Bang the Table

Our Business

Bang the Table was established because no matter how well designed, current consultation processes inevitably only reach part of a community or stakeholder group. The internet provides an opportunity to give vastly more people access to information and to have their say. Bang the Table is a company that offers tools for engaging in collaborative learning, discussion, and debate.

Our Story

Bang the Table was established in 2007 by Dr Crispin Butteriss and Matthew Crozier.

Having worked in the Australian and UK public sectors for around 30 years collectively, they were painfully aware of the need to bring a larger audience into the debate about public policy. They had both been in the position of running or speaking at unproductive “town hall” style community meetings which provide little benefit for the community or the change proponent (whether government or private sector). These meetings were, and remain, typically attended by a few people who are either passionately interested in the subject at hand, vehemently opposed to it, or heard about the free tea and biscuits and came along for a sticky-beak.

Of course providers of community engagement services have become more and more sophisticated in the techniques used to engage the community.   The IAP2 website provides an excellent resource in this regard.  However, no matter how sophisticated, all non-web based methods of engagement have significant barriers to participation: either you have to break your busy routine to attend an event – more often than not on the weekend or after work – or you have to write a submission.

As long as these barriers to participation persist then we will only hear from a minority of the community – usually the same people each time we consult.  These people are to be applauded for the effort they put in to participating in our community but they are by no means representative of the rest of us. Bang the Table is about accessing the silent majority and providing them with an opportunity to participate at a time and place of their own choosing.