Synthetron
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Online dialogue with your whole organisation

Hear what people really think. See what is broadly supported.

We guide live, anonymous dialogues with 8 to 10,000 people at once. Within an hour you discover which ideas and insights are broadly supported.

Book a demo See how it works
Depiction of the Upvoice participant screen, midway through a live session. The four steps play as one story: you write an answer, vote on other people’s messages, watch the votes on your own message come in and see messages on the same topic grouped together.

What does it deliver?

Qualitative depth, at scale.

  1. 01

    Understand what people really think

    Discover not only what people think, but also why. Get in-depth, qualitative insights from hundreds or thousands of people at once.

  2. 02

    Discover what is broadly supported

    See which ideas, needs and opinions get the most support within a group. So you know what you can build on.

  3. 03

    Involve large groups, without complicated processes

    Let hundreds of people think along about important issues at the same time. Efficiently, without organising countless interviews or workshops.

Applications

Four application areas, one way of working

Choose the area that fits your issue. Within each area you will find concrete applications.

All applications

For which organisations?

Fits the context you work in

Synthetron works for healthcare, education, government and business. The applications are not tied to a single sector.

  • Healthcare

    Healthcare organisations, their employees and professionals

    Hear what employees and professionals in healthcare really think, from social safety to a merger or a new direction.

    For example

    • Social safety and workload
    • Merger and reorganisation
    • Direction and quality
    View: healthcare

  • Education

    Boards, schools, vocational colleges, universities of applied sciences and universities

    Let staff, students and the professional field help shape direction, education and a safe school.

    For example

    • Direction and strategic plan
    • Students and pupils have their say
    • Consulting the professional field
    View: education

  • Government

    Municipalities, central government and implementing agencies

    From resident participation in municipalities to policy that works in implementation at central government.

    For example

    • Involving residents
    • Testing policy in implementation
    • Consulting stakeholders
    View: government

  • Business

    Medium-sized and large enterprises, including international ones

    From strategy and change to employee surveys, works council and stakeholder consultation for the CSRD.

    For example

    • Strategy and change
    • Employees and works council
    • Stakeholders and CSRD
    View: business

How it works for you 3 steps

You choose the question. After one session you know where the support is.

What happens for you as the client, from the question to the synthesis. Participants also respond to each other's ideas. That creates recognition and helps you discover what is broadly supported.

  1. Step 01

    Choose the question

    You decide what you need your people's input on and how you involve them in the substance. Together we choose the questions you ask in the dialogue.

    Depiction of the topic card: the topic at the top, below it the two chosen questions, both checked.

    Topic

    Collaboration between departments

    From the employee survey: score 5.8

    Chosen questions

    • Why doesn't collaboration score an 8?
    • What should change first to make it an 8?

    2 questions · 70-minute session

  2. Step 02

    Run the dialogue

    Everyone takes part live and anonymously, in one session of 45 to 75 minutes. Participants vote on each other's messages, so the ideas with the most support rise to the top on their own.

    Depiction of the participant screen during the session: the question at the top and two anonymous messages with their support percentage.

    Why doesn't collaboration score an 8?

    348 live

    Each department is judged on its own targets. Collaborating costs you here.

    84% agree

    If something falls between two departments, it stays stuck.

    77% agree

    Anonymousminute 38 of 70

  3. Step 03

    Review the outcomes

    You see the main themes during the session itself. Afterwards an automatic synthesis follows, with the main line and the nuances within it.

    Depiction of the results screen: three themes with their support percentage and an excerpt from the synthesis report.

    Themes during the session

    Support

    • Being judged on own targets84%
    • Handovers without an owner77%
    • Not knowing who you need62%

    Synthesis · afterward

    What happens between departments belongs to no one

    Beneath the three themes lies one pattern: the organisation steers on departments, not on what happens between them.

    So the 5.8 is not about unwillingness. Collaboration is not rewarded and has no owner.

    Most support: one shared target for handovers, giving the space between departments an owner.

Want to see what participants get on their screen during the session?

See how a session unfolds

Clients 450+ organisations

Gasunie
Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment
Rabobank
ANWB
City of Amsterdam
Volkswagen
UMC Utrecht
Government of the Netherlands

Cases A selection from 450+ clients

What other organisations achieved with the dialogue

Gasunie, ANWB and UMCG put a question to hundreds to thousands of people. Read what each case delivered.

Gasunie's head office in Groningen, seen from the lawn in front of it
Gasunie700+ employees

From three core values to recognisable behaviour

More than 700 employees each described what a new culture means in their everyday work. The result became a culture compass.

Read the case study for Gasunie
Two hands holding each other
Westerkim200+ participants

A strategic shift that the whole organisation helped shape

Care organisation Westerkim shifted its focus from care to residents' wellbeing. Employees, volunteers and family helped determine the direction.

Read the case study for Westerkim

Since 1999

Over twenty-five years of giving people a voice

What began in 1999 as pioneering work in anonymous group dialogue is now how boards, municipalities, healthcare and education hear from their people.

450+ Clients worldwide
200,000+ Participants in a dialogue
40 Countries
Languages
120+Languages: everyone takes part in their own language
Participants per session
10,000Participants per session
Duration
45–75Minutes per session

What clients say

The people who ran the dialogue

Directors, advisers and project leaders on what happens when a large group gets to weigh in.

Portrait of Guido van Woerkom, former CEO of ANWB

Synthetron helped us in a highly professional way to reach more than 6,000 members in online conversations about the key issues of the road-pricing proposal.

Guido van Woerkom Former CEO of ANWB

Synthetron has made collaboration and people management so simple and easy for us.

Portrait of Maaike van Leeuwen Maaike van Leeuwen Adviser at Rabobank’s Dialogue Centre of Expertise

Dare to try new things, as we did by opening up topics that are sometimes taboo. It works!

Portrait of Alexandra Bemelmans Alexandra Bemelmans Innovation Project Lead at the City of Amsterdam

Organise conversations like these! People enjoy talking to each other and reflect on themselves as a result, but they also learn from each other.

Portrait of Nadine de Bree-Kisoen Nadine de Bree-Kisoen Programme Manager Healthy at Work at the City of Amsterdam

Working with Synthetron 2 ways

We guide your project, or you get started yourself.

For a single project, choose full service. If you run dialogues more often, you work on Upvoice, our platform, with a licence.

  • Full serviceFor single projects

    We guide every step

    From sharpening your question to a report the organisation can act on. What you mainly provide is the substance.

  • LicenceFor repeated use

    Your own access to Upvoice

    Your team runs sessions itself, whenever needed. We train your team and run the first session together.

Want to know what suits you and what it costs?

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is your question not listed? Ask it in an introductory call and we will go through it together.

What makes Synthetron different from an online survey?

Every written message is rated by other participants. A message first goes to four others; with a lot of support it spreads step by step to the rest. That way participants' messages become the answer options that others vote on. That gives you a fuller picture than separate open questions.

Why does it have to be anonymous?

Almost every dialogue touches on things people do not easily say out loud in a group, because they are critical, controversial or simply feel awkward. We know from experience that anonymity increases both the honesty and the depth of the conversation.

Can Synthetron handle dialogues in multiple languages?

Yes. Everyone takes part in their own language. Thanks to real-time translation we work with more than 120 languages, even mixed together in a single session.

Is Synthetron suitable for any group size?

A dialogue makes sense once a group no longer fits in one meeting room. For sensitive topics, for example within a team, the dialogue is a safe place to speak freely, and it works from 8 people. At the upper end, up to 10,000 people take part at once.

How does Synthetron handle privacy and data security?

Upvoice stores no personal data. Every participant gets a random code; a single functional cookie keeps the session together.

Is anonymity guaranteed?

Yes. Every participant gets a random code instead of a name. Nobody can trace a message back to a person, not even us. Reporting per segment only happens for groups of at least eight people.

How do we get access to the platform?

In two ways. With a licence you work on Upvoice, the Synthetron platform, yourself: we train your team and run the first session together. For a single project you choose full service, and we take care of everything. Your participants only need a link.

What does it cost?

That depends on how often you run a dialogue, with how many people and how much guidance you want. With a licence, the cost per session is lower than with separate projects. After an introductory call you get a tailored proposal.

Ask one question of everyone it concerns

In a demo we show you how your question works as a dialogue: what you ask, who you invite and what you'll have at the end.

Book a demo Schedule a call