A Community Meeting Built for One-on-One Conversations

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Case Study · Public Engagement

A Community Meeting Built for One-on-One Conversations

A trade show style community meeting on the Capital Line South LRT Extension, where residents took their questions straight to the project's technical experts.

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Project

Capital Line South LRT Extension

Format

Community Meeting

Service

Public Engagement

Date

2026

Watch · 2 min 31 sec

The Challenge

A Community Asking for a Forum

As construction moved ahead, it became clear that the community was organizing and wanted a place to ask questions and voice concerns.

A town hall is the format most people expect. It also tends to give the microphone to a few voices, and it leaves little chance for residents to talk with project team members one on one.

reVerb looked at the full range of formats before recommending one.

Formats considered

• Town hallThe expected standard. It would not give people an equal voice or one-on-one time with the project team.
• Community league or school council meetingRegular members may feel they have to speak for the whole community, and the topic competes with the rest of the agenda.
• Fact sheets, FAQs and the inquiry lineUseful information, delivered one way, with residents left to send feedback individually.
• Trade show formatBooths staffed by the people who know each part of the project, open to anyone who walks in.

reVerb weighed the risk of meeting face to face with a community that was already concerned. The project team decided that transparency and two-way conversation in a controlled setting were worth that risk.

The Work

A Show and Tell for the Project

The meeting was planned as the opposite of a town hall. Residents moved between booths and spoke directly with members of the project team covering every part of the work. The vision took shape about a year before the event.

• Project Safety
• Civil
• Traffic
• Buildings and Structures

1. Project Owner Support

   reVerb showed the project owner where the community conversation around the project offered a chance to build understanding and support.

2. Community Participation

   Residents gave their volunteer time and took part in planning the event.

3. Event Planning

   Several event plans were developed and narrowed down: which technical experts would attend, what level of information to share and what the community wanted to learn.

Outcomes

What Residents Said

I came to find out some information about the closure of 12th Avenue. I wanted to understand what the plan was.

Resident

Answered a lot of our questions. The people at the booth were very well informed.

Resident

Why It Matters

The Format Decides Who Gets Heard

Choosing how to meet a community is a strategic decision in its own right.

A trade show format gives every resident the same access to the project team. Questions about a specific closure or a daily commute get a specific answer from the person responsible for it.

It also keeps the conversation in a setting where the project team can listen and follow up.

What the format gave residents

• Time with technical experts, one on one
• An equal chance to ask questions
• Answers about specific closures and traffic impacts
• A room focused on one topic, with no competing agenda

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Work With Us

Planning to Meet a Concerned Community?

reVerb helps project teams choose the right format for each conversation and staff it with the people who can answer the questions.

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