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How to set up a Private Consultation
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Updated 2 months ago

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   **Private or closed consultations can be a useful tool for engagement professionals.**

Here are some of their uses:

- Deliberative engagement: when a representative group is tasked with evaluating ideas, policies and proposals of government and making recommendations based on their findings. This includes citizen juries, citizens' assemblies and community forums.
- Stakeholder management: for collaborating on a project or proposal before opening the consultation to the broader community.

### Step one: Create your project

To set up a private consultation, first create your project using these tools:

1. The main Project **Page** is an overview of the project.
2. Add **Maps** and **Documents** to provide essential information.
3. Add **Surveys, Idea Boards** and other participation tools to encourage engagement, understand different viewpoints, and gather insights.
4. A **Timeline** will give participants an overview of the planning stages for the project.
5. Create a series of **Events**, such as online workshops, co-design sessions and roundtable discussions. These are invaluable for building relationships, collaboration and building consensus.
6. As the project progresses, inform the group with project **Updates** and **Report** on Survey results.

![Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 1.26.55 PM.png](/storage/articles/10346889363087.png)

### Step two: Restrict project access

The next step of the project is to limit who can have access.

1. In **Preview** or **Edit** mode, click on the ellipsis on the right hand side of the screen.
2. Select **Restriction Settings.**

    ****![mceclip0.png](/storage/articles/10346919049871.png)****
3. In Restriction Settings, select **Make your project private** and choose one of the following options:

    - **Allow access to user groups**: Select specific user groups like Authenticated users or Content managers who can access the project.
    - **Password protect the project**: Set a password and share it with your participants to limit access.

        ****![](/storage/articles/10995344074895.png)****
4. If necessary, tick the box to hide the project from public view.
5. Click **Save** to save your settings.

### Step three: Invite participants

The final step is to invite people to join the private engagement project. Email the project's website link to the group and share the password. When they access the link using the password, they will be able to register for the project. They will have access to the participation tools, discussion forums and get notifications and project updates.

[Civio Engage](https://www.district.au/community-engagement) makes it easy to create a private or closed consultation project. Find out more about using digital tools to run a private consultation or deliberative engagement [in our article.](/articles/10007727892623-Digital-Tools-for-Deliberative-Engagement)

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