600 experts, 6,000 pieces of evidence, one national assessment

The challenge

The National Infrastructure Commission gives the UK government impartial, expert advice on major long-term infrastructure challenges. Each Parliament it produces a National Infrastructure Assessment, and its call for evidence spans transport, digital communications, energy, water and wastewater, flood risk and solid waste.

As a new organisation with a very wide remit, the Commission wanted evidence from a diverse set of experts across industry, academia, NGOs, government departments and interest groups. It also wanted to explain its work, and to break out of the normal workshop format so participants had something to remember.

What we did

We designed and facilitated eight workshops, each focused on one theme or aspect of a theme. Each day combined:

• Gridcards answering the key questions the Commission asked, so every expert's view was captured in their own words.
• Slido live polling to see the headline opinions in the room and let people ask difficult questions anonymously.
• Open Space sessions where participants took responsibility for the topics they thought mattered most.
• Live evaluation at the end of each workshop.

Design principles

1. Take time to formulate the right questions to focus on.
2. Use different modes of engagement so everyone can participate.
3. Allow all voices to be heard.
4. Invite participants to engage with the tensions between differing perspectives.
5. Give participants responsibility to discuss what is important to them.
6. Feed back key messages so participants know they have been heard.
7. Share the workshop data with participants quickly afterwards.

What participants said

"One of the best and better facilitated workshop I have ever attended."

"The best workshop I've been to in quite a while. Really feels like we've contributed to the thinking on a very important subject."

"Really loved the structure and how it was very interactive. Liked grid cards, liked open space and liked slido."

Results

• 3,121 gridcards answering the Commission's questions
• 2,638 fields of Slido polling data
• 113 written questions and suggestions for further evidence
• 93 session reports from 8 Open Space workshops
• 432 unique views of the outputs page after the workshops