We love sharing our knowledge, helping others to be better communicators.
We have trained people from all walks of life, giving them the confidence to know when to communicate and when to engage.
We have provided executive coaching to directors and partners of national firms and publicly-listed companies.
And we provide hands-on skills, using real-life case studies and exciting multimedia to bring courses to life.
We know our training changes the way people think and act.
Building professional competencies
Expanding organisational capability
IAP2 licensed training
Virtual and face to face classrooms
Insight series
Engagement Fundamentals
A two-hour program to provide insights into community and stakeholder engagement.
Learning objectives:
- Define community and stakeholder engagement
- Share industry models and helpful frameworks
- Share best practice engagement examples and methods to engage such as live polling and world-cafes!
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Digital Fundamentals
A two-hour program to provide strategies and tools to facilitate online conversations.
Learning objectives:
- Describe the challenges and opportunities for engagement in a in digital environment
- Explore fundamental principles of engagement and how these apply in a digital setting
- Consider the planning needs and define what success looks like for digital engagement
- Explore a range of tools and methods for engagement for digital engagement
- Experience emerging digital engagement tools
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $25.00
Evaluation Fundamentals
A two-hour program to provide insights into how to evaluate community and stakeholder engagement.
Learning objectives:
- Overcome the enemies of evaluation!
- Explore industry standards
- Define what success looks like
- Determine your ways to evaluate
- Showcase your results
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $25.00
IAP2 Certificate Training
Engagement Essentials
In this one-day prerequisite for IAP2 Australasia’s Certificate in Engagement, you will learn the key models of engagement and practice.
Learning objectives:
- Describe what a contemporary model of community and stakeholder engagement looks like in an Australasian context
- Demonstrate understanding of the different uses of engagement
- Explain the characteristics of successful engagement (community/stakeholder and organisational dynamic)
- Design a simple community/stakeholder engagement activity, justifying decisions about why, when, and how to engage
- Assess the community and stakeholder factors that shape engagement
- Assess the core elements for effective engagement: context, people, scope, purpose and influence
- Identify emerging engagement practice e.g. participatory budgeting or ‘gamification’
- Identify their own role in engagement and their learning needs.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Engagement Methods
This two-day course details what it takes to plan and deliver successful engagement methods.
Learning objectives:
- Examine the key steps in selecting an appropriate method
- Explore the aspects of design, question design and data analysis
- Examine issues which arise in delivery and how to manage groups
- Explore small-scale, commonly-used engagement techniques
- Communicate technical information in an accessible way.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Engagement Design
This two-day course is for those who need to have an understanding of how to design and implement engagement projects.
Learning objectives:
- Identify the uses of engagement
- Describe the drivers of contemporary engagement
- Identify the purpose and context for engagement
- Identify and understand the organisation, stakeholder and community
- Select and describe the roles and influence of the organisation, stakeholders and communities on the decision, action and engagement
- Design engagement programs and approaches for a range of purposes and situations
- Reach and activate community and organisational participation
- Integrate monitoring and evaluation into the engagement plan and activities
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Conflict in Engagement
This one-day program equips those who face situations of conflict in the engagement context to better manage the dynamics.
Learning objectives:
- Identify the triggers and context for conflict in engagement scenarios
- Understand a range of strategies for responding to difficult situations and challenging behaviours
- Practise strategies to respond to difficult situations
- Demonstrate a range of strategies to anticipate prevent and/or mitigate difficult situations or behaviours now and for the future
- As a facilitator of engagement activities understand your own role and manage your own behaviour and build personal resilience.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Strategies for Complex Engagement
This two-day course is designed for experienced practitioners,
The program will challenge the thinking of experienced community and stakeholder professionals, taking them on a “deep dive” into complex and challenging engagement.
Learning objectives:
- For participants who have completed either the IAP2 Australasia Certificate in Engagement; or the international program, IAP2 Foundations in Public Participation.
- Ideally suited to advanced practitioners who have been practising for years and want to cement their knowledge.
- The module explores the characteristics of complex engagement, the root causes, potential strategies, and the implications of short-term and long-term engagement processes.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Building an Engaging Organisation
This two-day module is designed specifically for senior practitioners and managers responsible for the community engagement function in your organisation.
Learning objectives:
- Build an organisation with engagement at the heart of how it does business.
- Develop a strategy to get your organisation started, or get it moving towards becoming an engaging organisation.
- Explore the process in developing a strategy to get your organisation started or get it moving towards becoming an engaging organisation.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Engaging with Influence
This one-day course is designed for practitioners who are early career and need to better understand how to elevate engagement within an organisation.
Learning objectives:
- Help engagement practitioners enhance their professional presence.
Dates: Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Specialised series
Digital and Online Engagement
This specialised program provides hands-on skills to get up to speed quickly with the latest in digital engagement.
Learning objectives:
- Understand best practice engagement and how digital tools can be used for meaningful engagement
- Understand stakeholder analysis and what it means for digital engagement
- Develop a digital engagement strategy
- Setting clear outcomes when engaging online
- Explore digital engagement trends, tools and methods such as gamification, augmented reality, live polling, video and digital apps
- Explore social media platforms, how to use them and which platforms to use
- Some essential tips, classic pitfalls and how to avoid them, the success stories and how to achieve them!
- Evaluating digital engagement outcomes
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $395.00
Digital Facilitation
A half-day specialised training program to provide strategies and tools to facilitate online conversations.
Learning objectives:
- Describe the challenges and opportunities for facilitation in a digital environment
- Explore principles of facilitation and how these transfer to a digital setting
- Types of facilitation in the digital environment
- Explore facilitation needs across a range of digital tools and methods.
- Share facilitation techniques for the digital environment
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $250
Co-Design
A three-hour specialised training program to provide strategies and tools to effectively convene a Co-design process.
Learning objectives:
- When to employ Co-design
- How to best use Co-design
- Tips for excellence
- What to avoid and the common mistakes
- Practical examples and case studies!
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $250
Advisory and Reference Groups
A three-hour specialised training program to provide strategies and tools to effectively convene and manage stakeholder and community advisory and reference groups.
Learning objectives:
- When to employ an Advisory Group or Reference Groups
- How to best use these Groups
- Tips for setting up and hosting these groups
- What to avoid and the common mistakes
- Practical examples and case studies
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $250
Evaluating Digital Engagement
A three-hour specialised training program to provide strategies and tools to effectively evaluate digital engagement
Learning objectives:
- Setting yourself up for success
- Common measures and ways to evaluate
- Useful insights and tips for effective evaluation
- Practical implementation methods
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: $250.00
Frontline Engagement
This one-day training program for staff working on infrastructure, construction or in customer service centres and due to their customer facing interactions they become the “frontline” for the engagement.
Learning objectives:
- Define engagement and communications
- Identify the benefits and challenges of engagement
- Understand meaningful feedback opportunities and best practice
- Explore key concepts and elements for effective engagement
- Identify how to communicate effectively in the moment
- Apply strategies for managing difficult conversations
- Make commitments within project constraints
- Share tools the methods to improve engagement of the frontline!
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Engagement for elected officials
Hosted over three sessions, or one intensive day, this introductory program designed for newly elected Councillors.
Learning objectives:
Covers best practice guidelines and approaches, and discusses critical knowledge for elected officials. Download PDF
Designed to integrate with your onboarding and induction program, including:
- Session 1: The fundamentals of quality community engagement
- Session 2: Project planning and budgeting
- Session 3: Tough decisions and ways to engage
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Media
This half-day training program will provide will explore what journalists want versus what they need, giving participants a better understanding of the differences mediums and examine newsworthiness and how it shapes interviews and stories.
The program will develop the skills and confidence of participants to be interviewed on both positive and difficult topics.
Learning objectives:
- Mastering key messages
- How to be clear, concise, connected and creative
- The art of answering questions
- The do’s and don’ts of media interviews
- Interview traps and background briefings
- Handling doorstops
- On-camera interviews, playback and reviews
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Crisis Communications
This half-day training program is ideally suited to delivery following the media training program and provides insights into how to respond effectively during a major issue or crisis.
Learning objectives:
- How to differentiate between an issue and a crisis
- Lifecycle of a major issue and/or crisis
- Determining roles and responsibilities in developing communication response
- Determining communication tools and channels
- Framing your messages
- Immediate crisis response – ‘The Golden Hour’ – steps to be followed within the first 30 minutes to one hour
- Stakeholder engagement
- Transitioning to recovery
Dates: See the course calendar or register your interest.
Cost: TBA
Digital presentation skills
Our former journalists and advisors will help you master your communication skills.
Learning objectives:
- Verbal and non-verbal communication
- Mastering your public or corporate persona (credibility, likeability, authority, personality)
- Live recording and assessment
- Five key tips to delivering complex or complicated information
- Answering Q&As
Dates:
- As required. Recommend a minimum of two sessions, allowing for professional development between sessions. Register your interest.
Cost: TBA
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