more engagement with audience
  • Can we use the Grove Street land to trial having a seed swap courtesy of a horticultural nursery? Cathartic space, well run by volunteers.
  • Insightful + open conversation, positive experience
  • Brilliant event, thank you
  • An excellent event, fantastic initiative, well done!!
  • Great event. It felt like you got a ball rolling.
  • Good. Only thing it needs is a working microphone (Novotel)
  • Brilliant
  • Excellent event
  • Very well done – thanks
  • Thank you!
  • Thank you – insightful talk
  • It is important to establish a link with residents to co-design with the communities
  • I think the way we think in Liverpool about “sustainability” is continuing the business-as-usual agenda which has enabled us to be in this mess in the first place
  • Just very happy to be able to attend something this important close to home 🙂
  • Great event
  • Inspirational presentations and discussions. Community voice at the heart of change.
  • 1) Information about event needs to describe where cycle parking is best. 2) Venue needs to be able to accommodate secure cycle parking.
  • It was very interesting and Liverpool should keep discussing and collaborating with Tallinn to implement similar initiatives in our city.
  • Need biodegradable disposals, food industry. Amazing to hear the thoughts. Brilliant work.
  • Must do better with microphones next time (Novotel)
  • Great work!
  • Great event.
  • Great talk!
  • Why is the council’s list of items that can be recycled so small! We need to be able to recycle all plastics, not just bottles.
  • Well done everyone!
  • I’m preparing a speech for next time. See you there!
  • Fabulous as always Gerry & the team. Such a great room of people with constructive discussion.
  • The best aspect of the lecture was emphasis on practical solutions – discussing active/future projects and individual actions which cause change.
  • People want to help others not be helped themselves, but they need to learn this not through money of wealth
  • Pedestrians don’t stand a chance with manic cyclists and scooters NOT USING CYCLE LANES
  • Thanks 🙂
  • Thank you
  • Yes, collaborate with researchers at Liverpool Hope Uni School of Psychology to resolve issues related to public engagement
  • Where is the money coming from for retrofit? How can those who can just make ends meet, afford the cost up-front?
  • These events are so valuable! LCC needs to learn from Engage about communication and engagement! Not just consultation!!
  • Excellent talk and discussion
  • Very good. Inspirational.
  • Great to see excellent role model
  • Learned so much! Copenhagen – is that an excellent example?
  • Really informative event, with interesting speakers
  • Very informative. Insightful. Booking a trip to Valencia ASAP!
  • Great talks very inspiring!
  • Thanks!
  • Community engagement and strong narrative critical it seems
  • Loved this, thanks!
  • How awful is LCC compared with Tallinn and Valencia! No imagination. Keep at it!!
  • Good event. Good guests.
  • Use green maps to motivate people to learn and participate. See Bristol OpenGreenMap.
  • Good event
  • Thank you for organising – really interesting and great opportunity for networking. More of these please! Think about how to engage with more deprived communities too.
  • Very informative
  • Do better with your slides (LCC)
  • Present successful solutions, highlight how a problem was solved to inspire further methods
  • Lovely to connect with principle of strength and courage – it is about being an engine not a trailer
  • Great event, thanks for organising
  • Thanks for a thought-provoking event!
  • Well organised event
  • Thank you 🙂 It’s been a great series of seminars
  • Great events. Please organise more! Thank you.
  • I would love to be involved more
  • Thank you for highlighting these issues
  • Really good event. Very good panel, and accessible. Would be wise to have more events like this. Do one on transport?
  • Keep up the great work
  • Keep going, it’s great!
  • Thank you so much for organising! Lots of work to do together, but it’s great to meet all the keen beans who are here and would love to see growth and change for the better in Liverpool 🙂
  • Great venues
  • Thank you! Keep up the good work.
  • Share videos and powerpoints!
  • Well done!
  • Improve transport! We have less buses, and the ones we do have are packed.
  • Really good events, doing really good work. Looking forward to what you’re going to do next.
  • Had difficulty listening to Mark but not Simon. A/C could be turned off?
  • Well done Engage!
  • Liverpool climate NGOs could learn a lot from Engage events, especially on working with LCC.
  • Engage needs to franchise into other areas of Liverpool – I’m so grateful for it but imagine taking these around other boroughs!
  • Really useful event as a student
  • For the love of God make your PowerPoints legible! And stop being defensive! (LCC)
  • 1) Choose more accessible locations. 2) Make sure acoustics are better.
  • Thank you for the great series of talks this year
  • Would like more time for questions
  • Thanks
  • I am a scientific artist that creates art projects about nature, environment, and climate, and I run a climate-focussed seed library. People already doing this work need support + funding.
  • Your panel was all white men 🙁 Simon spoke very well this evening 🙂 Really great event! Look forward to next one. Great networking as well as informative. Thank you.
  • Keep up the good work