Good issue and stakeholder assessments are key to planning and executing effective public participation projects. The more we really know about the issues and nuances and the more we learn about the people who will be or think they’ll be affected by some action or plan, the more we’ll understand how to involve them, which leads to butterflies, unicorns, world peace and an outcome that everybody needs. Learning about the issues and people involved makes or breaks your project. No facilitator, meeting format or whiz-bang technique can overcome a haphazard assessment. Doing it well takes time and work on the ground talking to people – you can’t assume or guess at it. It may also require some real analytics, and the amount of data collected about all of us is staggering. Check this out.