Communications & Public Involvement
Communicating your goals, your accomplishments, or your challenges is critical in today’s environment. Council Oak has expertise in working closely with clients to determine communication needs and develop effective and appropriate materials. A well-designed public participation process, be it facilitated focus groups or nationwide program meetings, can help collect information and ideas you need or share your ideas with others.
Our Approach
Council Oak can help you:
Identify target audiences, key messages, and appropriate delivery media in order to create effective communication materials. We also assist with drafting highly effective option papers, management briefings, preparing public speeches and presentations, fact sheets, public service announcements, news articles, posters, display booths, brochures and press releases. All materials are prepared in a manner that translates complex, technical information into easily understood concepts and principles.
Prepare a wide variety of reports, including Reports to Congress, Annual Reports, policy analyses, white papers, program evaluations, etc.
Develop effective public participation. We support meetings, conferences, and workshops regardless of the number of potential attendees. We provide logistical as well as substantive support for nationwide or state-wide program meetings, public meetings and workshops, “listening” or town-meeting type sessions, facilitated focus groups, collaborative multiparty discussions, and negotiations.
Understand your stakeholders before starting outreach activities, using a structured process that includes identifying key individuals or organizations, developing interview protocols, conducting interviews, analyzing responses, and synthesizing results into a meaningful summary.
Convene policy dialogues, roundtables, and technical workshops. We can help you identify the strengths and concerns of competing policy options, collect and organize comprehensive and current information/data on complex problems, and work with stakeholders to gain the input that you need.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
What does Council Oak mean? Whether it be a quaint town square in New England or a rural village in Africa, a large tree in the center of town has long been an area of community focus – a place where people gather to hear the news of the day, discuss important issues and make critical decisions. While our work is more virtual these days, “Council Oak” is an idea that guides our connectedness with our clients, reflects excellence in public process and reminds us of our mutually-beneficial relationship as colleagues. Besides, we just like trees!
In celebration of our 10th year anniversary and in honor of all our clients that made us possible, we planted 100 trees in our National Parks through the National Arbor Day Foundation.