Mobilise – xxxWORK IN PROGRESS
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Abstract
It is easy to recruit champions interested in the field to support you. Other users need to be mobilised and actively participate, as their behaviour and attitude towards energy saving is poor. A growing body of evidence demonstrates between 5 and 20% of energy can be saved through delivering interventions to staff, such as direct feedback, energy audits, community-based initiatives, and combinations thereof.
This guide describes key steps to take.
Using boxes, the guide will refer to further material helping at each step.
Content by /1
Interviews, surveys and checklists to analyse your audiences
Develop a profile of your audience using the morphological boxes below.
Staff / Teachers / Professors / Office workers / Doctors, nurses, medical staff / ...Sports instructors / Theatre staff / Clerks (museum, library)
Visitors / Pupils / Students / Hospital patients
Parents (kindergartens, créche) / Citizens (museums, libraries) / ...
Materials and instruments for mobilisation – list
Feel free to make use of a template to select which measures and incentives to use in your overall campaign about EDI-Net.
[Enter city name]Group / Item / If applicable, describe what you are planning / Profe-ssionals / Staff / Visi-tors / Priority
1 = top priority
3 = low priority
Measures / Poster
Brochure
Newsletter
Banner
Workshop
Magazine
Event
Article(s)
Dedicated hotline
Quiz
Video/TV announcement
Self-assessment
Games
Presentations
Common room
Web portal
[Other]
[Other]
[Other]
[Other]
Incentives / Means to market the service / Focus groups
User meetings
Tutorials
Chat/E-Mail service
Letters
Lottery
Champions
Coaching
Direct contact
Survey
Intranet communication
Designated contact person
YouTube
[Other]
[Other]
[Other]
[Other]
Communication channels selection
The media richness theory alludes to the importance of having the right mix of channels in order to avoid oversimplified or overcomplicated communication. Channels like face-to-face and video meetings (e.g. dedicated workshops or other local city events) offer the most effective results and should be applied when possible. However, the right mix should be selected based on your as-is analysis.
Media richness theory
To select the most appropriate communication channels for the different pieces of information you want to deliver to your audiences, complete the table below. List all types of information you wish to convey, rate the complexity of the key idea behind each piece of information, and select appropriate communication channels based on this complexity (see figure above).
Nr / Communication topic(short description) / Complexity of the information
(low, medium, high) / Communication channel
(f2f, wiki, email, poster, etc.)
1 / E.g. Encouraging staff to use the EDI-NET service (dashboard, forum) / High / f2f meetings to explain the tools
2 / E.g. Conveying that any energy saving remains in the budget of the public authority / Medium / Poster, Email
3
4
Message development
Messages are used to communicate with and encourage individuals to change their environmental behaviours.
To develop effective messages, the following process can be followed:
EDI-Net message development process
1) As-is analysis: please refer to Interviews, surveys and checklists to analyse your audiences
2) Use brainstorming in your team to develop message concepts. Include users, e.g. through focus groups, to get their opinion. Ensure representativeness (e.g. children, adults and older people, or different ethical groups)
3) Assess the concepts collected. Helping questions include:
- Is the message involving, important, relevant to the receiver?
- Is the information useful for busy people?
- Is it professionally / convincingly delivered?
- Is the source credible / trustworthy?
4) Fine tune messages based on your assessment.
5) Run the messages by a wider audience (e.g. through a paper survey posted at the entrance of the building or in waiting rooms) to collect their opinion.
Messages are used to communicate with and encourage individuals to change their environmental behaviours. Helping questions include: Is the message involving, important, relevant to the receiver? Is the information useful for busy people? Is it professionally / convincingly delivered? Is the source credible / trustworthy?, etc.
All messages should tick the boxes of being relevant, interesting, credible, clear, convincing, and come from a trusted source. The complete process of creating messages is available to PAs using EDI-Net.
Tip: In EDI-Net messages are usually oriented around topics that are close to the target audience. For example, in an economic crisis with job uncertainty, municipal workers would most likely support the idea that energy saving contributes to saving municipal money and therefore helps to keep jobs. Apart from financial topics others include environmental and ecological, cultural and institutional influences.
Channels like face-to-face and video meetings (e.g. dedicated workshops or other local city events) offer the most effective results and should be applied when possible. However, the right mix should be selected based on the as-is analysis for each individual PA.
Make a list of all messages collected through brainstorming and focus group, identify the target audience for each message, and have each message rated by representatives of the target audience using a scale from 1 to 10, whereas 10 is a score given to a message that the audience highly identifies with. Decide which threshold to use to select the most suitable messages (e.g. all messages rated 7 or higher).
Nr / Message / Target audience / Average rating from focus groups (1-10)1 / XxxCheck from smartspaces Leicester / Staff
2
3
4
Organisational structure
How is your institution organised. What is the hierarchy?
Who does staff listen to? From where does the message need to come in order to be effective?
Who are the champions that people listen and talk to the most?
Utilising the influence of the structure is very helpful for overcoming the resistance of the internal users when it comes to change. The most common models in the case of EDI-Net suggest the use of a top-down-strategy where the top management’s authority is undisputed and actively involved (city mayor, department executives), a bottom-up strategy where the users bring forth a request for change that is acknowledged by the top management (environmental or energy champions), or a mixed strategy combining the previous two. The best suited strategy for you depends on the as-is analysis that delivers information on the audience profile, hierarchical strength and the organisational relationships (e.g. boss – colleague or city mayor - executive).
Select the best approach based on which of the descriptions below best describes your organisation:
Description of the organisation / Suggested approachComplex but clear hierarchy where the top management is well respected and takes all decisions made in the public authority. Staff follow their team leaders, who in turn report to the management. / Top-down approach
Put time and effort into convincing the top management of the benefits of the EDI-Net service. Face-to-face meetings are the best choice, during which a short presentation can be given that includes the challenge the authority has, the potential savings in energy and in money, and successful stories using the EDI-Net champions Leicester, Catalonia and Nuremberg.
Top management listens to staff and organises events so that staff demands and wishes are heard and generally implemented whenever possible. Staff are not afraid to propose changes and improvements, for which there is a clear process at the authority. / Bottom-up approach
Use word-of-mouth and posters to educate the building users into the importance of saving energy and how EDI-Net can help. Collect feedback and capture commitment (e.g. by using a sign-up sheet to identify those users who will support you). Use the committed users to propose the inclusion of the EDI-Net services into the strategy of the public authority.
Characteristics of the previous two descriptions are applicable. / Mixed top-down and bottom up: Approach the top management while at the same time promoting the EDI-Net solution to everyone.
Lessons learnt from campaign
Xxx
Specialised user groups (champions)
The concept of champions can be applied to expedite the wider uptake of the EDI-Net service.
Champions are individuals who serve as role models to others and influence them through their actions and opinions. A champion can be anyone with good social skills. Champions are seen as ‘social hubs’ that have great potential in raising awareness and recruiting new users. Therefore, the process of identifying these persons in each building should begin early on. Identification instruments include the use of a survey to screen for potential champions, observation during focus groups and audits, and the use of contests where specific characteristics (champion profiles) are sought. Energy coaches in buildings can take the role of champions.
Select the following approaches to identifying champions and apply them for your organisation:
Appproaches to engaging champions / Actions and tipsSurveying / You can conduct a short survey to see which building users are feeling the topic of saving energy close to their heart, and are at the same time socially engaged and interested in promoting good solutions among their peers. Questions can include:
- Are you interested in what happens in the building your work in terms of energy consumption? (Yes, No)
- Do you wish to learn more about how to save energy in your building? (Yes, No)
- How motivated are you to promote good energy saving behaviour in your work place? (5-point Likert scale)
- ...
The survey can be done on paper or using a free online survey tool such as Google forms or Limesurvey.
Observation / If there are regular events and meetings during which building users exchange experience and discuss work topics, the EDI-Net service can be presented and reactions captured. Especially in small public authorities where users know each other well, this may be applied with little effort and the respective person approach quickly, without having to survey the users.
Organising a contest / In case building users do not get meet regularly and their attitude towards energy saving is not known, a good idea might be to organise a contest to identify those persons who are willing to promote good energy saving practices like EDI-Net. A simple poster calling for users to apply (e.g. via email) to become an energy champion can be used.
Focus groups – organisation, recording insights
Xxx
Organisation of events, meetings and presentations
Different events can be organised to promote EDI-Net, e.g. staff training sessions, energy awareness day, school campaigns, etc.
The following tip, checklists and other materials have been compiled from a number of sources, including the European project SmartSpaces[1] and the Smart Energy GB programme[2].
Organising events
Practical tips
Think about arranging refreshments for your event. Remember to check any dietary requirements in advance.
Organise for photographs to be taken because they are a fantastic way to record the success of your events. If you capture a good shot, it could be helpful for promoting future events. Remember to put up signs informing people they will be photographed.
Have a first aider and know how to reach them in the event of an emergency. Make sure there is a clear first aid point.
Complete any risk assessments and health and safety documents that are provided by the venue.
Consider insurance if it’s a larger event.
Think about what will happen if the weather is bad and your event is outdoors.
Think about any equipment or furniture you might need to hire, considering any extra space you will need for storage of boxes delivered on the day.
Budgeting tips
Consider all potential costs at the very beginning of your event and check you can cover everything before you start planning or committing to any payments/deposits. Venue hire, catering, decorations, promotion, equipment, transport, entertainment, license fees, first aid and insurance can all add up.
Think about hosting your event at a time when you don’t need to serve food, or find a venue which you can use free of charge.
Don’t forget to use volunteers if you need an extra pair of hands.
Helpful tips for evaluating the success of your event
Evaluation provides a great opportunity to understand what went well and what could be improved in the future.
Here are five simple questions to help you to measure and evaluate your event:
Did you meet your event aim?
How many people attended your event?
How many social media mentions did you have during the event?
How well did you engage with your audience?
How many leaflets have you distributed?
Making notes and taking pictures while your event is happening will make evaluating the event easier and give you a good record of what happened.
Press release template
The Smart Energy GB has a press release template with 7 key components that would be helpful for you to announce that you are holding an event. These key components are Timing, Headline, First Paragraph, Further paragraphs, Quote, Final paragraph, and Notes to Editor.
Timing
If you would like your event to be published as soon as possible, you can say:
For immediate release: <insert date>
If you would like it published on (and not before) a specific date, you can say:
Embargoed for: <insert time / date>
Headline
This is where you put your event title and a one-line description of your event
Example: <event title> event to help spread the word about the Edi-Net solution.
First paragraph
Elaborate more on your heading with concise information that summarises your story and encourages the audience to read further (Who? When? Why? Where?)
Example:
<Insert your organisation’s name> is organising <insert a description of your event e.g. workshop, tea party, drop-in session> to help <insert a description of your target group and geographical area or town e.g. older people in the North East> to learn about the Edi-Net services and the positive changes they can bring.
<Explain how EDI-Net helps, e.g. EDI-Net makes energy consumption in your community's public buildings more visible. Your city can save energy, water and money by using information from meters.>. Come and join us on <insert date of event> to find out more.
Further paragraphs
Here you give more detail and information about your event.
Example: The <insert event name> is taking place in <insert event location> at <insert event time>. <Insert further details and specifics on the event e.g. there will be local agencies in attendance offering advice and refreshments will be available.>
Quote
This is where you can place a positive quote that gives a personal view on what your event or activity is aiming to achieve.
<Insert your organisation’s spokesperson name and title>, said: “<Insert a quote from your organisation’s spokesperson>.”
Final paragraph
Here you would place a summary of the important points from the release, which also rounds off your story.
Include –ENDS—to show that it is the end of the main body of the release.
<Insert your organisation’s name> is working with Edi-Net to raise awareness on the benefits of the Edi-Net solution.
--ENDS--
Notes to Editor
Here you provide further background detail for the journalist, and contact details for the best press contact at your organisation. It can include information about the organisations mentioned in the press release, reference details for facts and figures, or where people can go to find out more.
Event checklist
You can use the checklist produced by the Smart Energy GB initiative to take into account key things you need to run a successful event. The time required to organise an event will depend on is size, and you may not need to do everything on this list. See what’s appropriate, or even make your own:
One to three months ahead:
establish your event aims
select “a date and time” and book a venue
order your Edi-Net posters, leaflets and other materials you plan to use – it will take a few working days for these to arrive once you’ve placed your order
check any permits needed for the event
plan any travel arrangements
ask someone to take photographs
create a Facebook event page