Archive for April, 2010

Bang the Table's growing up

I don’t usually blog here specifically about Bang the Table, but as anyone close to me will tell you, I love a graph and or a stat, and I’m a little too proud of these to keep them entirely to myself. When you’re working hard to get a new business up and running it is … Continue reading →

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5 top takeaways to online community engagement

Ray Scanlan is good at his job. He brims with laughter, great advice and glittering ideas that crackle and snap sites into life. Here he shares his experience and his 5 top takeaways for how to best run an online community engagement site. Officially, Ray Scanlan’s role at Bang the Table is to provide advice … Continue reading →

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Stakeholder management and Web 2.0

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day who put to me that ‘real stakeholder engagement needs to encompass stakeholder tracking and management’. I want to spend a bit of time reflecting on that statement. Firstly, I should say that this is not as sinister as it might sound. Stakeholder management is … Continue reading →

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Seven steps to online engagement success

Like any kind of strategy, there’s no standard formula that will guarantee you 100% success. That said, you can create a strategy that acts as a framework for your own organisations’ tailored objectives and tactics. Here’s a simple seven step checklist to make sure your consultation has the best chance of getting good comment and … Continue reading →

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No more free Ning?

It seems that Ning may be about to end their free service. This will be a real shame for all the community groups and others who have come to rely on the platform and I think is an interesting business strategy given the existence of quality competitors in this segment of the market, SocialGo for … Continue reading →

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We love Auburn City!

It’s always a pleasure to welcome a new client and we are delighted that Auburn City Council, a Council in the Sydney Metropolitan area, has joined us. Auburn are about to start using Bang the Table’s EngagementHQ platform to as part of a strategy to allow people to have input into their Community Strategy. Auburn … Continue reading →

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Communication (Revisited)

Way back in November 2008 I posted a list of advantages and disadvantages of online communication draw from Wikiversity. At the time I posted the lists with very little comment. It has since proven to be one of the most consistently popular posts on our blog, so I thought it was about time for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Online Community Engagement, Opinion, Practice Advice | 2 Comments »

This month’s software upgrade

Our programming team is constantly taking advice from our clients, our community users, and us, as well as checking out the best practice on the “net” to ensure our software stays well ahead of the game. The changes sometimes appear trivial to outside world; occasionally they are much more obvious, but they all add up … Continue reading →

Posted in EngagementHQ, Online Community Engagement | No Comments »

Greater Taree City Council case study correction

In the case study highlighting the online community engagement strategy that Greater Taree City Council used to gather opinion on a “Smoke Free Taree” we wrote that: “The decision to introduce the proposal means that smoking will be banned at all Council facilities, sporting grounds, children’s playgrounds, alfresco dining area, beaches, parks and reserves, at … Continue reading →

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The lost potential of Facebook

This graph shows the incredible accelerating growth of Facebook relative to the other social networks. Back in March 2008 My Space was ahead of Facebook and Twitter was but a blip on the horizon. Since then Facebook has sprinted ahead of the pack. Myspace has dwindled to obscurity and is about to be outstripped by … Continue reading →

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Broken Hill Breaks the Mould with Online Engagement

Thanks to guest poster Anne Bransdon (left) for this great article on how Broken Hill used online engagement to gather community opinion. “About a year ago, we engaged online consultation software experts, Bang the Table, to consult our community about the fees, activities, infrastructure and day-to-day management of the newly refurbished Regional Aquatic Centre. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Fieldwork, Online Community Engagement, Practice Advice | No Comments »

My new friends ‘notinmybackyard’, ‘bigbloke’, ‘nefertiti’ and ‘radox’

I had been involved in the world of online community engagement for literally days when I was extracted for a month to re-emerge intensively aware of the how, what, where and the when. Buffed, spick and span, my head full of knowledge and senses tingling with a combination of trepidation and excitement, I thrust myself … Continue reading →

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There’s no such thing as a little bit public

I regularly carry on in this blog about the importance of anonymity in online community engagement or participation process. Just imagine my excitement when I came across a wonderful example to illustrate my case. A user of one of our sites, who shall remain anonymous for the purposes of this blog (natrually), posted a formal … Continue reading →

Posted in Online Community Engagement, Opinion, Practice Advice | 5 Comments »

Talking about Roads! Hoddle Street Study Consultation Online

VicRoads has launched an online consultation about the future of Hoddle Street (pictured below) in Melbourne’s east. The State Government has allocated $5 million to commence engineering investigations to determine the feasibility of improvements along Hoddle Street between just north of the M1 (Citylink), up to and including the entrance to the Eastern Freeway. The … Continue reading →

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Austin City talks climate change

Austin City has launched an online climate change discussion. The overarching goal of the Austin Climate Protection Program is to make Austin the leading city in the US in the fight against climate change. In February 2007, the City Council passed a resolution that directed the City to begin taking action to respond to climate … Continue reading →

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