Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Engage Bayswater Panel?
The Engage Bayswater Panel (EBP) is a voluntary group of City residents, ratepayers and business owners who commit to participating in regular surveys throughout the year. The EBP has been created to provide regular, convenient engagement opportunities for interested community members.
Collecting input from the panel will also provide us with a greater level of community participation in the City’s decision-making and ensure the community’s voice is heard.
We would like as many people as possible to join the panel but we need a minimum of 150 to get started, to try to make the panel as representative as possible of the City's population.
What's involved in being a panellist?
Once the panel reaches 150 people it will be officially launched. Following this, surveys will be sent to panellists via email.
Surveys will usually be accessed via the Engage Bayswater website, where you will find relevant information about the project and have access to a closed survey specifically set up for the EBP.
For those panellists who aren't able to participate online, hard copy surveys will be provided by mail.
Who should be on the panel?
The panel is open to all City of Bayswater residents, ratepayers and business owners aged 16 years and over. We aim to have a panel of people relatively representative of the City of Bayswater’s population.
We want people of various ages, backgrounds and interests to be a part of the panel. The more diverse the panel, the better the quality of the feedback we will receive.
How many surveys do I have to complete and how often?
We require panellists to commit to at least six surveys per year. The surveys that the panel receives will be carefully selected - you won't be asked to contribute to every consultation we run, rather you will be asked to contribute to projects that are significant or City-wide, to complement broader community engagement being undertaken for that particular project.
Alternatively you may be asked to complete a survey that isn't being promoted more broadly - we may ask you to provide input to test new ideas of initiatives.
As this is a new initiative, we will monitor how regular the surveys are distributed and of course, we welcome any feedback you may have.
What happens with my personal information?
When registering, we ask that you provide details about who you are, where you live and what networks you are already connected to within the City of Bayswater.
Your personal identifying information will only be used by us to contact you about the Engage Bayswater Panel. This information will be managed according to the City of Bayswater's Privacy Policy.
The demographic and other information that you provide us will only be used to report on the panel as a whole, so that we have a good idea about who we are hearing from. We aim to make this panel as representative of the City's population as possible, therefore we need to monitor who is on the panel. This data will be compared to the ABS data for the City of Bayswater.
Where does feedback from the panel go?
This depends on each survey and the project it relates to. All feedback will be collated and provided to the project teams to help inform decision making. Surveys may ask about a topic that is being widely engaged on throughout the City or to test ideas and initiatives.
The outcomes of consultation activities will be reported back to you in a six monthly newsletter. This will include a summary of all contributions collected, recommendations for future action and a prize draw for participants!
How can I find more information?
The EBP is managed by the Community Engagement team. If you have any questions please contact:
Janelle Easthope - Community Engagement Advisor - 9272 0617
Tara Swindells - Community Engagement Support Officer - 9272 0991