Selkirk College uses Thoughtexchange to roadmap the future of the Columbia Basin-Boundary region, and how the provincial government of British Columbia can help.

What value did you get from the exchange?

Allowed for broad based input from a large number of partners and collaborators. In all cases - Thoughtexchange was used in advance of in-person strategy development session. We used the Thoughtexchange data to create our in-person engagement framework - the themes from the exchange were used to pull small groups together around priority topics. In sum, it saved my team and our partners time and moved us quickly into focused action-driven, strategy discussions.

What advice do you have for other people asking this question?

Keep it open enough to allow for priority themes to emerge. You can then follow up with an in-person session or a second Thoughtexchange to get further refinement of ideas if/as needed. In sum, don't box people's thinking when you are crafting your question and ensure you have clear desired outcomes identified for your exchange (e.g. how does this fit into our other engagement processes).