Adapting activities for remote participation
The suggestions on this page will help you think about what you need to do when moving from face to face influence and participation, to remote activities.
Questions to consider for remote lived experience work
Current projects
What projects are you currently running that involve people with lived experience meeting face to face? How might you continue these online?
These projects could include steering, advisory or focus groups, research, consultancy and one off projects.
Technology
Have you considered people’s knowledge of and access to the right technology? Have you thought about their ability to stay connected?
Remember that not everybody has access to mobile phones, Wi-Fi and other equipment. It's essential to ask people about their preferred ways of communicating and working.
Budget
Do you have budget to pay for digital platforms which would help people to stay involved and connected? You could use budget which is normally allocated for travel and venue costs.
Equality and diversity
How will you make sure equality and diversity is thought about in your activity? Online activities and other types of remote working have advantages as well as disadvantages.
They might offer flexibility for a greater range of people to become involved. These may include:
- People who find it harder to travel
- People who find in-person meetings difficult because of sensory difficulties
- Carers
- Socially disadvantaged people
Communicating with participants
Questions to ask participants include:
- What's the best way to communicate with you? Email, phone, or another way?
- What support do you need to work remotely? You could give them examples of support you could offer.
Policies for remote working
On remote platforms, it's important to follow relevant policies, including GDPR, compliance and safeguarding.
If you're working with sensitive data, like a person’s ethnicity, religion, sexuality, disability or health conditions, you should speak with your organisation's data manager.
Payments to people with lived experience
Payments for online activities should be the same rate as face to face activities.
Mind has an influence and participation policy that outlines our organisation's rates.
