Gameplan

A guide to maximising the social impacts of big events.

Gameplan A guide to maximising the social impacts of big events

Gameplan

Gameplan was co-created by Doncaster Council’s Get Doncaster Moving team and Leeds Beckett University’s School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management and Carnegie School of Sport:

Dr Neil Ormerod; Lucy McCombes; Dr Thomas Fletcher; Professor Jim McKenna; Jennifer Rawson; Gareth Jenkins; Professor Emma Wood.

This research was made possible through funding from Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot.

Contents

DISCOVERY (Pre-event) Ready

Collaboration Kick-Off Event Decentring Asset Mapping Sludge SPICED, SMART and Storied Social Impact Indicators and Evaluation Report Earmark People for Social Impact Funding Welcome and Belonging Co-create Physical Activity Opportunities Community Engagement Planning Hand Physical Activity Hubs Recruiting and Incentivising Volunteers

ONBOARDING (Event-planning) Set

Social Buzz Microgrants Reframing Social Impact Monitoring Tools Fans, Friends and Taster Zones Home and Away Events Keep it Local What’s on Community Explorers

SCAFFOLDING (Event-delivery) Go

END GAME

Recycle Resources Proper Thank Yous Medium and Long-Term Monitoring and Evaluation

Social Impact Handover Collaboration Kick-On

Gameplan

Templates Freely available for download on the Get Doncaster Moving website getdoncastermoving.org/gameplan

Gameplan Sludge Audit Template Gameplan Budget Checklist Gameplan Asset Mapping Template Gameplan Social Impact Monitoring Tool Template Gameplan Collaboration Kick-Off Agenda Gameplan Physical Activity Co-Creation Template Gameplan Community Engagement Planning Hand Template Gameplan Microgrant Template Gameplan Collaboration Kick-On Agenda Template Gameplan Social Impact Handover Plan

Foreword How we got here

DONCASTER has been on a journey rejuvenating itself and building on its strengths to grow as a place. The hosting of major sports events became a key part of this process in 2012 when we hosted a leg of the Olympic Torch Relay which showcased what could be achieved through working with communities to celebrate the event. This inspired leaders in Doncaster to further develop and, although initially a slow burn, was followed four years later when Doncaster hosted a stage finish of the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire cycling race. Although these events were hugely successful in engaging our communities, we became more interested in what we term the ‘Wimbledon effect’; why more people didn’t take up physical activity and the decline of interest in sport and participation once a sporting event has left the locality. At that time, we had been awarded the hosting of the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire which passed through several local communities, and wanted to examine how community engagement could be enhanced and sustained. In 2018 we commissioned a team from Leeds Beckett University as a research partner to join our ongoing journey into understanding how to align major sporting events with genuine local needs. To understand how we could support longer-term physical activity goals, we worked with the Leeds Beckett team, alongside local people and communities, to help develop interventions, which would encourage more people to be actively involved when hosting future events. We quickly learned that working together (what we term ‘co-creation’) was helpful. We also found that where barriers existed, they worked in combinations, meaning that each neighbourhood proposed, with good reason, widely different ‘solutions’ for increasing engagement. In May 2019 we took the learning from our work in 2018 and further investigated the drivers and motivations of people attending the Tour de Yorkshire by testing a number of our tactics on the ground. We also had the opportunity to take a longer-term approach (6 months) to research and work with one community in Doncaster in the run up to hosting a stage start of the 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships held in September. Embedding researchers within the community, while working alongside our event delivery team, enabled us to further refine our approaches, and better understand the personal, local and environmental barriers to engagement. The awarding of Doncaster as a host town for the Rugby League World Cup in 2021 (postponed until 2022 due to COVID-19) has further enabled us to expand our research from transient events to static, stadia events. In preparation for this work, in February 2020 we undertook initial event and community physical activity engagement research at Doncaster’s Castle Park RFU stadium, during Rugby Union’s England Roses vs Ireland, Six Nations Championship match.

Gameplan

Of course, our journey has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of what we have learned now looks quite different in the context of the pandemic, but the core principles remain the same. We already see a stronger policy interest in supporting local-level engagement with physical activity. This seems driven by aspirations around ‘levelling up’ to address stubborn inequalities. Gameplan is well- placed to support these aspirations through its tested approaches to increasing community engagement to address local issues. Gameplan has been produced to acknowledge our own need to do better as event organisers. We hope Gameplan will help make it easier for others to do better too. Our journey so far is captured in the timeline below, and all our findings are freely available on the Get Doncaster Moving Data, Insight and Learning webpage.

Leeds Beckett University/ Doncaster Council Key Milestones (Published Outcomes)

Hosting of Olympic Torch Relay

Organised first Town Center Criterium

Hosted a stage finish of the Tour de Yorkshire

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Doncaster Council awarded Local Delivery Pilot Doncaster LDP

UCI Road World Championships Exploring Physical Activity Engagement Surrounding the Union Cycliste International Road World Championships in Doncaster Communities of Thorne and Moorends

Story So Far (April 2020)

Tour de Yorkshire Maximising Local Benefits from the Tour de Yorkshire in Doncaster

Roses Women’s Rugby Union 6 Nations Castle Park Club Event and Community Physical Activity Engagement Research

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Rugby League World Cup

Tour de Yorkshire Exploring Practice on How to Maximise on the Local Benefits from the Tour de Yorkshire in Doncaster

Gameplan

Thank you

Doncaster Council and Get Doncaster Moving would like to thank everyone who has been so generous with their time and energy in our activities to better understand the social impacts of big sports events in Doncaster, try some things out on the ground, and identify what new action is needed to maximise the local benefits of future events. This includes many different people at Doncaster Council, National Governing Bodies (including British Taekwondo, British Cycling, England Boxing, Rugby League World Cup, Rugby Football Union), other local authorities (including Manchester, Liverpool, Harrogate, Gateshead) and event companies, all of whom shared successes and challenges. Sport England for supporting us through the Local Delivery Pilot funding to enable us to test and learn through our work and research to develop Gameplan. Finally, we would like to thank all the community- based organisations and communities who have worked with us around the Tour de Yorkshires, UCI Road World Championships, Women’s RFU Roses match and Rugby League World Cup events. We’ve lots more work to do together.

— Andy Maddox Strategic Lead, Get Doncaster Moving

Gameplan: Introduction

An exciting momentum is building among stakeholders who are focused on disrupting usual ways of working to address stubborn inequalities by getting more people moving and engaged with their own communities. This is captured in the fresh, new ‘test and learn’ approaches being piloted at local and national levels, for example UK Sport’s Powering Success Inspiring Impact Strategic Plan 2021-31 , Sport England’s Uniting the Movement: 10-year vision and their 12 Local Delivery Pilots (LDPs). One of these LDPs is Get Doncaster Moving which is taking a whole systems approach to getting local communities more physically active and engaged in Doncaster’s inclusive growth ambitions. Agreement is growing about ‘ what’ is needed to make this disruption happen. The call to action is to adopt principles and approaches that support place-based community engagement. This is underpinned by a commitment to understanding the way people live, shifts of power, new collaborations, leadership, trusting relationships, and flexibility. It also requires assessing the value or success of actions and events differently. However, the practical ‘how’ of achieving this shift is still a work in progress. It involves learning from practitioners on the ground who share the results of their activities with(in) their own unique communities. It will never be possible to identify a one size fits all approach, but tactics used in one context to make changes through physical activity, sport and related events can be adopted, adapted, and improved to save time for others working elsewhere. Gameplan captures the best of what has been learnt so far from Doncaster Council’s bold collaborative approach to the delivery of big sports events. Within Gameplan we purposely use the term ‘big event’ to encompass the broad spectrum of event types and scales where Gameplan learning can be applied. This enables Gameplan knowledge to be used flexibly and applied to different contexts. Gameplan shares what has been learned about leveraging big sporting events to maximise social impact and how events can act as a catalyst, or sparkler , that can burn bright to get people moving, and more actively engaged in their own communities. The challenge is maximising this sparkler effect so that benefits do not fizzle out when the event has gone. Doncaster Council, through their involvement in Sport England’s LDP, commissioned a team of researchers from Leeds Beckett University to work with Get Doncaster Moving, their partners and local communities to conduct research and co-create practical interventions aimed at better understanding and optimising the local social impacts of big sporting events hosted in Doncaster. We have distilled what we have learned so far into a four-step process ( Ready , Set , Go , Next ), designed to help event organisers develop a social impact Gameplan . Gameplan contains 25 tactics that provide guidance, or ‘helpful hows’, for implementing this

Gameplan

approach in practice. As the name suggests, Gameplan combines the familiar events planning cycle and a behaviour change framework called Gamification that has shaped the work in Doncaster. A visual representation of our model can be found on page 14. To further facilitate putting these ideas into practice, we have also produced easily applied templates and guides. These are hosted on the Get Doncaster Moving website along with case studies from Doncaster, sport National Governing Bodies (NGBs), and other local authorities. These will help bring ideas for maximising social impact to life. They are shared as a ‘pick and mix’ allowing others to select what looks useful and then make adaptations to the specific and unique context of each particular event and community in question. Gameplan encapsulates what we have learned in Doncaster about the key characteristics of ‘how’ to maximise the social impacts of big events using a human-centred and place- based approach to community engagement. We have learned that to do things better we need to do things differently . This requires moving away from the traditional funder- recipient relationship of top-down ways of planning, making decisions and delivering events, and short-term funding and impacts. This involves a ground-up, co-created approach, working closely with local people to identify opportunities through big events to make communities happier and healthier places where people want to live. Change also means having different start and finish lines when delivering a big event. There is a need to start planning and collaborating much earlier to understand what social impact looks like. We refer to this as Event Decentring . Event decentring involves identifying links or ‘hooks’ to wider issues (such as policy, inequality and local context) to help shift the focus to what the event does , rather than what the event is . The finishing line also needs to be much later after the event to allow more time for a Collaboration Kick-On and sustainable Gameplan Social Impact Handover Plan, to keep the momentum going. Our Gameplan provides a structure to develop more collaborative and focused approaches to co-creating events. At its heart, Gameplan prioritises achieving sustainable, varied and targeted social impacts with(in) communities. This supports the growing movement that demands the transformation of communities through social engagement, sport and physical activity. It is time for a shift in mindset that challenges local and event ‘systems’ to deliver, measure and value social impacts and success differently. Our Gameplan tactics set out tried and tested ‘hows’ to support building the new collaborations and ways of working. The application of these will result in doing things differently and, more importantly, doing things better.

Our Gameplan Approach

Too few people are regularly active. This confirms the shortcomings of how we support people attempting to get, and stay, involved. Enter the notion of Human-Centred Design (HCD) and our Gameplan . We wanted to engage more people in physical activity and wanted to use an approach that acknowledges the realities (positive and negative) of incorporating new behaviours into daily routines. This brought us to HCD tools and approaches which are leading practitioners (working with potential users) to develop compelling activities. Well-developed HCD helps create programmes that are engaging, exciting and effective. We found that when individuals’ pressing issues are met, they respond with engagement, exuberance and activity. Potential engagers are often frustrated that people who aim to help them do not always recognise and acknowledge participation barriers. Community engagement often rises when providers address their own blindspots. Often these blindspots lie in areas that seem unrelated to physical activity. However, they are the real reasons, beyond motivation and desire, why people are not able to engage with even the most well meaning provision. We have learned that attention is always a major issue, even when deliverers feel they have done everything they could to ensure widespread promotion of events. Local communication preferences and local influences vary by the target audience and, therefore, are best identified by working with local people. For example, in one Doncaster community we explored low engagement in local authority provision of summer physical activity programmes. We learned about the effects of prolonged scarcity and associated scarcity mindset . Scarcity affects individuals in different ways and encompasses many fundamental aspects, such as money, food, childcare, and transport. The resulting ‘present bias’ , led to an overwhelming focus on the now, at the expense of future planning. Like unwanted ivy in the garden, ‘ present bias ’ affects every day-to-day function in the way that it strangles everything around it. We learned that to get past the “it’s not for me” mindset, programmes for these groups needed to be ‘near, no cost and now’ and include elements that extended beyond sport itself. Importantly, these scarcity experiences weaken relationships and engagement with (external) groups. Using HCD helps to (re-) establish trust. This is the first step in any co-creation approach. This important insight places a priority on planning for the sequences that operate within every intervention. Programme experience changes users’ needs and expectations. For example, it took a while to work out what was needed to support the participation of some older adults in the Tour de Yorkshire: termed here as ‘see, wee and tea’ . This necessitates the need to think carefully about attendee needs so

Gameplan

events are inclusive and welcoming. For example, providing familiar and comfortable places to watch a big event, with refreshments and toilet facilities has been proven to encourage older people to attend and engage in their communities. A more formal way to structure these sequences is to use Gamification . Gamification establishes the phases that matter as individuals engage with events and programmes. This is no small matter. Emotions change with experience and it is important to work with how people are feeling in the different phases. Based around four key phases - Ready , Set , Go and Next - event organisers can refine content to enhance the experience. Importantly, this content is not solely based on our experiences or ‘science’. In spring- summer 2020, we interviewed people who have operated successful sport-based programmes to learn about their best practices. They willingly shared their real ways- of-working, which are included here. Conveniently, they fit well with the HCD approach. The power of HCD lies in using it, including its tools and approaches. These include sludge audits (because people loathe processes that seem to waste their time) and behavioural economics frameworks like EAST (Easy, Accessible, Social and Timely action) that simplify processes. We have also seen that programme planners and providers benefit from using HCD . That helps to explain why our Gameplan has its distinctive format. Our design minimises the demand on the reader (aka ‘cognitive load’), so messages are almost instantly obvious. We hope you like it and use it regularly. If so, we have used Human Centred Design well.

Gameplan Development Stages

Human-centred learning and design

Consult with NGB and local experts

‘Ideas as objects’

Research in Doncaster

Low cognitive load of the report

Presentation of tactics

Successful ‘real world’ ways-of-working

Design and artwork

The Gameplan Model

The Gameplan Model brings together traditional event planning cycles and the Gamification framework. Typically, event planning cycles are based upon four distinct phases: pre-event, planning, event delivery, and post-event. While these phases are operationally crucial, they do not consider the behavioural processes that drive sustained community engagement throughout the cycle. Gamification is a process derived from the fun and engaging elements found in video games and adapts them to real-world activities. Gamification revolves around a similar four phase cycle: Discovery, Onboarding, Scaffolding and End-game. Combining these two cycles into the Gameplan model leverages the power of events to deliver social impact benefits.

Gameplan

The Gameplan Framework

Navigating this Gameplan resource

It is recommended that Gameplan is read from start to finish. However, it has been designed to be flexible to individual needs and interests. For example, you may be particularly interested in tactics from the “Go” phase and start reading this section first. Whatever you decide, there are four helpful design elements that will assist your navigation of Gameplan.

Colours

Underlined text Underlined text refers to another tactic that is referenced within a tactic’s content. If you are using the electronic version, you can click on the underlined text to be redirected to that tactic. In the example below from Tactic 21, Keep it Local refers to Tactic 18 of Gameplan.

Colours indicate the stages of Gameplan. Headings, sub-headings, page borders and templates are coloured depending on the Gameplan stage.

Bold text

Graphics

Bold text refers to glossary terms which can be found on pages 74–75.

Graphics help to visually summarise tactic content.

Gameplan

Collaboration Kick-Off

Event Decentring

Asset Mapping

Sludge

SPICED, SMART and Storied Social Impact Indicators and Evaluation Plan

Earmark People for Social Impact Funding

Welcome and Belonging

Ready The first stage of Gameplan is Ready . This stage establishes the ‘why’ of a big event and encourages us to consider and plan ‘how ’ the event can create positive change. Ready starts before a big event and brings communities and stakeholders together to identify, resource and develop interventions alongside the event to address local issues. Getting Ready right is the first step towards increasing community engagement and maximising social impact.

Gameplan

Collaboration Kick-Off

Maximising the social impacts of big events requires everyone to make changes to the usual ways of working. Vague notions of an event benefiting local people need to become focused, tangible and collaborative social impact objectives that inspire and connect all those involved. This also brings challenges as it requires local stakeholders to work together, when they may never have before, or where significant tensions may exist between different groups. A Collaboration Kick-Off event is an important opportunity for key stakeholders to come together, develop and agree on the critical things required for maximum social impact from the start. This is the Gameplan. When developing the Gameplan it can be helpful to refer to the following related tactics: Event Decentring; Asset Mapping; Sludge; SPICED, SMART and Storied Social Impact Indicators and Evaluation Plan; and Earmarking People and Social Impact Funding . The Gameplan must include agreement on: • Specific social impact objectives (the social impact ‘why’ and what success will look like). • Target beneficiaries and their reasons to engage. • Defined activities and practical strategies for achieving social impact. • Stakeholder roles and responsibilities. • How to integrate planning and delivery of the Gameplan into existing structures, groups and planning processes. • Estimated costs to include in a social impact budget. • How to sustain social impacts, community engagement and Collaboration Kick-On after the event.

Bring stakeholders together to co-create a social impact Gameplan.

Ready

helps to root the event in the community, supporting active engagement, and building local pride.

How

Not just another dull meeting Design the Collaboration Kick-Off in a way that is appropriate to the specific event and its stakeholders. Avoid it being perceived as yet another meeting by thinking creatively about how to inspire those involved to make a difference locally. For example, interesting facilitators; incentives to attend; considering barriers to participation; and the level of formality, will all influence the engagement of those involved.

Have a clear agenda

Communicate a clear purpose and agenda for the Collaboration Kick-Off . Consult the Gameplan Collaboration Kick-Off Agenda and Gameplan Budget Checklist Templates designed to produce the contents of Gameplan . The aim is for all stakeholders to gain a shared understanding of the Gameplan , their role, and the next steps. Collaborators should leave feeling motivated by what lies ahead, not just for the event, but beyond for the Collaboration Kick-On .

Add new names to the participant list

In the spirit of increased collaboration, identify and invite community influencers and representatives of key stakeholders who are likely to be needed. Double-check with participants that you have not missed someone off the list.

What’s the story for the Gameplan ?

Like a mission statement, a Gameplan should publicly explain what local benefits the event should have. It needs to communicate the story for the event’s social impact objectives, how these will be achieved, who is being targeted, and why people might want to get involved. Reframing this story for different audiences can help increase engagement. It is also important to demonstrate the longer-term Gameplan commitments by communicating the plan for sustaining social impacts and community engagement after the event.

Shake things up with new venues

Think creatively about the best venue to hold the Collaboration Kick-Off event. A well- chosen venue can inspire people to take action, engage new stakeholders, encourage people to attend, and keep costs down. Keep it Local

Gameplan

Event Decentring

To benefit fully from an event, it is important to change focus: shifting to thinking about what the event does rather than solely what the event is . We call this Event Decentring . Event Decentring means viewing the event as a spark or catalyst for starting conversations between different stakeholders and community groups about broader local issues, priorities, policies, strategies and what assets already exist.

Shift thinking to what the event does rather than what the event is.

How Think holistically

All events have impacts; some positive and some less so. These impacts can be economic, social, cultural, political and environmental. Positive impacts might include bringing lasting social and economic benefits to host communities; enhancing community identity; regeneration; and facilitating community cohesion and well-being. contribute to one another (holistically) is better practice. This is known as the triple-bottom- line approach . However, in adopting the triple bottom line approach it can also be tempting to try to get events to be all things to all people and solve all problems. This is not possible, and organisers should prioritise the needs of local communities. Undertaking a sludge audit as part of the Collaboration Kick-Off is a great place to start. Set out the big(ger) picture To achieve lasting and positive social impacts, knowledge of the community is key. Think about: It is tempting to examine these benefits individually, but examining how they can

Ready

• Why is the event being organised? • What is the bigger picture? • What are the issues facing this community? • What can this event do for this community?

to know the community and recognise what matters locally by zooming in, but also to always make connections to the bigger picture by zooming out. The aim is to see how separate (often fairly localised) actions contribute to achieving broader goals. Converting ideas into objects (e.g. visual maps) works really well to encourage people to think through the connections they can make to related organisations and initiatives, local policy and action plans, and the bigger issues.

There are two ways to approach creating lasting and positive impacts. Event Plus is primarily focused on event delivery, in the belief that event hosting will automatically lead to lasting and positive social impacts. Plus Event , on the other hand, focuses on development first, with the event then contributing to this. Event Decentring requires a Plus Event approach. To achieve lasting and positive social impact, Event Decentring brings far more benefits than the traditional Event Plus approach, because it ensures social impact is built into event planning from the start. This can then justify wider investment in other community projects, encouraging Microgrants or other funding opportunities.

Soil, roots and trees

For most people, an event is like a tree - they only see what is visible above the surface. Event Decentring appreciates that the majority of social impact work takes place below the surface, in the soil. The roots nurture and feed the tree, while creating widespread networks. Similarly, social impact relies on a network of Community Explorers (individuals, groups, businesses, and other organisations). For the event to flourish, build these networks, nurture them and factor sustainability into Collaboration Kick-On activities.

Zoom in and zoom out

Positive impact is inevitably linked to what local communities need and want. It is important

Gameplan

Asset Mapping

Asset Mapping is the process of identifying valuable local resources, such as buildings, outdoor spaces, skills, knowledge and connections. Once these are identified, links between assets can be strengthened, allowing communities to draw on existing resources, as well as identifying any gaps.

Map valuable local resources to support community engagement through big events.

Shift perspective

Big events often use temporary infrastructure and non-local resources, overlooking local assets that provide the same service. Instead of focusing on ‘what we don’t have’, Asset Mapping realigns the focus to ‘what do we have’. This way of working helps build relationships with local communities and aims to rebalance resource use towards local assets.

Think local

Asset Mapping promotes capacity building ; collaborative working; a sense of fair give and take; and networking. It is key that the project team acts as the catalyst to support people in acknowledging and mobilising local assets. For example, Asset Mapping can help Keep it Local by encouraging greater community and local business engagement. For example, outsourcing catering is often identified as a disincentive for local business engagement. Instead, use Asset Mapping to identify opportunities, such as community hosting to support local social and economic impact.

How Break it down

There are five types of assets: individual, association, institution, physical and connection. Each type of asset can be mapped out, as shown in the Gameplan Asset Mapping

Ready

Template . Links can then be highlighted between different assets. For example, a community influencer may have a good relationship with a school, local club or venue that may be able to support the event. Once links have been created, gaps may emerge in the local picture. For example, there might be a shortage of volunteers to support the event. This can be addressed by leveraging social network links to help with Recruiting and Incentivising Volunteers .

Institution Assets

Institution assets consist of professionals in a structured organisation, such as the council, private businesses and schools. Interests may vary, but these institutions contain useful resources. They are recognised and often, also trusted institutions.

Physical Assets

Physical assets are tangible, and include land, buildings, spaces, equipment and funding. Having the ability to access and utilise these assets can reduce costs, but also create engaging environments. These physical assets also identify opportunities for habit stacking , where existing familiar infrastructure is used to support engagement in new activities.

Individual Assets

At the heart of the community are the people. Each resident has valuable knowledge, skills, social networks, passions and experiences. If people have a strong community presence, inviting these individuals will benefit the event’s planning process.

Connection Assets

Connection assets are the community influencers that can bridge interaction between assets. It can take time to develop a rapport, but working with community influencers is important for unlocking links between community assets.

Association Assets

Associations include small groups, clubs and volunteers. Typically, these assets are informal and facilitated by leaders from the community. These are likely to be the same people who will require Proper Thank Yous .

Gameplan

Sludge

All systems have activities which slow users down or frustrate them. We call this friction . When this friction is excessive or unjustified it makes life difficult as people need to: acquire information and navigate tasks (which could be difficult or costly); dedicate time (which people may not have) or generate negative emotions (where processes create a sense of frustration, humiliation or stigmatisation). We call this Sludge . Sludge is not a barrier to participation, but can nevertheless stop people from engaging in opportunities. If the benefit of an activity does not seem to be greater than the effort required to complete it, users may find the activity overwhelming or not worth it. The Collaboration Kick-Off should acknowledge Sludge in designing activities which minimise friction from the beginning.

Increase engagement by addressing participation challenges and needs.

Examples of Sludge :

• A complicated booking system. • Having to complete paperwork for an activity on arrival. • Having to travel out of the area for an activity. • Not having the full details of an upcoming activity. How Think about the customer experience Brands obsess over the fine details of a customer’s experience because they want to make it seamless and pleasant. That way customers will want to return. The same approach should be taken for any activities targeting specific communities. Activities that Keep it Local reduce friction as less effort is needed to attend.

Ready

Similarly, Recruiting and Incentivising Volunteers needs to be easy and enjoyable. A volunteer’s journey should be easy, with minimal Sludge . Therefore, remove unnecessary friction , such as paperwork, and keep waiting times between expressing interest and actively volunteering to a minimum. Knowing where Sludge is in the system can help improve activities and help in Reframing the community engagement and physical activity offer.

Sludge audits

Sludge audits are helpful tools for identifying and minimising Sludge when developing community activities, such as a local wellbeing class or schemes such as Microgrants. Sludge audits can be approached in different ways, from formal surveys to informal conversations. Whichever method is used, they must include user feedback. When analysing sludge audits carefully consider the detail as often it is the small and seemingly trivial things that cause friction . The Gameplan Sludge Audit Template provides a helpful guide to get started.

Gameplan

SPICED, SMART, and Storied Social Impact Indicators and Evaluation Plan

Developing a monitoring and evaluation plan starts during the Collaboration Kick-Off , with identifying the social impact objectives - the ‘why’ that underpins the event. Once the ‘why’ is agreed, a systematic and quantifiable approach is needed to measure progress towards the objectives. This approach also ensures that baseline data will be collected, a valuable asset for informing the sustainable development of event portfolios and social impact interventions. A helpful way to do this is to use indicator measures . Examples of indicators include counting how many volunteers helped at an event; or recording resident sense of local pride. Indicator measures should be appropriate, manageable, and focused on community benefits. It is also beneficial to combine Social Impact Monitoring Tools such as indicator measures and event stories with other evaluation requirements such as economic and environmental impact for a consistent approach. The Gameplan Social Impact Monitoring Tool Template provides further information on how to develop and use indicator measures . Strengthen collaboration by using SPICED and SMART approaches Combining SPICED and SMART approaches when developing and reviewing objectives and indicator measures helps ensure that they are relevant and achievable. The SPICED framework is particularly useful for ensuring that objectives and indicator measures are developed collaboratively, to increase engagement and ownership.

Collaborate and develop a monitoring and evaluation plan to understand social impacts.

Ready

Collect event stories to understand change

introduce new ways of working to improve event outcomes. D iverse and disaggregated: Involve as many people and groups as possible in the Collaboration Kick-Off . Monitoring and evaluation should reflect different forms of involvement and acknowledge community characteristics. Think SMART when reviewing objectives and indicator measures The SMART framework provides a helpful guide when developing a monitoring and evaluation plan for a big event: S pecific: Is the objective or indicator measure sufficiently detailed to measure the impact? M easurable: Can you use indicator measures , event stories or both? A chievable: Has the delivery been designed using the EAST framework (Easy, Accessible, Social and Timely action)? R elevant: Does the objective benefit the community? T ime-bound: Can the indicator be used in the short, medium and long-term to ensure Social Buzz and social afterglow are examined?

Event stories capture personal event experiences that cannot be recorded using indicator measures . Enabling local people to tell their event stories is a simple yet powerful way of understanding why change has (or may not have) occurred. For some contexts, event stories alone may be the most powerful way of understanding event insight. How Think SPICED to develop objectives and indicator measures collaboratively S ubjective: Involve local people such as Community Explorers in the development of objective s and indicator measures . The Gameplan Social Impact Monitoring Tool Template provides a helpful introduction to this. P articipatory : Get the right people at Collaboration Kick-Off to agree on the social impact objectives. This builds relationships for successful collaboration. I nterpreted and communicable: Ensure objectives and indicator measures are understood from the start. This is important for delivering the Community Engagement Planning Hand . C ross-checked and compared: Follow a consistent approach that is informed and reviewed. Indicator measures can then be compared before, during and after each event, and repeated in the future. E mpowering: Use the Collaboration Kick-Off to signal the possibilities for change. Generating Social Buzz kickstarts collaboration and helps

Think stories to reveal the whole picture

Include event stories from local people as part of the monitoring and evaluation plan. Combining indicator measures and event stories helps community and individual experiences to be understood. Event stories can be captured creatively in many ways such as: interviews; social media videos and posts; visitor books; poems; and visual or performance art pieces. All are a great way to maintain social afterglow following a big event.

Gameplan

Earmark People for Social Impact Funding

Positive social impact does not happen just because a big event comes to town. Like every aspect of event delivery, social impact needs careful planning, investment and leadership. This starts at the Collaboration Kick-Off with a detailed event proposal . Social impact action starts before and lasts beyond the event Social impact actions require careful planning as they rely on extended community engagement before, during and after the event. By establishing defined objectives, responsibilities, resources, and communication channels at the proposal stage, a clear structure can be developed to guide and monitor social impact activities throughout the event cycle. Social impact investment is no different from economic impact investment Investment and action generate impact. This is true for both economic and social benefits. Funding for new tourism attractions or activities is often part of an event proposal to encourage visitor spending. Investment in social impact is no different. Funding is needed for things like community engagement events, sports programmes and incentives such as Microgrants . This type of investment builds relationships with communities and adds value; making events better. How Sow the seeds of social impact in the proposal Event Decentring creates space to think about big events differently and identify the event’s social impact ‘why’. From this, social

Allocate responsibilities and include a social impact budget in the event proposal.

Ready

impact objectives can be developed to address community issues. Objectives are the seeds of social impact and should be stated within the event proposal . Setting out clearly how you will achieve the ‘why’ makes positive change much more likely.

groups which can be identified during the Collaboration Kick-Off and Asset Mapping stages. Identifying community networks prepares the ground for developing a Community Engagement Planning Hand .

Allocate an allotment of responsibilities

Fill the social impact watering can

Supporting social impact is a team effort, but it also requires leadership. A proven approach is to name a social impact champion or ‘head gardener’ within the proposal. The social impact champion is a designated member of the event planning team with responsibility for overseeing and allocating responsibilities to help impact flourish. This approach ensures that social impact activities are afforded the same importance as other event deliverables and that they are managed and monitored appropriately.

Think of the objectives as the seeds. For the seeds to grow, event proposals should include a budget to provide the water, soil and care that they need. For example, money to support community engagement and event communication is often required. This requires human resourcing to provide a personal touch approach to working with communities and boosting engagement. Funding is also needed for things like Microgrants , Community Explorers and specialist research support. Grow the roots to connect to a social (impact) network The proposal should also set out where the seeds of social impact will be planted to grow roots into community networks. These networks comprise key people such as community influencers , activists and local

Gameplan

Welcome and Belonging

First impressions count. Humans draw a lot of meaning from initial experiences. Therefore, it is important to get them right. When engagers feel a strong sense of being welcome while trying something new they can focus on the ‘new thing’ they are doing rather than on fitting-in (or rather, the anxiety of standing out). A warm welcome is the start, but belonging is what really matters A warm welcome can be achieved with thoughtful planning about how engagers will be introduced to activities and events. It will not, however, automatically make people feel they belong in a new environment. Belonging requires going the extra mile to fully include engagers , build relationships, and demonstrate social proof.

Plan how to welcome and support engagers so they feel like they belong.

Introduce but do not overload

Beyond the social aspects of welcoming and instilling a sense of belonging, it is also important that the welcome provides signposts through the initial stages of engagement. Without overloading engagers , any welcome should highlight key commonalities within the group, while also reminding ‘old hands’ of their responsibilities around integrating engagers .

Put names to faces

A personal touch , like learning and using names, or discovering small details of people’s lives, all help in making people feel welcome. A greater sense of belonging follows when people feel appreciated by others. For instance, smiling; making contact; or acknowledging personal issues and accomplishments can go a long way. A personal touch is not just about

Ready

sociability; it helps engagers to better process key information so they feel motivated and comfortable from the get-go.

Encourage a growth mindset

Encouraging a growth mindset supports greater learning and self-belief. A growth mindset acknowledges an individual’s abilities, resources and context, and the ability to change and embrace opportunities to learn. Encourage people to acknowledge and embrace their strengths and weaknesses, and be careful with the use of language. For example, instead of referring to something as ‘failing’, consider using ‘opportunities for learning’. We refer to this as Reframing . Role models can help convey this message by displaying positive attitudes, beliefs and behaviours for others to learn and replicate - playing upon social proofing. Provide a context where local communities are encouraged to come together to support and celebrate one another’s efforts and to provide a positive learning environment.

How Replace threat with comfort

Threats such as anxiety, embarrassment and self-consciousness prevent people from feeling welcome and comfortable when starting something new. Create an inclusive environment that feels psychologically safe and reduces feelings of threat. This helps people feel more able to participate fully in the activity and focus on learning new skills, leading to a greater sense of achievement. Simple and accessible ice breaker activities can be used as a helpful approach to make people feel more welcome and comfortable. These act as conversation starters, helping to relieve tension and build trust between the group. Making people feel welcome and comfortable helps generate a good impression so they are motivated to come back for more.

Gameplan

Co-create Physical Activity Opportunities

Community Engagement Planning Hand

Physical Activity Hubs

Recruiting and Incentivising Volunteers

Social Buzz

Microgrants

Reframing

Social Impact Monitoring Tools

Set

Next, it’s time to get Set . How can the event be embedded within the community? It is crucial to build early interest by offering opportunities and experiences for community engagement, such as volunteer support and Microgrant schemes. Use social connections to create Social Buzz and make the process as painless as possible. Do not forget to consider how the event will be perceived by different sub- groups within the community.

Gameplan

Co-create Physical Activity Opportunities

Getting people involved in organised physical activity opportunities requires an understanding of fuel and friction . Fuel is the mechanism that boosts engagement, such as being social, accessible or rewarding. Friction cuts engagement and creates Sludge barriers. It is important to identify both fuel and friction so that physical activity opportunities can be better designed to motivate and engage the audience.

Understand local fuel and friction, then co- create physical activity opportunities.

Adding fuel does not overcome friction

Sludge barriers cannot be overcome by pouring more fuel into a system where there is already a lot of friction. For example, driving with your foot on the brake, nothing happens, because despite the fuel , there is too much friction . If the friction problem is not addressed, no amount of fuel (investment) will boost engagement.

By communities for communities

Sludge barriers can be overcome by working with communities to understand local friction sources and fuel motivations. Co-created interventions can encourage active involvement from the beginning, increasing engagement, ownership and empowerment. How Identify the ‘why’ then engage the ‘who’ The first step is to determine the physical activity objectives, or the ‘why’. This is done during the Collaboration Kick-Off. Once the ‘why’ has been determined, identify the community or target beneficiary groups. Accessing groups relies on community networking to build relationships. Working with community influencers who are active in their communities can help as they may already be in contact with groups, such as children, young

Set

adults or isolated older people, who are often hard to reach.

and stimulate different ways of thinking. In addition, the EAST framework (Easy, Accessible, Social and Timely action) for physical activity can help nudge thinking. Monitoring and evaluation of physical activity interventions Monitoring and evaluation to understand if the physical activity ‘why’ or objectives have been achieved is essential for understanding behaviour change. As with social impact, physical activity impact can be measured using indicator measures . The Six Influencer Framework is a tested approach for understanding people’s behaviour. It uses a five-point scale to assess progress against the following six domains:

Welcome and Belonging

This stage needs to be planned with a personal touch approach to build rapport, help participants feel welcome, and nurture a sense of belonging. A focus for the first meeting should be on exploring the local fuel and friction that will help or hinder their experience. These insights provide the foundation of the co-creation process, and help to generate ideas and interest.

Space and place

Choosing to Keep it Local is often the best bet as it benefits from being a home venue that is familiar and accessible for the target groups. However, choosing an away venue may also be appropriate, as a new location may remove any negative associations an individual or group has with a home venue. Co-create a timeline plan so that participants understand how things will work and the level of commitment required from them.

• Individual motivation • Individual ability • Social motivation • Social ability • Structural motivation • Structural ability

When combined with participant event stories a detailed and powerful picture of how to create behaviour change emerges. The Gameplan Physical Activity Co-Creation Template provides a helpful step-by-step guide to this approach.

Start the conversation

Co-creation is a collaborative process. To start the conversation, consider the Gamification framework to guide the co-creation process

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