INTRODUCTION
When municipalities are in the process of implementing a new initiative, it’s important they gather community feedback. One of the ways to do that is by hosting various stakeholder meetings. Stakeholders are groups of people that hold clout within the community (e.g., school administration, elected officials, EMS/Fire departments, etc.).
Using artificial intelligence can help when preparing for the meeting, during the meeting and after the meeting. Here’s how:
USE AI TO PREPARE FOR A STAKEHOLDER MEETING
The stakeholder meeting is a time to collect feedback from these individuals. As you prepare for the meeting, using an AI tool like ChatGPT can help produce a list of questions to ask these targeted groups. A sample prompt could be “Create a list of 4-5 questions targeted toward school administrators about the [MUNICIPALITY NAME] pedestrian and bike safety when it comes to your schools.”
AI tools can also help create and distribute briefing materials that provide stakeholders with a clear understanding of the meeting’s objectives, agenda and key discussion points. These documents can include relevant background information, articles or additional educational content about the topics that will be discussed.
HOW TO USE AI DURING A STAKEHOLDER MEETING
Municipalities should record the meeting using a tool like Otter.ai. Click the “record” button when the meeting starts and watch the live transcription unfold. When the meeting is over, click the three dots in the top right, toggle on audio and click “Export,” and the exported file will be downloaded in an MP3 format.
If the stakeholder meeting is online, another best practice is to add an AI note-taking tool to your meeting platform. This is available using platforms like Zoom, and you can activate the note-taker as an additional participant. This makes taking meeting notes more effective.
HOW TO USE AI AFTER THE STAKEHOLDER MEETING
Using the meeting transcript file from Otter.ai, you can then insert it into an AI tool like Claude to summarize it for a report.
Based on the meeting discussion, AI also can help with task management by assigning action items to specific individuals or departments, setting deadlines and sending reminders to ensure these tasks are done on time.