Michael Pedersen facilitated a stakeholder engagement workshop at the 2017 Forum of European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS). The Forum, titled ‘Evidencing the Impact of University Sport’, brought together 160 delegates from 20 different countries. It took place in Trondheim, Norway on 14-17 November 2017.

The highly engaging and interactive workshop offered participants an opportunity to further develop their thinking on strategic stakeholder engagement, individually as well as collectively. The participants worked in the future, where everything is possible. Among other tasks, they took different perspectives while mapping and assessing internal and external stakeholders. They also started developing engagement strategies vis-à-vis specific key stakeholders, i.e. along the lines of consultation, negotiation, involvement, collaboration and empowerment.

At the end of the workshop, participants were tasked to reflect on their one individual key takeaway from the workshop. On that basis, some of the participants shared the following key takeaways:

• Imagine
• Dream big
• Think out of the box as a team
• Time for change
• Bring humour to the situation
• Impact politically
• Sport unites
• The power of collectively influencing
• Understand and listen to your stakeholders
• Map your stakeholders and plan how you will work with them to affect change

European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS) is the association of Sports Offices in Higher Education Institutions in Europe. The Association is a non-governmental, international alliance with the common goal of promoting higher education sport and physical activity. ENAS was founded in 1997 in Chambéry, France. The Association has more than 100 members in 21 European countries.

For further information, see:

• Official website of European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS)