Stakeholder Engagement & Consultation

We can’t overstate the importance of best practise in community relations and genuine consultation, especially if you’re seeking support for a project or a change. Our award-winning stakeholder engagement team can facilitate community meetings, gather feedback, hold briefings, write community newsletters and help you communicate directly with stakeholders, central and local government.

We can also develop and implement digital consultation strategies, using online engagement tools to reach a broad audience – including monitoring social media, where appropriate.

Convergence consultants have vast experience in community relations and consultation – ranging from small but contentious projects, through to proposals affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

We work to a proven framework for stakeholder engagement and have earned industry awards as proof of our expertise. Our experience shows, time and time again, that good planning leads to good outcomes – short cuts are high risk.

To make sure our advice is best practice, and in line with current international thinking on engagement methods, three of Convergence’s staff have obtained their International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) qualification.

News & Insights

Brewing up social goodness – a mystery campaign succeeds for Hummingbird Coffee

Working with two other agencies, Convergence helped devise a campaign for Hummingbird Coffee – the country’s leading specialty fresh coffee brand – where the first ‘teaser’ phase didn’t even mention the client.

Emma Maciaszek

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Tactical Communication Plan for complex organisation a rewarding challenge

Convergence Communications was pleased to work pro bono for the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust (BPCT), a non-profit organisation that promotes the conservation and enhancement of indigenous biodiversity and sustainable land management on Banks Peninsula, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Steve Attwood

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Brewing up social goodness in Christchurch’s redzone

Convergence has had the privilege to assist Hummingbird Coffee in revitalising a section of Christchurch’s redzone. A year ago Hummingbird Coffee provided more than $60,000 to environmental green space experts The Green Lab to create a leading accessible sensory nature space in the city’s east – Te Kohanga Taiao Sensory Nature Play Park – which opened in June 2024.

Emma Maciaszek

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NZ Infrastructure shake up – Is a political compromise possible?

The Coalition Government has announced details of its National Infrastructure Plan envisaged to span a 30-year period¹. Our Government, Regulatory and Public Affairs specialist, Lisa-Marie Richan, explains how our Coalition Government may approach this and build trust across Parliament for all parties to feel they’ve been heard.

Lisa-Marie Richan (L-M)

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Shining a light on performance and learning through independent review

Convergence Strategic Consultant Dave Brash has both led, implemented, and reviewed a number of significant projects for central and local government including major transport and environment initiatives.

Dave Brash

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Bringing balance to a community discussion on mining

When TiGa Minerals & Metals announced in March 2023 that it intended to apply for resource consents for a minerals mine on the Barrytown Flats of the South Island’s West Coast, the company became concerned at what it perceived as the lack of balance in the public discussion through local news and social media.

Steve Attwood

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The next 100 days: How will government reforms affect your business or organisation?

The National Party has long considered itself the ‘party of business’ with a sharp eye on economic wellbeing and productivity. However, following New Zealand First and Act negotiations, the new National-led coalition government demands quickly enacted reform and it needs to deliver huge swathes of replacement legislation and policy change.

Lisa-Marie Richan (L-M)

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