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Digital Sightseeing: Extraordinary Experiences for today’s tourist

There was a time when a key step before going on holiday was buying a guidebook on your destination. Since Baedeker books in the 1800s, people have relied on these to find ideas, inspiration, hidden gems, and tourists traps, ensuring their holidays were as perfect as possible.

Nowadays, there is a plethora of information online to sift through when planning a trip. From blogs and official accounts to articles and sponsored posts, people have access to endless resources at their fingertips. They can even reach out to their social media contacts for recommendations. This abundance of information poses a challenge for the tourism sector: how can less-known cities or off-the-beaten-track destinations stand out and compete for attention?

Today’s audiences value the experiences holidays have to offer more than ever before. We share our adventures on social media, seeking to showcase unique and memorable moments. We are also more aware of the variety of experiences available around the world, raising our expectation for each trip. In fact, younger generations are spending a significant portion of their income on travel, prioritising holidays above other experiences with a recent study revealing that 65% of Gen Zers ranked ‘travel and seeing the world’ as the most important way to spend their money.

So, how can destinations stand out in this competitive landscape and meet the high expectations of modern travellers? The key lies in crafting unique and memorable experiences that revolve around the landmarks and attractions of any given destination. By harnessing technology, we can elevate a great concept and make it even more impactful, while simultaneously enhancing accessibility and inclusivity. Digital solutions have the power to captivate audiences through compelling campaigns and personalised promotions, enticing them to visit a destination. Once there, these innovations facilitate engagement with innovative, value-added experiences. Furthermore, they have the potential to maintain interest and foster advocacy long after the trip has ended.

Offering a personal touch

Applications that offer personalised travel routes, for example, are a simple but effective opportunity to tailor the travel experience to individual preferences and allow for autonomous exploring. Whether you’re an adventure enthusiast, a nature lover, or travelling with different generations, personalised tours that you can follow yourself speak to specific interests and needs.

For those seeking a more off-the-beaten-path experience, customised tours allow the traveller to choose settings and interests that speak to them, and make the destination feel more like it was made to suit what they’re hoping to get out of the trip.

For those travelling as a group with different generations, there can also be a challenge in finding activities that will appeal to everyone. With a digital application that suggests personalised tours or routes you can take the stress away from the tourist and provide an itinerary of experiences and suggestions straight to the palm of their hand, that keeps younger tourists interested while also ensuring older members of the group can also enjoy a more relaxed pace.

Appealing to the masses, speaking to the individual

Most customers have come to expect tailored experiences — according to a Mastercard-sponsored Harvard Business Review study, 90% of consumers expect organisations to know their interests and anticipate their needsLet’s take a quick tour:

Artistic Inspiration: Imagine a personalised tour through the streets that were once home to famous poets, artists and authors. While visitors follow in the footsteps of their favourite figures, they could collect virtual tokens or points to unlock exclusive content, such as unseen passages from their works or special audio recordings, or even a visual recreation of what life would have looked like in their time. It’s the same tours as always, but with a twist, helping to bring art to life, while immersing tourists in the creative atmosphere that once inspired their icons.
Uncovering Ancient Civilisations: Capture everyone’s attention, whether families or school trips, with customised routes that combine education and fun. Through digitally led scavenger hunts or clue-based challenges, children can explore historical sites and collect puzzle pieces or artifacts as they progress. Each discovery can provide insights into the lives and customs of the ancient inhabitants, fostering curiosity and reinforcing learning, through carefully designed games.
Active Adventures: For those who don’t want to sacrifice their active lifestyle while exploring new places, personalised tours can combine sightseeing with physical activities. For instance, visitors can choose a route that includes jogging or biking paths, integrating exercise with cultural exploration. As they complete different checkpoints, participants can earn virtual medals, unlock achievements, or compete with others in leader boards, adding an element of friendly competition and motivation.
Travelling for business: Imagine having the option to receive recommendations for outside of business hours for the work-trip tourist. Input your schedule and commitments and receive suggestions for how best to see the sights during the time you have. The tailored approach could recommend the best places to pick up food on your way to and from the office or meetings, suggest local networking opportunities, suitable places to hot desk and more.

Technology cannot fully replace the enjoyment and awe of travelling somewhere new. However, through embracing digital, innovative strategies, destinations can build more ways to hook and enchant visitors, particularly when keeping the diverse interests, needs and expectations of tourists at the heart of their offering.

By incorporating more innovative elements into their offerings, destinations can create unique and engaging experiences that capture the attention and emotional loyalty of modern tourists, ensuring their trip is nothing short of extraordinary. The offering immediately becomes a selling point for tourists weighing up where to spend their time and money, and can even engage, inform and excite tourists in the build up to their visit. Fresher approaches, that allow destinations to stand out, attract more visitors, and leave lasting impressions that contributes to their advocacy, growth and success.

Like what you read? Why not speak to our team on how we can help build a meaningful solution for you.

31/05/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

MOTIVAIT

Meet Motivait: Shrijan

With Meet Motivait we want to show what makes us special: our people. Meet Shrijan, one of our Front-End Developers. Shrijan loves learning new technologies every day and is always looking for ways to improve his skills. Outside of work he enjoys writing lyrics and and voice acting for video games. Shrijan is known among his colleagues as being focused, collaborative and polite.

Name

Shrijan Tiwari

Role

Front-End Software Developer

When did you join Motivait?

26th of September 2022

Describe what you do in five words:

Software Development across various projects

What part of your job do you love the most?

Being involved in multiple projects, where I build software, code different features for both existing and new projects, and learn new technologies every day.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I enjoy writing lyrics, as I used to be a vocalist and lyricist in multiple hard rock and death metal bands from the age of 14 to 25. In addition to writing, I also enjoy creating video games for others to play and voice acting for different video game characters, watching movies, following football, and listening to music.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

It’s better to say “I don’t know how to do this” and ask questions instead of doing it the wrong way

If Shrijan’s colleagues could describe him in only 3 words, they would say:

Colleague 1: “Focused, collaborative, polite”

Colleague 2: “Positive, knowledgeable, kind”

Colleague 3: “Attentive, curious and resilient”

Get in touch with our team

11/05/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

MOTIVAIT

Meet Motivait: Millie

Behind each of our engagement solutions is a team that brings your ideas to life through design, communication and technology. Meet Millie, our client services consultant based in our Newcastle office. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, painting and making jewellery. Her best career advice is to focus on learning and growth rather than comparing yourself to others. Millie’s colleagues describe her as inspiring, courageous and dedicated.

Name

Emilia/Millie Probert (whichever!)

Role

Client Services Consultant (Newcastle office)

When did you join Motivait?

July 4th 2022

Describe what you do in five words:

Client relations, consulting and marketing

What part of your job do you love the most?

The best aspect of my job is undoubtedly working with the talented team here at Motivait. Despite only being here for less than a year, I already feel like a valued member and have been seamlessly integrated into the team. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to our Madrid office to meet everyone in person, and the warm welcome I received only reinforced my sense of belonging. Looking ahead, I am excited about the future at Motivait and eager to continue building meaningful relationships with my colleagues.

What do you like to do outside of work?

In my free time, if I’m not cooking or eating, I like to paint and make jewellery, I’m also very active and have recently taken up climbing. I listen to a lot of music and am always looking for a concert or event too attend. I love keeping myself busy and socializing with my friends, always on the lookout for new and exciting activities to explore.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

It’s not really career advice, its more like life advice, but it’s that “comparison is the thief of joy”. As long as we are continually learning and developing, we are exactly where we need to be in our careers and in life.

If Millie’s colleagues could describe her in only 3 words, they would say:

Colleague 1: ‘Inspiring, courageous, and dedicated. Millie is equal parts fashion icon and socio-political advocate’

Colleague 2: ‘Enthusiastic, eloquent and cheerful’

Colleague 3: ‘Passionate, eager, a-ray-of-sunshine’

Get in touch with our team

20/04/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

Engagement, Gamification, Learning

Reinvigorating healthcare training: Gamification for medical professionals

Gamified solutions have become a popular tool for training and education in a variety of industries, including healthcare. By even just incorporating simple mechanics such as levels that break down learning materials, interactive quizzes to test knowledge, and engaging, energising game-like experiences, gamification can facilitate a more effective way to teach complex concepts and procedures. They can also provide a safe, low-risk environment for learners to practice and make mistakes without real consequences. Online games have been used to train healthcare professionals in areas such as infection control, patient communications and emergency response. In appropriate settings, the use of gamification as a training tool for healthcare professionals can contribute towards improving the quality of support and patient care, as more engaging and effective study methods help improve the retention of knowledge and skills needed for safe and effective treatment.

The importance of training in the healthcare sector

Continuous training and educational support systems are crucial for healthcare professionals to provide the best possible care for patients. While healthcare is constantly evolving through valuable research and breakthroughs, it is also a sector under tremendous pressure in terms of time, resourcing, and investment. It is understandable that medical and care professionals need to stay up to date with new information or emerging technologies that can help improve patient outcomes or even make their own day-to-day work easier, but for the majority and especially those on the front line, it is hard to find time to squeeze extra work in. Even just with the rise of electronic records and online medical services, ongoing training is essential, but also amounting, for staff to keep up with these changes all while provide optimal treatment.

Faced with little time, high stress, and working days that require great focus and attention, traditional methods of healthcare training, such as lectures, textbooks and seminars, may be less effective and less engaging. These methods often do not offer opportunities for hands-on practice and tend to be less interactive, making it harder to retain information or consider how it works in practice. Digital or gamified approaches to learning can present simulated but realistic scenarios where the learner can test their understanding of core concepts, put theory into practice, or run through example situations to improve knowledge retention – particularly valuable for nuanced or less theory-based areas of learning, such as communication, collaboration or leadership skills for example.

“Understanding the different ways of learning, motivations and preferences of different users increases engagement and improves the learning process. At Motivait we try to use eye-catching designs, compelling narratives and gamification elements help the user to delve deeper into more complex topics.”

Whether mobile or desktop based, digital solutions can leverage the agility and accessibility of technology to instantly make learning paths available to learners whether they’re on the go and wanting to squeeze in 5 minutes on a quick course module, or in a more relaxed environment and keen to look at information in a different, more dynamic way. While the market may be saturated with options, there is no denying that one of the benefits to digital or online based learning approaches is that they can take into account different learning styles, which may make it easier for some people to learn more effectively. Certain learners may prefer hands-on learning, while others lean toward visual or auditory learning.

Then, by taking digital learning and training methods one step further to include gamification, the experiences can cater to diverse learning needs while also providing a much-needed support to driving sustainable engagement throughout the learning process. Game elements such as tracking progress to encourage participation, providing feedback, nudges or prompts to avoid people feeling lost or unsupported, or even just offering warm up rounds or quick game-like experiences to boost motivation can go a long way to enriching the learning journey for participants faced with complex or time-consuming themes as seen in healthcare.

Gamification in action

So, what can gamified solutions look like in practise?

A clear example of this can be seen in an innovative app that uses gamification to reduce unnecessary procedures in the Spanish National Health System. Created by a team of experts from the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, FISABIO and the Miguel Hernández University, the app seeks to reduce procedures linked to ‘Do Not Do’ practices, in reference to all those unnecessary procedures that have been shown not to be useful, have questionable effectiveness, are not cost-effective or are not a priority. According to José Joaquín Mira, Professor of Health Psychology at the Miguel Hernández University:

“We have chosen to use gamification to draw attention to the problem of overuse of certain practices in a fun and practical way… It actively engages the practitioner, sparks curiosity and invites them to compete with themselves while internalising what not to do to achieve safer practice and higher quality care”.

The app works through a reward system, with scores being stored and added to the user’s profile. In addition, in the game settings you can choose the level of difficulty of the questions, the field of speciality and whether they will be repeated in the future. There are more than 100 questions (on a wide range of practices, linked to different specialities). The user will have a justification for the answer, a link to the official recommendations document, and information on which scientific society endorses it.

Using a gamified solution in the learning process can be an effective tool for improving knowledge retention and performance on certain medical tasks. For example, a study published in BMC Medical Education found that medical students who played a game designed to teach cardiology concepts performed better on a post-exam than those who received traditional classroom instruction. Another study published in PMC PubMed Central found that nurses who participated in a game designed to simulate medication administration had a higher rate of correct medication administration than those who did not participate in the game.

Bringing theory to life, putting skills into practise

There are few sectors where training is so important as within healthcare. Whether in hospitals, care homes, local medical centres, or wherever their work takes them, health professionals are under pressure to stay informed and well versed in evolving approaches, processes and practices or even new legislation they are expected to follow. Recognising the fact that many organisations and institutions within the sector won’t be able to invest endlessly, what solutions that are provided need to be creative in ensuring they impact the learning experience.

The ripple effect of participating in a positive, enjoyable session or experience, as opposed to leaving feeling drained and disillusioned, means learners feel valued (“how great that my organisation chose to positively invest in me and understand my needs”) and well equipped to tackle future challenges and situation. Gamification may just be one tool of many able to invigorate digital or hybrid approaches to learning, but it is certainly one methodology with proven impact on user engagement and optimised knowledge retention. At the end of the day, given the hurdles and stresses healthcare professionals and students handle, delivering solutions that put them at the heart of the process for once could just make the difference to them.

If you are interested in learning more about how gamification and technology can improve the learning experience and engagement, check out our work in this area:

14/03/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

MOTIVAIT

Meet Motivait: Kacper

With Meet Motivait we want to show what makes us special: our people. Meet Kacper, one of our front-end developers who really enjoys bringing concepts to life and creating a seamless and dynamic user experience.

Name

Kacper Adamski

Role

Front-end Developer

When did you join Motivait?

August 2022

Describe what you do in five words:

Convert designs into responsive websites

What part of your job do you love the most?

As a Front-end developer, I love the creative process of bringing concepts to life and developing an interactive and seamless user experience. I enjoy the challenge of tackling issues and coming up with new ideas to enhance the functionality and accessibility of the website or application. Additionally, I find it fulfilling to see the final product being used by actual users and receiving positive feedback.

What do you like to do outside of work?

As a crypto enthusiast, outside of work I enjoy staying informed about the latest developments and trends in the industry. This includes reading articles and whitepapers, following influencers on social media, and participating in online forums and communities. Additionally, I like to analyse and research different coins and projects to identify potential investment opportunities, as well as learn about the cryptography in general.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

“Nothing great comes without a risk”

If Kacpers’ colleagues could describe him in only 3 words, they would say:

Colleague 1: ‘Willing to learn, attentive and dedicated’

Colleague 2: ‘Commited, hardworker, innovative’

Colleague 3: ‘Attention to detail, enthusiast, problem solver’

Get in touch with our team

27/02/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

MOTIVAIT

Meet Motivait: Raquel

Behind each of our engagement solutions is a team that brings your ideas to life through design, communication and technology. Meet Raquel, our Creative & UX/UI Designer. Raquel contributes to the team’s design, development and implementation of client projects and solutions with a focus on developing exceptional visual images and graphics to ensure optimum project success. She has an incredible eye for detail and in her spare time she likes to travel and also enjoys painting with watercolours.

Name

Raquel Carrasco

Role

Creative & UX/UI Designer.

When did you join Motivait?

April 2021.

Describe what you do in five words:

Create and design visual content.

What part of your job do you love the most?

I love to transform abstract and complicated ideas into creative and original designs.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Travel around the world to see and experience new places, cultures, food…But as I can’t do it all the time, I also like to paint with watercolours and practice sports.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

“Stop and take a break. When you come back you will see everything from a different perspective.”

If Raquel’s colleagues could describe her in only 3 words, they would say:

Colleague 1: “Cheerful, organized and a world traveller”

Colleague 2: “Flexible, detail oriented, easy to work with”

Colleague 3: “Bubbly, creative, proactive”

Get in touch with our team

02/02/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

Behavioural Design, Engagement, Gamification, Learning, MOTIVAIT

Preventing Digital Learning Fatigue in an Era of Interconnectivity

We all saw how technology helped people during the pandemic; without tools like Teams, Zoom, online learning platforms and social media, working effectively and staying connected with friends, family, colleagues and peers would have been incredibly difficult, if not impossible. As people become more comfortable and familiar with technology, the risk of fatigue heightens and therefore more preventative measures need to be taken in order to keep audiences engaged, motivated and intrigued.

Take learning and development platforms for example which, when facilitated digitally, offer a consistent experience for all participants irrespective of where, how or when they’re logging on. However, a digitally interconnected world does present some issues, the most stated of which is the concept of ‘Digital Learning Fatigue’ – also referred to as ‘Zoom Fatigue’ or simply ‘Online Fatigue’.

What is Digital Learning Fatigue?

Digital Learning Fatigue is a state of exhaustion, both physical and mental, where individuals reach their saturation point of using digital tools.

If this sounds familiar, and you feel like you have experienced this burnout, you are not alone. In 2021, 70% of people said they had experienced it, and dealt with frustrating side effects like sensory overload, irritability and restlessness.

One quick Google search and we’re flooded with ways to combat or at least limit these types of effects, whether it’s ‘only spend essential time online’, ‘make sure you take adequate rests’, or ‘adjust your screen brightness and ensure you have a comfortable, ergonomic set up’. Undoubtedly helpful to a certain degree, but the sustainability of such measures does raise questions, especially considering how increasingly online we are becoming.

A more sustainable and longer-term solution is diversifying the way people work and learn. Employing a ‘microlearning’ approach to studies, weaving in methods of gamification and experimenting with hybrid working are three great examples of how we can cut down our screentime, without compromising on these new, innovative and effective ways of working.

Microlearning

Microlearning is a way of teaching and conveying information to learners in bite-sized chunks, with a focused and specific learning outcome. It may also incorporate multiple forms of media to break up the format.

Stats source

Given that digital fatigue can be the result of having to process large quantities of information, incorporating elements of microlearning is one way to help break up the process and facilitate continued participation. Breaking large amounts of information down into smaller chunks makes learning materials much easier to digest, less overwhelming for users to approach and less exhausting to become immersed in. Not only is this universally beneficial, but it is a more accessible method for people with learning disabilities to retain information.

Microlearning can also maximise workflow. When learners complete a section of work, they develop a sense of accomplishment which can lead to a greater sense of purpose and achievement. Therefore, when you split a piece of work into these smaller sections, it can provide the learner with a greater sense of achievement more often, which in turn increases their motivation to engage with the teaching further.

Microlearning also encourages the formation of good habits and gives users more flexibility while working. Incorporating microlearning practises in combination with other methods of engagement can be an excellent way to engage people digitally while preventing learning fatigue, but it is important that these techniques are intertwined with one another as continued engagement is about diversification and enjoyment. Microlearning uses repetition in short bursts which has been linked to memory retention comparatively to large volumes of information in one go.

Using the agile methods of workflow, although ridged in nature, can be a great way to improve workflow and productivity while moving at a pace that embraces microlearning. Following this methodology facilitates reflection and inspection ensuring results are to a higher standard, while simultaneously being more engaging for users. This method of work can easily be gamified to engage users further, while simultaneously making workflow more productive and enjoyable.

Similarly, to Microlearning, gamified learning elements have also proven to be more engaging for people with learning disabilities. Gamification encourages outside-of-the-box thinking and leans away from ‘traditional’ forms of learning that are often not catered to the needs of these groups of learners. Digital methods of learning can help people with Dyslexia as digital text can be edited e.g., text could be made bigger or a different colour to be more accessible for someone with differing needs, or visual recourses to aid reading.

Gamification

Gamification is the enhancement of systems, typically educational or workplace systems to create an experience similar to a video game in order to motivate and engage the user.

Incorporating elements of gamification into digital learning can encourage continual engagement over longer periods of time by making it more enjoyable. Gamification can also provide a sense achievement and pride to the learner, through elements such as interactive tutorials, progress bars, mini games and quizzes.

Gamified educational platforms have already seen success in the workplace and in educational environments. Universities around the world are investing a significant amount of money on creating engaging platforms for students to use alongside their in-person studies.

Stats source

Imagine the impact of a student or employee going through compulsory training in a mixed media format; consisting of core written materials in bite-sized chunks, interspersed with informational, engaging videos, with game elements and quizzes, collaboration with other users, team exercises and mixing methods of in-person and digital learning; versus an experience solely consisting of lengthy written materials over long periods of time, which the learner is expected to read on their own and complete within a set timeframe.

Hybrid Learning

Hybrid or blended learning is an innovative approach to learning that combines online educational materials and in person or place-based opportunities together to create an environment that is more interesting and more inclusive to the user.

Integrating physical and digital learning elements can ensure learning is more memorable, enjoyable and productive. Although traditionally thought of as a distraction to learning, embracing the capabilities of smartphones and weaving them with other forms of learning has the potential to engage disengaged audiences. A good example of this is the use of mobile technology during physical learning sessions – such as smartphone polls, quizzes, or a group activity. The popularity of smartphones has allowed people to embrace the use of them in learning, a good way to engage people with technology. People are familiar and comfortable with mobile phones, especially younger audiences who are often the target market for digital or hybrid learning.

Stats source

Although young people may respond well to digital tools, they also respond well to in-person activities, and studies have shown that up to 65% of students prefer in-person learning. A way in which this could be implemented is by starting the learning experiences physically and then allow the journey to continue and be enhanced digitally. QR codes are a staple for this and could encourage students to scan to continue their experience within a virtual environment, perhaps to play an interactive mini-game based on something they’ve learnt in-person.

Engaging people using emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) is a great way to combine digital capabilities with the real world. AR is now available through smartphones, making the technology not only more accessible, but also portable. Mobile AR means learners can easily interact in a digital way with their physical surroundings, presenting opportunities for interactive learning. Incorporating hybrid learning into practises such as onboarding is a great way to increase engagement. Traditionally onboarding is either online or in person but combining the two and adding gamified elements could be a great way to prevent fatigue during this process.

Conclusion

As people’s familiarity with technology increases, digital fatigue increases parallel to it. Therefore, innovation is important in its prevention, ensuring technology is developing alongside people, growing with them and being adapted to meet their needs. Digital fatigue can also have some serious physical and emotional consequences so is important to deploy solutions and embrace technology designed to prevent it and engage the user across all sectors, whether it be education or within the workplace.

Although it may seem like a popular buzzword, digital fatigue could cause serious disengagement with a huge proportion of people and that’s why considering it during any digital design process is crucial. Due to market oversaturation of learning technologies, diversifying platforms using unique features such as gamification and hybrid learning is a great way to stand out among competitors. Digital fatigue can affect all users, but it can often depend on the users’ needs and the type of platform and type of learning. Therefore, designing and developing platforms with this in mind from the start is the path to preventing digital learning fatigue.

Discover a real-world example of how technology can be integrated into learning effectively.
Read our case study on ‘Partnership in Action: Newcastle University Business School & Motivait’

30/01/2023/by Millie Probert

MOTIVAIT

Meet Motivait: Rey

With Meet Motivait we want to show what makes us special: our people. Meet Rey, our CISO. Rey is in charge of managing the company’s security and ensuring user support. Rey always brings good conversation to the table and one of his favorite hobbies is salsa dancing!

Name

Rey Ramos

Role

CISO & Systems Consultant

When did you join Motivait?

In 2017

Describe what you do in a few words:

I am in charge of security, networks, server administration, service management and user support.

What part of your job do you love the most?

What I enjoy most about my job is managing services and servers.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I love to travel, paddle tennis and ballroom dancing.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Try to leave a part of you in everything you do.

If Rey’s colleagues could describe him in only 3 words, they would say:

Colleague 1: “Charming, decisive and the soul of the party!“

Colleague 2: “Cheerful, helpful and a great friend“

Colleague 3: “Fun, attentive and an incredible dancer!”

Get in touch with our team

18/01/2023/by Patricia Wiggett

Employees, Engagement, MOTIVAIT, Team building

Time for reflection at Motivait 2022

We are almost at the end of the year and our team mascot, Moti, has been observing the Motivait team and taking notes on their achievements and learnings during 2022, here is his summary…

2022 recap

2022, what a year! Over the past few months, I’ve been observing the Motivait team, watching them grow and develop and I’m here to reflect on everything that has been going on and what the future might hold for them. I’ve seen new additions to the team, an expanding solution portfolio, strengthening relationships with clients and so much more.

Let’s have a closer look at what the team have accomplished, and how they will continue to develop and provide invigorating experiences for clients into next year and beyond…

Growing the team

It’s super exciting to reflect on the fact that this year, Motivait have increased their employee base by nearly 30%! They have welcomed new faces from England, Poland, Nepal and Cuba – so they are never far from learning about new and exciting cultures, traditions and languages. It’s great to watch the team grow and develop strong bonds across different functions and locations.

With growth comes the continued balancing act of how to handle post-pandemic expectations to offer more flexibility, whilst simultaneously addressing the challenges this can pose around sustaining a sense of belonging, community and enthusiasm – one way the team have managed to do this is by ensuring the in-person connection remains an important part of their work.

I’ve loved watching the team reunite in person again (or meet, in some cases where they had only met through a screen), collaborate and create meaningful and valuable bonds. I’ve seen members of the team visit both physical offices, in Spain and the UK. Ana from the design team lives in Portugal and has visited both the Madrid and Newcastle office this year and has learned more about the cities and the client relationships in each country. The software developers based in Madrid have also visited the Newcastle team for informative talks on careers in software development to computer science students at Newcastle University.

These visits have proven to be beneficial for team bonding – which is something the Motivait team do very well! Especially at their annual Kick Off… the Kick Off took place this year in April at the Madrid office; each Motivait team member joined together for a day of team building, client deep-dives, and concluded in a wonderful evening in the city centre, with some members throwing themselves into a bit of Salsa – lead by the Motivait resident dance experts David and Rey!

New ventures

This year has brought the design, development and management of some new bespoke solutions for Motivait. One of the new solutions developed in partnership with Newcastle University Business School allows students to engage in learning about professional and academic skills, while enhancing and developing their teamwork and collaborative skills – it really seems to be going down well with the students, looking like it’s running smoothly so far!

Another solution launched this year was a bespoke Digital Hub for the agricultural charity The Food and Farming Discovery Trust (FFDT). The Digital Hub focuses on engaging audiences, especially young people, with more connection and appreciation with and for food, farming and the countryside. This was a highly collaborative project built with future evolution in mind and has been a great example of Motivait’s managed service – how they work with clients to bring their ideas to life with the view of it being able to grow and develop over time.

With more projects underway, I look forward to seeing the team design, develop and deliver even more exciting and engaging solutions. Watch this space!

Looking to the future

After a great year for Motivait, I can see bright future ahead of them, their excellent client relations have allowed them to continue some of their relationships into 2023 to new projects and continue to create inspiring engagement across a variety of sectors. The feedback says it all honestly, and here are some comments from their clients that really show how good 2022 has been for the Motivait team: (or maybe quotes from the team about there year could be fun little Moti holding a microphones)

‘I’m not usually at the office, so apart from the regular visits, I love to get together with the team for the Christmas lunch and do team activities on the kick-offs!’
– Ana (Creative and UI Designer)

‘One of the most memorable moments of this year was that time we went into Madrid for dinner and then we went dancing with some members of the team. It was so much fun!’
– Emerson (Full Stack Developer)

‘As an intern, the amount of knowledge that I absorbed within a such short period of time while working at Motivait cannot be described in words. The team is very helpful and willing to help when needed. I really enjoy working at Motivait, and I couldn’t imagine undertaking a placement year somewhere else!’
– Kacper Intern Front-End/Web Developer

Until next year,

Moti x

24/11/2022/by Millie Probert

Citizens, Engagement

The challenges of engaging diverse communities in a digital space and ways to overcome them.

Establishing a sense of community in a landscape so shaken by an ever-changing social climate is an emerging issue, and technology has further changed how we reach out to, connect with, and engage communities. Digital community engagement is a potential solution for businesses, councils, institutions and governments that are faced with the challenge of engaging their people. By utilising digital innovation to overcome issues that arise from traditional forms of community engagement, it could have the potential to bridge the gap between people and ensure their needs are being supported in the most inclusive way.

So, what does true community engagement look like? ‘Engagement’ can have multiple meanings and there is not one ‘easy fix’ for an absence of it but combining digital innovation with more traditional forms of community connection and discussion is the emerging answer to questions surrounding engagement. Impactful public engagement is supposed to communicate information or increase participation in a way that is enjoyable and rewarding for a user and makes them want to participate continually.

Diversified engagement routes for diverse communities

In a diverse setting, engaging a large proportion of different kinds of users with differing needs, user characteristics and behaviours can be a challenge.

The ‘traditional’/’offline’/’in-person’ community engagement techniques are so valuable when gathering information and feedback from communities, however, there are many obstructions that this type of engagement techniques cannot break down alone. Digitalisation has been shown to unite communities behind issues, encourage discussion and innovation, and facilitate positive change by allowing community members to make meaningful contributions through an online environment. Digitalisation is also a significant contributing factor when capturing marginalised and previously unheard voices. However, reaching groups that are not engaged with online spaces is as important, especially considering these voices are often unheard in the community.

The positive impacts of a mixed-engagement model (both online and offline) is undeniable, however complex it may be to achieve. It is also becoming increasingly difficult attract and engage diverse audience using simply online-only model for many reasons:

the digital space is becoming more and more saturated with choice, with more than 547,200 new websites being created globally every day (Siteefy), users are overloaded by a sheer number of sites which they can choose to engage with.
different age groups access, use and respond to the same channels and platforms differently.
differing levels of digital competency mean that designing a website for ease-of-use is also essential to its ability to engage, despite digital know-how increasing significantly after the pandemic.
users expect and want personalised experiences, the days of a passive website that draw people in are long gone.
people are expecting more from their online experiences, they expect to be engaged. Therefore digital experiences must be continually engaging and develop over time, keeping up with changing technologies, while maintaining relevancy and their true nature and intent at heart.

Engaging with a varied community takes these five challenges further. To effectively engage these communities, it requires knowledge, understanding and a true analysis of each of the different user groups at each of these points in order to ensure the outcome is appropriate and effective for the user group. The more diverse a community, the more complex this can be.

The importance of data, design and communication

When engaging with diverse communities through a mixed-engagement model, it is important to ensure that each mode of engagement is connected to one another, complement each other and are well executed to ensure the end-engagement result is as well suited to the target audience as possible. This is achieved through three key elements; data collection, design and communication, these three processes are important for ensuring solutions are catered to the needs of the user and must be interconnected.

Data

When collecting data and research about diverse communities, these practises need to be all-encompassing and far-reaching in order to capture the clearest picture of the community and create the best platform for the targeted audience.

Good data practises must be followed in order accommodate for diverse audiences, such as ensuring questions are clear and not leading. Surveys or focus groups must be reaching the largest proportion of people as possible and reaching all groups proportionally to get the most accurate results that are representative of the majority. In order to reach marginalised groups, engaging with community groups, connecting with community leaders or digital community hubs such as social media is a great way to ensure that these voices are heard, or survey reach the largest proportion of people. It is important to ensure that these surveys are assessable in multiple languages in order to gain feedback from communities despite potential language barriers. By starting an engagement programme with good research practises, it will allow for a digital space to be shaped around the voices and needs of the community in a way that includes all voices.

Design

When dealing with digital engagement, it is important to ensure that the solution is developed with accessibility and inclusivity at the heart as inclusive design is central to creating a platform for a diverse community, elements to consider include:

ensuring that symbols and graphics are universally understandable and clear can ensure a website messaging is concise and it is reaching the most people.
building a platform that is easy to navigate, as you need to consider diverse digital competency.
the messaging of the website needs to be concise in its messaging and delivery.

Creating an engaging and exciting platform can also encourage continual use, incorporating gamification technology can be a great way to engage audiences long-term, this in combination with ease of use can greatly improve a community’s engagement with the platform.

Communication

Incorporating omnichannel forms of communication is also essentially in engaging the maximum amount of people as well as catering engagement to its target audience. For example, if you were to connect with users using social media you would use different platforms depending on the intended audience, as Facebook cater to an older age demographic, 65% of people aged 50-64 use the platform, whereas 90% of Instagram users are under the age of 35. Connecting a platform with software people are familiar with can be a great way to encourage use, it can be a great way to get people comfortable with your platform initially while using a platform already familiar to the user. Especially with older age demographics who statistically have less digital competency.

Considering cultural barriers to engagement is also important, for example not just ensuring the research process is accessible in multiple languages is an important feature that some users may need to engage with the platform. If the platforms focus is around connectivity and discussion, ensuring that conversations and dialogue can be easily translated so that all members of a community are involved in discussions and all voices are heard. Having public discussions in community hub and then linking those interactions to a digital space is a great way to engage new audiences that wouldn’t usually be actively engaged with digital spaces. This is a good way to draw unlikely users onto an unfamiliar platform or app.

Keeping up with the innovation

Digital innovation can transform the ways in which we do things, new advancements make things simpler, more intelligent and more efficient. Using new digital tools and innovations when addressing engagement problems can lead to more valuable insight and end-engagement results, but you can run the risk of leaving people behind if adopting them too quickly and can alienate vital groups of clienteles.

Using a mixture of offline and online communication is the best way to integrate new and valuable technologies whilst maintaining appeal to a wide demographic. This omni-channel approach ensures that all angles of your community can get involved without feeling excluded. Examples of this can come in forms Incorporating things like QR codes into engagement programmes can be a great way to facilitate ease of use through a non-digital space.

Nuturing your community

Community engagement is not something that is easily solved through a singular channel, it is a process that requires nurturing and innovative solutions that follow the whole process from conception to actualisation. It requires understanding of interpersonal relationships and community boundaries as well as in-depth understanding of how to create bespoke platforms for a wide audience.

Ensuring that users’ needs are considered and prioritised throughout the whole engagement process is the key to engaging with diverse communities. Considering data, design and communication throughout the conception of a platform while weaving these processes together is crucial to the creation of a solution fit for the needs of a diverse community. In order to meet the changing needs of a community you must ensure continued support throughout the process as well as afterwards and consider changing markets, community development, technological innovation and other environmental changes that could affect engagement. This is crucial in providing an exemplary platform for a diverse community of users.

23/11/2022/by Millie Probert

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