Parallel sessions – The Power of Participation & Communication

On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, Babbage will host the event 'The Power of Participation & Communication', especially for communication professionals within the (semi) government. An inspiring day, where we zoom in on participation in all facets. Read more about the parallel sessions here.

Parallel session 1

Online participation in movement: discover the 4 trends and join in!

Online participation: if you work for the government, you can hardly ignore it. And now that the field is becoming more professional, it is also becoming clear that it is not a hobby, but a real profession. That it brings unprecedented opportunities for communication and participation professionals, but also exciting dilemmas. Because how do you ensure that really everyone can participate? How do you create an open and accessible community, while still maintaining an overview and knowing who you are talking to?

During this interactive session, Juliette van der Wurff and Natalie Rohlof from Mett will work with you on the four trends in online participation. No dry theory, but an active exploration of what works, what is difficult and how we can make participation more effective.

Juliette and Natalie challenge you to take a stand and share experiences. Discover, discuss and participate!

About the speakers

Natalie Rohlof is a communications consultant by training and has been working as a relationship manager at Mett for over 7 years. Natalie likes to connect people and ideas, and water, software and communication are always part of that in one way or another. She is involved in online participation issues and communities and is the host of the popular Participodcast.

Juliette van der Wurff has been setting up and supporting communities for 18 years. In her role as community and participation advisor at Mett, Juliette is driven by her own experience as a social worker and the need to enrich and share knowledge. In addition to her role as advisor at Mett, Juliette is also the host of the successful podcast Bruisende Communities.

Parallel session 2

Marit Overbeek has been committed to a greener, cleaner and better connected Rotsoord for over twelve years. From this former industrial area in the south of Utrecht, she and other (local) residents and entrepreneurs set up various initiatives and citizen movements. These vary in scope from very local to local and regional. For example, she built a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Vaartse Rijn and a Zusterpark, organised a bottom-up real estate dinner and a City Agreement, and wrote dozens of publications on how residents can gain more influence on the design of their street, neighbourhood and city. The provisional crowning glory of her work is a portrait in the Utrecht book Vrouwen diewanden afbreken.

In those twelve years, Marit has become acquainted with all kinds of parts of the municipality; from civil servants to aldermen and council members. Her training as a journalist and work experience as a communications advisor in construction and real estate are very useful to her in realizing initiatives. Yet she notices that her expertise and that of fellow citizens is hardly listened to, let alone used in decision-making. 'You can stick up post-its and then you don't hear anything anymore'. How can the municipality better connect with what is happening in the city? What role do communications professionals play in this? Why should you involve the usual suspects? And how do you support residents' initiatives? Discover it in the parallel session!

Don't want to miss these parallel sessions? Then come to The Power of Participation & Communication on Tuesday, May 20, 2025!

Program The Power of Participation & Communication