2017 Learning Webinars

These webinars have been released from the archives and are now free to the general public! All webinar recordings are free for members, and available for $50 Canadian for the general public

January 2017 Learning Webinar

Participatory Budgeting

The concept is catching on across North America and around the world: participatory budgeting (PB) -- giving "ordinary citizens" a direct voice in the way public money is spent. Shari Davis of the Participatory Budgeting Project, a non-profit organization in the USA, tells us how the process works and shares some of the success stories; while Luc Richard of the City of Dieppe, New Brunswick, describes how his city of 30-thousand people set up a PB process, which has seen four publicly-conceived projects implemented in the past year.

Watch a video on PBP.

Download Shari's PowerPoint here.

Download Luc's PowerPoint here.

Watch a video on Dieppe's PB Process.

Shari can be reached at shari@participatorybudgeting.org, and on Twitter @shari_davis1

Facebook: fb.com/ParticipatoryBudgetingProject

Luc is at luc.richard@dieppe.ca 506-877-7920

February 2017 Learning Webinar

Montreal Encore: "Making Engagement Meaningful with P2 Toolkits"

In this webinar, Cristelle Blackford of CivicMakers, Abby Monroe of the City of Chicago, and Zane Hamm of the Centre for Public Involvement in Edmonton, talk about their successes in putting together kits specifically for particular projects. These kits are for people "closer to the ground" on certain issues, and by empowering and training them, can help overcome obstacles some of the challenges to a p2 professional, such as local distrust of governments or a government policy mandating P2 in a lot of instances.

Download a .pdf of the slide deck.

The three invite comments and your own experiences in working with toolkits. Please contact Cristelle at cristelle@civicmakers.com; Abby at Abby.Monroe@CityofChicago.org; and Zane at zhamm@ualberta.ca.

March 2017 Learning Webinar

Core Values Award Winners: "Respect for Diversity, Inclusion and Culture"

The first-ever winners of this award joined us to discuss how they approached two very different processes that all involved working across racial and cultural lines. Colleen Hamilton of EcoPlan International and Justin Beadle, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Village of Alert Bay, BC, alongside the 'Namgis First Nation to create an Economic Development Plan called "Tides of Change". The Plan covers tiny (4 sq km/1.5 sq.mi.) Cormorant Island, just off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, where the two communities had lived side-by-side for decades without having much interaction.

The Saint Paul (Minnesota) Public School District was faced with the need to upgrade its facilities -- some of which were a century old -- to meet the needs of today's students. More than that, the demographics in the Minnesota capital have changed dramatically, and any new plan had to take that into account. Tom Parent, SPPS Facilities Director, and former SPPS Trustee Anne Carroll, explain how they went about it.

Download the EcoPlan PowerPoint here ... and the SPPS PowerPoint here.

Colleen mentions an online tool, the First Nations-Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative, which was produced after "Tides of Change".Find out more about it here.

April 2017 Learning Webinar

Core Values Award Winners: "Creativity and Innovation" and "P2 for the Greater Good."

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and CEAN -- the Community Engagement Advisory Network of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority -- headlined our April webinar. SFMTA won the first-ever IAP2 USA Core Values Award for Creativity and Innovation for its outreach during the pre-construction phase of the Van Ness Improvement Project. This small but vital stretch of roadway is home to a wide range of people and businesses, and SFMTA had to use a variety of methods to bring people affected by the project into the project.

CEAN -- which won a Core Values Award in 2014 -- developed a peer-led approach to planning for a person's late-in-life health care while that person is still capable of making decisions and letting his or her family, friends and medical personnel know what those decisions are.

Download the PowerPoint decks here: SFMTA and CEAN.

Some resources from CEAN:

BC Ministry of Health: Advance Care Planning tools and documents for the public and health care providers: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/seniors/health-safety/advance-care-planning

My Voice BC: Expressing My Wishes for Future Health Care Treatment Advance Care Planning Guide http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2013/MyVoice-AdvanceCarePlanningGuide.pdf

Speak up: Advance Care Planning in Canada is a national initiative that provides resources for individuals, communities and health care providers about Advance Care Planning: http://www.advancecareplanning.ca

May 2017 Learning Webinar

Montreal Encore: "Duh! Make it Interesting!"

Jamie Harvie and Sam Beresky of JLA Involvement reprised their session presentation from the 2016 IAP2 North American Conference, showing some of the tactics they've used to get their messages noticed. This presentation includes several video examples, as well as a Q&A session with Jamie and Sam.

Download the "decision-making tool" they mention near the end of the webinar here.

And you can check out the entire JLA Open House Archive here.

June 2017 Learning Webinar

Montreal Encore: "Facilitation Matters"

Making sure a public consultation process runs well -- and is seen to run well -- takes specialized skills, and that's where a facilitator comes in. Rebecca Sutherns of Sage Solutions and Kate Bishop of the City of Guelph, ON, discuss the tools and techniques they've used in four processes. Members of the audience also chimed in with questions, comments and experiences of their own.

Download their PowerPoint deck here.

Rebecca and Kate provided some materials you can download:

• Case studies
• Planning for Multiple Scenarios
• Shaping Expectations (What They See is What You Get)
• Planning for varying "Kinds of Smart"
• The Space-Planning Checklist
• The Engagement Event Setup Checklist

And the workbook from the Traffic Calming Project.

July 2017 Learning Webinar

Montreal Encore: "Is Your Organization P2-Centric?"

Anne Pattillo, internationally-known expert, trainer and innovator in all things P2, shows some ways of determining just how committed an organization is to public participation, and offers some tips on how to put P2 at the organization's heart.

Download some of Anne's "give-away"s:

10 ways to P2-Centric

Conservation Engagement Development Path

Anne's PowerPoint deck (.pdf)

August 2017 Learning Webinar

Montreal Encore: "Understanding the Squishy Stuff" + "Are We Smarter Together?"

In the last of our reprises from the 2016 IAP2 North American Conference, Dr Mark Szabo and Jacques Bénard bring back their sessions from Montreal. These ones challenge some of the thinking - and expertise - of P2 practitioners. Mark looks at the way emotional, non-rational factors behind the way opinions are formed and how that affects a P2 practitioner's role. How do you ensure that people who are affected by a decision receive the best information so they can give the best input?

Jacques looks at the elephant-in-the-room side of P2: the way group dynamics affects public engagement. Groupthink and the Spiral of Silence can prevent some people from speaking up -- even if their view is more "fact-based". How does a P2 practitioner address that uncomfortable reality?

Download Jacques Bénard's PowerPoint deck here

Download Mark Szabo's PowerPoint deck here.

September 2017 Learning Webinar

SPECIAL WEBINAR: Research Committee Update

Research Committee members Sherif Kinawy and Sherry Campbell discussed the findings of the 2017 State of the Practice survey.

Download the survey report here.

October 2017 Learning Webinar

Core Values Awards: Organizations of the Year

The City of Burlington, Ontario, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency received the Core Values Award for Organization of the Year in Canada and the USA, respectively. Both had similar experiences in making community engagement a part of the organizational culture, and the approach each entity took can be adapted to P2 challenges you might be facing. Hear Donna Kell and Michelle Dwyer of Burlington, and Deanna DeSedas of SFMTA discuss their respective journeys.

Download the SFMTA PowerPoint deck here

Watch the SFMTA video from the 2017 Core Values Awards here.

Download the City of Burlington PowerPoint deck here.

Watch the City of Burlington video from the 2017 Core Values Awards here.

November 2017 Learning Webinar

Core Values Awards: Projects of the Year

Two projects that had to overcome skepticism bordering on hostility were honored with the IAP2 Canada and USA awards for Project of the Year. From Canada, the City of Calgary had to stop and start all over again in its plan to upgrade the Crowchild Trail -- a major transportation artery through the city -- because the public gave a resounding "NOPE" to the original proposal. The city started all over again with a massive engagement effort and was able to win over the public while creating a plan that met the needs of the growing urban area.

In Denver, the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) planned a new branch in the North East Park Hill area -- very economically depressed and very bitter towards outsiders coming in, telling the people what they needed. MHCD adopted an approach of "learning from" rather than "learning about", and the result has been a community focal point that is meeting needs that MHCD never thought of at first.

Download the City of Calgary PowerPoint deck (.pdf) here.

Download the MHCD PowerPoint deck here.

Watch the Core Values Award videos on the Core Values Awards page.